By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
Springfield College baseball lost both games of Saturday afternoon’s home doubleheader at Archie Allen Field against Western New England, as sloppy defense and inconsistent bats contributed to the Pride’s lackluster performances.
The first game, a 13-8 defeat in seven innings, saw Springfield surrender 10 runs in the top of the fourth inning. The Pride then walked 19 Western New England batters in the second game, a slog that ended in a 12-3, six inning loss.
Head coach Mark Simeone believes the amount of base traffic the Golden Bears had, much of which came without even getting hits, was a main reason for the day’s results.
“We gave them some extra base runners, gave them some extra outs,” Simeone said. “I think we had close to 30 walks and hit batsmen in a double header. You give a team [that many] extra base runners, then single hits turn into a lot of runs.”
Western New England had almost twice as many runs as they had hits over the two games combined. Simeone believes this statistic is indicative of the fact that Springfield made life too easy on the Golden Bears.
“It means you’ve given them too much,” Simeone said. “In that big, 10-run first inning, we made a couple mistakes where we should have gotten outs.”
The slight precipitation didn’t help matters when it came to cleanly fielding the ball. The rain started about halfway through the first game and strengthened as the day went on. However, Simeone doesn’t want to chalk the Pride’s struggles up to effects from the rain.
“Obviously, the weather conditions weren’t great, but they were playing in the same game,” Simeone said. “So we’ve got to throw strikes and be confident in our ability to do that.”
In terms of the outings the Pride received from starters Blake Roberge and Colby Welch in games one and two, respectively, Simeone thinks their fast starts were hampered when they lost their ability to consistently find the strike zone.
“Blake started off really well, throwing a lot of strikes, getting ahead of hitters,” Simeone said. “The inning I took him out, he started to struggle with his command and left some balls out over the plate. Colby was [also] throwing strikes early, [then] he got into the same type of thing. He started struggling, [giving] free bases, and then they got a couple big hits. Then it starts to become a big inning.”
While Simeone acknowledges his team provided the Golden Bears with their fair share of breaks, he also believes their ability to make things happen offensively in important spots benefited them en route to their pair of victories.
“You gotta credit them in those high leverage situations for getting hits with guys on base,” Simeone said.
Unfortunately for the Pride, they weren’t able to match Western New England’s offensive pace in either of the games. Left fielder Luke DiMauro was a standout, with five hits between the two games and four in the first contest alone. But beyond DiMauro’s strong day and some quality at-bats in the early going, there wasn’t much success to be found for the Pride at the dish.
“I thought [we hit] a little better in the first game,” Simeone said. “I thought we had some real competitive at bats [and] some loud outs. [But in the] second game, we got punched out a few more times than in the first game, and maybe didn’t have as good [a quality] of at-bats towards the second half of the second game.”
Simeone thinks a part of the Pride’s offensive struggles might have to do with the massive hole they found themselves in early on in the first game.
“You give up a 10-run inning, it kind of deflates the club a little bit,” Simeone said. “We scratched and got back into the game after Brandeis tied it up yesterday, but weren’t able to do that [today].”
While Simeone believes Springfield’s bats need to step up, he also made sure to tip his cap to Western New England’s pitching staff.
“I think you have to give their pitcher some credit too, they made some good pitches and they got a lead and made it tough on our guys,” Simeone said.
After the Pride found themselves trailing, Simeone believes the team lost some of their confidence. He emphasized the importance of them maintaining a positive mindset, even when the scoreboard may be pushing their minds in a different direction.
“[The game] kind of snowballed,” Simeone said. “You’ve got to maintain a level of focus and intensity that even through adverse times, [the thought process is] ‘hey, we believe that we can come back.’ I think we got a little bit down. It was frustrating for all of us when the merry-go-round was going around with free bases and [walks].”
Going forward, Simeone thinks the Pride will rebound from Saturday’s games and use the frustrating outcomes as motivation to get back to playing fundamentally sound, winning baseball.
“It wasn’t that our guys weren’t out there trying and competing,” Simeone said. “How we respond to a day like this is going to help dictate how we go from here. I think this bothered [us] in terms of how we performed. I think we’re going to respond the right way.”
The Pride’s chance to show that response won’t require much of a wait at all, as they will host Westfield State tomorrow for another doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.