Life Behind Baseball

For the first time in 2011, we were on the wrong end of a weekend series sweep.  This time it was at the hands of conference rival, Rider University.  The Bronc’s out-played us in all three games to earn a crucial sweep early in the MAAC season; the three losses put us below .500 in league play.  It is crucial to have a good week of preparation going into 9-0 Manhattan next week.   Nevertheless, we wanted to feature the Student-Athlete Enhancement Center as this week’s story.

To come in a freshman and play a Division I sport and take a full class load requires exceptional time management skills.  Oftentimes, student-athletes struggle with this skill. We had to complete a minimum of six hours per-week of studying in addition to doing work in the Student-Athlete Enhancement Center.  This is what we refer to as study hall. Located in the main athletic building, the center provides 19 computers with access to research databases, as well as word processing programs.  Student-Athletes also have access to a group-study conference room, and an individual tutorial room in which to study.  After spending many of hours in study hall we have both become close with the center’s director, Alyssa Gates.  

Marist Student-Athletes at work in the Enhancement Center

Working with Alyssa is Assistant Director, Cammie Jones, and intern Matt Francis.  The goal of the Student-Athlete Enhancement staff is to help to ensure that student-athletes successfully balance their commitment of academics and athletics.  The staff and enhancement center provide student-athletes with academic support through various means. Academic advisors, tutors, and other study facilities all help provide the student-athlete with a means to be successful in the classroom as well as prepare them for life after college. Alyssa and her staff have done so much not only for the two of us, but the rest of Marist student-athletes. We cannot thank them enough.

We will be checking in later on in the week with a video interview with senior RHP Brendan Chapin.  Stay tuned!

Baseball in Buffalo

Sophmore SS Zach Shank led the offense this weekend in Buffalo collecting 8 Hits

Let us just tell you first hand Buffalo is not the ideal place to play baseball in early April.  However, there were conference games on the schedule and we were determined to win them no matter how cold it was.  After dropping the first game of the series we rebounded scoring double digit runs in game 2.  Sunday our bullpen was able to piece it together in the end and it was another game 3 win for the Red Foxes.   It was a good series win for us leaving the weekend 4-2 in conference and 19-6 overall.  

This week we head to Bucknell on Tuesday before hosting Holy Cross on Wednesday afternoon.  Mid week games allow for pitchers like us to stay back on campus and attend class.  Since neither of us is scheduled to pitch our coach will let us stay back and catch up on any school work were behind on.  Through the grueling schedule of spring, 54 games and taking a full class load things can become very busy.  Staying home for mid week games like Bucknell can be very helpful in continuing academic success.  

We continue our MAAC schedule this weekend as Rider will come to town.  Rider, the defending MAAC champions will be a tough test, one we will be ready for.  The three game set will begin at noon on Saturday.  Thank you all for continuing to follow.  We will have another video by next week checking in with one of the ball foxes.

Conference Play: The Real Season

After starting the early part of our season with a solid 14-3 record, we returned from our spring break trip with an extreme amount of confidence. Starting off the season winning fourteen out of seventeen games on the road is uncommon for many northeast programs. In fact, this ball club was able to put together one of the best starts in program history and capture what is believed to be the first ever vote in the AP Coaches Top 25 Poll. Despite all of the notoriety, it was time to get to work for the “real season”, the opening weekend of conference play. Starting conference games is like starting a new season; one can feel the excitement in the air at practice and in the locker room.

In the conference opener we hosted the Stags of Fairfield University. Having the opportunity to open the conference season at home brings a lot of nerves and excitement for everyone involved. Showing up to the field on Saturday morning, walking in to the locker room and getting to put on the home uniform makes one realize it is all coming together. All of the work preparing for the begging of the season and traveling fourteen hours on a bus to play non-conference games is worth it when we finally got to step on our home field for the first time, and compete for a conference championship.

Winning two of three games against Fairfield made for a successful opening series; yet, somehow it was not gratifying for us. This coming weekend we will head to Buffalo for a three game series against one of our conference rivals, the Canisius Golden Griffs. Prior to leaving for Canisius, we split two weekday games, losing one at Bryant University and winning one at Hofstra University, putting our record at 17-5 before the weekend.