Last weekend, the baseball team traveled to Johnson City, Tennessee for its season opener against the East Tennessee State University Bucs. The trip resulted in three consecutive losses, starting off the Leopard’s season on a rocky note.
In the first game Friday, the Bucs jumped out to a 9-0 lead. While the Maroon and White attempted to respond with two runs, they were quickly answered by two more from the Bucs, bringing the score to 11-2 at the end of the second inning.
One of the Leopards’ runs was brought in by sophomore catcher Ethan Swidler who hit an RBI double down the right-field line that allowed senior infielder Blaze Fadio to score.
Swidler said that the team was confident heading into its season opener. He attributed this confidence to the team’s opportunity to be able to practice on the field in the winter season rather than in indoor facilities.
“Those outdoor practices gave us the ability to get comfortable on field again, because it is much different practicing indoors versus outdoors,” Swidler said.
The Bucs kept the pressure on until the eighth inning when Lafayette added five runs. Freshman utility player Luke Caucci aided in the scoring by lining a two-run triple to center field.
ETSU responded to these runs in the bottom of the eighth, also adding an additional five. This brought the final score to 27-7.
Caucci commented that although the season opener did not produce the results that the Leopards wanted, they are keeping a positive outlook heading into the next string of games.
“We’re very excited for the challenge and we’re looking to implement a lot of what we work on in practice,” Caucci said. “It will be a fun experience with my teammates and we are all looking forward to it.”
On Saturday, the Leopards continued their series against ETSU which resulted in another defeat with a final score of 15-5.
Similar to the first game, ETSU maintained its offensive momentum by seizing a 6-0 advantage in the second inning and extending its lead in the third inning.
The fourth inning showed signs of life for the Leopards who managed to narrow the score to 7-3. The Leopards were only able to score two more runs for the remainder of the game, while the Bucs tallied an additional eight.
The Leopards continued their losing streak on Sunday when they were only able to score a single run in the final game of the weekend series. ETSU had no trouble getting runs on the board, jumping out to an 8-0 lead. The only glimmer of hope for Lafayette during Sunday’s game was a fly ball to center field from junior catcher/infielder Ethan Young that scored junior outfielder Easton Brenner.
Though its record stands at 0-3, the team remains positive for the rest of the season. Swidler emphasized that the weekend’s games served as a learning experience.
“We have 52 games this year [and] we learned a lot during the first weekend in Tennessee,” Swidler said. “For us, it is just about moving forward. Baseball is a sport of failure and it is all about how you deal with that failure. The score didn’t dictate how hard each and every one of us played the game.”
