The Pioneers faced both conference and non-conference competition in their ten-game road trip. Ending with a 7-3 record for the trip, many of the games were high scoring, including a 20-4 win against Crown College, a 15-4 win against Earlham College, and a 7-0 win against Lawrence University.
While there were definite standout performers, specifically Paden Roder ’10, Ben Mendoza ‘09, and Greg Suryn ‘11, the Pioneers attribute their offensive success to their depth of bats. “The nice thing about our lineup is that we have a lot of guys that can hit well so when one of our top guys is having a bad day somebody in the back can pick them up,” said Ryan Fletcher ’11. “We also had a lot of good pitching. All our pitchers did well, but Harris was lights out.”
Pitcher Ryan Harris ’10 was named this week’s Midwest Conference Men’s Baseball Performer of the Week after garnering a perfect 0.00 ERA. Over the trip, Harris pitched a total of 13 innings and was the winning pitcher in two games.
Though the Pioneers have strong bats and quick gloves, many of the double-header contests ended up being split. “It’s mainly due to a lack of focus,” Fletcher said, “because we definitely have the talent to win but sometimes we just don’t bring it as much as we can, and then sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way.”
With seasoned talent on the team, for the first-year class, of which there are 12 playing on the team this year, the trip to Florida really meant getting significant playing time in their first collegiate games. “Obviously, the trip was a good bonding experience for everybody and then on the team you get a little bit better of a view of what your role is going to be,” said catcher Mike Nodzenski ’12. “It was definitely a good experience for the freshmen because everybody got playing time and you know sometimes that won’t be the case later in the year.”
Fletcher agreed, adding that the volume of games will better prepare the team for conference play. “But I think it’s nice that we have that many games they have a chance to get in there and really feel it out so when conference comes around they’re not like deer in headlights,” Fletcher said.
With a handful of games under their belt, the Pioneers travel to Galesburg to face Knox College in their first conference game of the season this Saturday at 1 p.m.
