Subscribe
Community
Focusing on the ‘young players'
CSM baseball team off to 1-2 start after home loss to Chesapeake College
Friday, March 12, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
CSM's Marc Collazo walked four batters in the third inning Tuesday.
|
E-Mail This Article
After opening up its season on Sunday in a dramatic split of a doubleheader versus Harford Community College, the College of Southern Maryland's baseball team returned to action on Tuesday afternoon to face Chesapeake Community College at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf.
The Hawks (1-2, 1-2 Maryland JUCO) stormed out to a quick 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. But in the top of the third, Chesapeake responded with five runs of its own to go on top, 5-4, scored two runs in the fourth and added five more runs in the seventh to earn a 12-4 road victory.
CSM took on 9-1 Frederick Community College on Thursday afternoon, which finished too late for inclusion into this edition, before heading embarking on a weeklong trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a spring break tournament that will span from March 14-20.
"We came out strong, everybody was excited to play today," said CSM head coach Joe Blandford, who begins his 10th season. "We scored four runs in the first inning and could have scored more, but we didn't and left the bases loaded in the second inning and left two on in the third. We just couldn't get key hits or the runs in that we needed to. It would have been a little bit different putting more pressure on [Chesapeake] to have to score to catch us. Then we had one inning where we just misjudged a fly ball and it cost us. We have to make routine plays, we can't make any errors and our pitchers have to throw strikes."
"They came out swinging the bats early and I was impressed by the way that they hit," said Chesapeake head coach Frank Szymanski, whose team is 2-1 thus far. "They were hitting a pretty good pitcher and showed that they could swing the bat pretty well."
Blandford feels that along with improving defensively, his team has enough hitters in the lineup to win most ballgames.
"It's one of those cases where we have to do our job and we fell apart this game a little bit," Blandford said. "We gave them an opportunity to beat us and they did, so you can't do that with good teams."
In the bottom of the first, CSM sophomores Marc Collazo (Lackey) and JB Sapienza (La Plata) started things off with a single and double, respectively.
After James Newsome (Chopticon) reached first base on an error, Collazo scored from second base on a Tim Harrigan (Thomas Stone) RBI single to put his team up 1-0.
McNamara product Ryan Harris than boasted a two-run single to bring in Sapienza and Newsome.
"You lose some, you win some. We will be on the other end," said Sapienza, who was 3 for 5 at the plate with a double and two singles. "It's early in the season. A loss is a loss, it doesn't matter if it's by one or 100. We have a lot of young guys and don't have a lot of depth like the other teams, but we can hit one through nine when it comes down to it."
Two batters later, Thomas Thayer (La Plata) grounded out, but was credited with the RBI after Harrigan came home to score the Hawks fourth and final run of the contest.
The tables turned in the top of the third as Collazo, also the team's starting pitcher Tuesday walked four batters in the inning and gave up two hits, one of which was an three-run triple by Chesapeake's Tom Gilchrist to give his team the eventual one-run lead.
Collazo had two strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings of work.
"We did a great job jumping on there pitcher's fastball," Collazo said of Chesapeake's starting pitcher Devin Gardner. "We had a little struggle third inning, but Chesapeake is a good team. Too early to tell, but this team has a lot of promise. We are basically like a family and we stick with each other."
Chesapeake also had three stolen bases in the inning.
Anthony Ragos was 2 for 4 for Chesapeake with two singles, two stolen bases and two runs scored, while Michael Turner also was 2 for 4 with two doubles, two runs driven in and a run scored.
"Today was the first time I got a hit [this season]," Turner said. "I just had to stay back and see the ball better."
With 10 freshmen on the roster CSM will be young, but Blandford and assistant coach Mark Calvert noted that it will be a learning experience in getting use to the college ranks.
"We can hit, again, it's a learning experience," Calvert said. "It's just a matter of them transitioning it to the college game. They're going to see better pitching and they have to be patient. All of these guys were power hitters in high school, but in college you are playing on a bigger field, so it's all about adjusting and maturing."
Along with being inexperienced, the Hawks will be worried about its depth for pitching.
"We need to get seasoned and we will have some growing pains," Blandford said. "We want to be competitive on the field, get better and stay focused."
CSM missed 11 games in the month of February and three games last week because of snow and wet fields.
"We haven't been outside. A couple of these teams have about 10 games under their belt," Calvert said. "So, we just need to relax and play baseball."
CSM baseball preview
Head coach: Joe Blanford (10th season)
Last year: 17-18 overall (14-15 Maryland JUCO)
Athletes to watch: C/P Tim Harrigan (Fr., Thomas Stone), C/OF JB Sapienza (So., La Plata), P/IF Ryan Harris (So., McNamara)
Key personnel losses: P Ryan Neeley, P Anthony Butler
Strengths: Despite having a young team the Hawks will have an array of hitting one through nine at the plate with Harrigan, Harris and Sapienza to head a core of strong bats. After splitting a doubleheader versus Harford Community College on Sunday, the Hawks have started the season 1-2 thus far, after a conference loss to Chesapeake on Tuesday at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf. With a long season, Blandford mentioned that his team continues to keep people on base and just needs to convert with runners in scoring position. Then, if his team can do that, they will win a lot of ball games.
Weaknesses: Depth and inexperience are the two big gaps that CSM must get stronger. The team will miss Neeley and Butler, who were No. 1 and 2 pitchers from last season. With 10 freshmen, the young players and even some of the older ones will have to work on transitioning into game situations on the collegiate level.
Coach's comments: "We want to be competitive every time we step on the field. We want to get better each time we step on the field, stay focused and not let things get out of hand. We work hard in practice on what we need to do, so we just need to transition and execute it in game situations."
Key games: March 23 at Hagerstown (DH), April 1 at Chesapeake, April 17 vs. Anne Arundel
AJ MASON
