The Lafayette baseball team is struggling at the moment with a record of 2-13 nearly midway through their season. The Leopards are coming off of a four game sweep in their Patriot League opener against Holy Cross, dropping two games by a score of just 1-0.
“We’ve played some good competition and have played pretty well for the most part,” senior Cory Spera said.“Games when we hit really well we don’t necessarily do the same in the field and on the mound and vice versa.”
Junior pitcher Ryan Callanan echoed Spera’s take on the team’s inconsistency, citing that this past weekend against Holy Cross shows just that.
“We didn’t pitch very well Sunday we gave up 7 and 9 runs—that’s not a winning effort,” Callanansaid.“Our team ERA is high but it’s definitely not indicative of how we throw because we’ve had some games where its gotten really inflated and some games where we pitch really well.”
Something that has let the team grow from game to game has been the addition of a new film system this year, giving instant access to game footage. This could be beneficial for individual players to make adjustments.
Another positive aspect of this season for the team has been the addition of assistant coach Tanner Biagini.Biaginiadds a different outlook to the team, providing new drills at practice that have started to be beneficial and providing new mindsets when playing.
“He’s trying to keep us a lot more loose,” junior pitcher Mitch Leeds said. “He has us tell a joke before a game so we’re relaxed.”
Despite the new outlook for the Leopards, the weather has undoubtedly hindered them.Most Patriot League teams have played a total of 23 games, compared to Lafayette’s 15 games. This can be attributed to poor scheduling, like planning weekend series in Delaware and Maryland at the end of the winter and a Feb. 27 game against LaSalle in Easton.
“We’ve gotten a ton of those [games] cancelled so to get ourselves kind of back in action instead of having a week between all the games would be really good,” Spera said.
This lack of consistency in game play is definitely a big factor for the team.
“This is the best infield play we’ve had in four years, our main problem is just hitting right now,” senior James McCool said.“I think we have the talent we are just still trying to figure out the best lineup on the field because of the lack of games. It’s a combination of inconsistency and finding the right people.”
The Leopards need to find out that winning combination quickly because they play Army this weekend- a team the senior class is 0-14 against. They need to beat Army because of if the Leopards get swept this weekend, afuture playoff birth with a 0-8 in league record already seems doubtful.
Army’s ace, senior Alex Robinett, has already thrown a no hitter this year, but Lafayette sophomore pitcher David Bednar is going to be just as tough for Army to handle. Bednar has posts a 2.62 ERA in just four games this season.
“We are going to rally around our pitching and take that as a strong point into the weekend,” junior pitcher Connor McMahon said.“Even how we’re doing we still have a lot more talent than we’re showing we just haven’t started clicking.”