This last weekend, the Hamilton baseball team returned to its home field after two weeks of Spring Break play. The Continentals took on SUNY-Canton in a doubleheader on Sunday, Mar. 25, the first home series for Hamilton of the spring season. The Continentals swept the doubleheader, thanks primarily to the bats of Jarret Lee ’21 and Nate Goodman ’20. Lee picked up four RBI’s over the two games on a six for nine batting performance, while Goodman drove in three runs in game two. Danny DePaoli ’18 and Gavin Schaefer-Hood ’21 earned victories on the mound for the Continentals, with Ian Nish ’19 picking up the save in game one.
The Continentals team had an eventful weekend on the road at Amherst, posting two razor thin losses during a Saturday doubleheader after their Friday game was postponed. This was Hamilton’s first NESCAC action of the season after recording an out of conference record of 6–7. The team has been streaky this year, beginning the season with a disappointing seven game losing streak, before rattling off six straight wins to right the ship. Riding this wave of success, the Continentals were hoping to do some damage as they travelled to Massachusetts for their tilts with the Mammoths.
Senior pitcher Spencer Vogelbach ’18 started the game, and put together two and 2/3 innings in which he gave up four runs on six hits, while striking out two before being relieved by Tom Riley ’20 in the third. Riley brought stability to the game, allowing the Continentals to start cutting away at the Mammoths lead, as the he gave up only one hit through four shutout innings. The Continentals’ bats had been stymied all game before finally breaking through in the 6th inning, as Hamilton produced a furious rally to tie the game up at four. The comeback was led by James Nish ’20, who brought home two runs with a triple, and Matt Zaffino ’21 who added two more RBI’s courtesy of a home run blast.
After Nish ’19 shut Amherst down over the course of his one and a third innings, the game went to the bottom of the 9th inning still tied. Unfortunately, Gavin Schaefer-Hood ’21, who’s had a strong start to his Hamilton career, wasn’t able to fool the Mammoths’ bats. Amherst picked up a run on three hits for the walk-off win, ending what was a roller coaster ride of a game. Of course, Hamilton couldn’t dwell on the close 5–4 loss, as the two teams had the second leg of a double header to finish later that day.
Fortunately for the fans who made the trip to Amherst, this game brought more fireworks with an incredibly competitive back and forth contest. The bats of both teams came alive in the high scoring affair, as 19 runs were produced throughout the game.
Amherst took a quick 4–1 lead in the first inning before the Continentals stormed back to tie the game at 5 in the second. After the Mammoths had retaken and stretched their lead to three, Hamilton pulled even in the top of the sixth inning, courtesy of Graham McOsker ’20. The Sophomore infielder smashed home three runs with a clutch double, providing his team with some much-needed energy. The comeback ultimately fell short again however, as Amherst gained the lead back in the bottom of the inning, and held on for the win.
The Continentals were forced to rely on their pitching depth, as five pitchers were used throughout the game with noone pitching more than two innings. Ian Nish ’19 was a rock once again in his outing, stretching his scoreless streak to four and two thirds innings, and lowering his earned run average to a stellar 1.04.
The Continental attack was by committee in this game, with seven players recording a hit. The offence was led by McOsker, Matt Cappelletti ’21 who chipped in 2 RBI’s, and Craig Sandford ’19 who added an RBI single. Matt Zaffino ’21 also added to his superb season with an RBI, pushing his season total to 15, to go along with his .405 batting average.
Although this weekend didn’t go as the Buff and Blue had planned, they haven’t let the results dampen their spirits. Catcher Craig Sandford ’19, knows that a team goes through ups and downs, and a season rarely goes perfectly.
“We came out oo the wrong end of two really good, close ball games,” he said. “We showed a lot of resilience and grit, and unfortunately the results weren’t what we wanted.”
Nonetheless, Sandford likes where their team is heading moving forward. The season is long, and the Continentals have showed the promise that they can find success over their remaining schedule: “We’ve got an unbelievably close knit group of guys that are playing gritty, quality baseball and are excited about the opportunities that lay ahead of us. Although our record may not indicate it, we feel good about where we are at right now and are ready to get rolling again.”
This team has skill and strong chemistry, which is usually a recipe for triumph. With an already existing track record of bouncing back, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Continentals put together another long winning streak in the near future. With the majority of the NESCAC schedule remaining, there is lots of time to get back on the right track.
Hamilton’s next games are this Saturday, April 7 at SUNY Polytechnic, before they return home the following day, April 8, for matchups with SUNY Polytechnic and SUNY Cobleskill.
