Brendan McLean
Staff Writer
Well folks it’s that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer, the grass is green, the skies are blue and America’s pastime is beginning. The boys of summer here at Springfield College have high expectations for the season and hope to be playing late into the spring.
“With the new division breakdown I think we still have a good shot at coming out on top in the NEWMAC,” junior outfielder Steve Starr said.
The team over the past few seasons got off to hot starts and couldn’t maintain the consistent level of play, however.
This team is one of the stronger teams in the last few years. They have good defense and depth in the bullpen. In order to win you must be able to pitch and play defense. From the looks of things depth and defense won’t be a problem.
“As far as our team’s strengths go, we have good depth in almost all positions,” Starr added.
The main weakness for the club will be the line-up. The strategy will be to work the count and hopefully take the starting pitchers out of the game.
“We battle at the plate and make almost every pitcher work,” Starr said about the line-up mentality.
This year there is one mentality in the clubhouse – “I expect to win.” Over the past few seasons the Pride struggled, and all the players and coaches want that to change.
“My overall expectations are that of qualifying for the NEWMAC Tournament and playing well enough to have a chance to win it,” coach Mark Simeone said.
Oliver Collette and Travis Lane are the club’s best starting pitchers.
“We have solid starting pitching. Oliver Collette got the ball on opening day,” Simeone said about the pitching staff.
Simeone seems to think that the club can be good if they play consistently well.
When asked about projected line-ups, he didn’t give a direct answer. Simeone believes it is best to use different line-ups depending on the opposing pitchers strengths and weaknesses.
“We will use a number of line-ups due to our depth. Handedness of the opposing pitcher will factor in to line-up decisions,” Simeone said.
You have to figure Steve Starr, Sean Smith and C.J. Monroe will be in the line-up every day, and then Simeone will feature different players depending on how they are playing. So far Smith is hitting .462 and is tearing the cover off the ball. In order for the Pride to be able to score runs, they must have Smith hitting well.