Okay, today is graduation day for our ten seniors. Hopefully they will enjoy this day with their families, friends and teammates as it signifies the beginning of the rest of their lives. Fortunately though, they don't have to leave campus yet, as they still have some business to take care of.
We clinched the MIAA championship on Friday by beating Albion College twice at their field in two one run games. We had already beaten them twice at home on Thursday. Now there is certainty in the numbers; we have officially earned a trip to the NCAA DIII Regionals. We still have six conference games remaining to continue to improve as individual players, as coaches, and as a team. The regional tournament isn't going to be something that we can win without getting better than we already are, so these last six games should be played with the idea that we are preparing for success in the regional tournament.
One of the best things about the way we won the two games at Albion is that we had to execute late in each game to earn the wins. In game one we fell behind 3-0 in the second inning, but we held them scoreless through the 7th inning as we battled and tied the game before winning it in an extra inning. Mike Herzog was the offensive hero with huge rbi hits scattered throughout the game, and Rylie Robinson kept putting up zeroes in Albion's half of each inning. I thought that our mvp in this team victory was catcher Joe Dubina, who blocked several breaking balls in the dirt to prevent baserunners from advancing in almost every inning. As always, Joe saved us some runs!!
Game two was a quick game, as Josh Burd threw only 60 pitches in the first six innings and Jake Cappelletty had two rbis, including a solo home run (did he get that home run ball yet?) to get us into the bottom of the 7th with a 2-0 lead. The bottom of the 7th began with Albion hitting a double, reaching on an error, and hitting another double off of Burd to put the tying run on third and the potential winning (walk-off) run on second base with nobody out. Fortunately we had Lucas Willitzer ready to come into the game from the bullpen, even though Burd had easily cruised through those first six innings.
Coming out of the bullpen with the game on the line, runners on base, and nobody out is not an easy thing for a pitcher to do. We haven't had many situations like this in recent weeks, so this was a good game situation for our guys to try to deal with. Lucas has a great arm, and we have been real cautious with it during the season. We found out that he has the ability (and more importantly the attitude) to close out a game in such a circumstance. He got the first guy on a routine ground ball to third, and then basically blew fastballs by the next two guys for two strikeouts to clinch the game and the conference title. Winning the game in that manner made the victory so much better for our team than if it wasn't such a nail-biter
After today's graduation, our guys can prepare each day for the trip to the Regionals in a couple weeks. It is an opportunity to finish strong in the conference season and sweat the small stuff at practices each day, so that we are confident and proficient in all aspects of the game when that regional tournament begins.
Today is the beginning, but it isn't the beginning of the end. It is the beginning of a few weeks to continue playing and acting like champions, of several days of looking and believing like champions do. Today we can celebrate the academic achievements of the seniors, and tomorrow those seniors can lead us to complete the goals we set before the season started.
"I believe in the promised land." Bruce Springsteen
We clinched the MIAA championship on Friday by beating Albion College twice at their field in two one run games. We had already beaten them twice at home on Thursday. Now there is certainty in the numbers; we have officially earned a trip to the NCAA DIII Regionals. We still have six conference games remaining to continue to improve as individual players, as coaches, and as a team. The regional tournament isn't going to be something that we can win without getting better than we already are, so these last six games should be played with the idea that we are preparing for success in the regional tournament.
One of the best things about the way we won the two games at Albion is that we had to execute late in each game to earn the wins. In game one we fell behind 3-0 in the second inning, but we held them scoreless through the 7th inning as we battled and tied the game before winning it in an extra inning. Mike Herzog was the offensive hero with huge rbi hits scattered throughout the game, and Rylie Robinson kept putting up zeroes in Albion's half of each inning. I thought that our mvp in this team victory was catcher Joe Dubina, who blocked several breaking balls in the dirt to prevent baserunners from advancing in almost every inning. As always, Joe saved us some runs!!
Game two was a quick game, as Josh Burd threw only 60 pitches in the first six innings and Jake Cappelletty had two rbis, including a solo home run (did he get that home run ball yet?) to get us into the bottom of the 7th with a 2-0 lead. The bottom of the 7th began with Albion hitting a double, reaching on an error, and hitting another double off of Burd to put the tying run on third and the potential winning (walk-off) run on second base with nobody out. Fortunately we had Lucas Willitzer ready to come into the game from the bullpen, even though Burd had easily cruised through those first six innings.
Coming out of the bullpen with the game on the line, runners on base, and nobody out is not an easy thing for a pitcher to do. We haven't had many situations like this in recent weeks, so this was a good game situation for our guys to try to deal with. Lucas has a great arm, and we have been real cautious with it during the season. We found out that he has the ability (and more importantly the attitude) to close out a game in such a circumstance. He got the first guy on a routine ground ball to third, and then basically blew fastballs by the next two guys for two strikeouts to clinch the game and the conference title. Winning the game in that manner made the victory so much better for our team than if it wasn't such a nail-biter
After today's graduation, our guys can prepare each day for the trip to the Regionals in a couple weeks. It is an opportunity to finish strong in the conference season and sweat the small stuff at practices each day, so that we are confident and proficient in all aspects of the game when that regional tournament begins.
Today is the beginning, but it isn't the beginning of the end. It is the beginning of a few weeks to continue playing and acting like champions, of several days of looking and believing like champions do. Today we can celebrate the academic achievements of the seniors, and tomorrow those seniors can lead us to complete the goals we set before the season started.
"I believe in the promised land." Bruce Springsteen
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