On Wednesday, May 1, the Hamilton College baseball team took to their home turf at the Loop Road Athletic Complex to play their final game of their 2019 season against the Utica College Pioneers in the 32nd-annual Jackie Robinson Game — a tradition that began in 1987 on the 40th anniversary of when Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier.
In an 8–3 victory over the Pioneers, the team evened out the yearly series at 16 wins for each team. This win also meant the Continentals finished their season with a .500 record for the second year in a row (16–16).
After Wednesday’s win, Matt Zaffino ’21 was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. He finished 2-for-4 with three runs batted in and was one of the two Continentals to hit a home run during the game.
Matt Cappelletti ’21, the other home run hitter, also tallied a double; Brady Slinger ’22 added two hits; Rich Marooney ’21 scored two runs, hit a single, and walked once. A key performance by Gavin Schaefer-Hood ’21, who set a program record with his 7th win of the season, also contributed to the win.
Though the team did not make the playoffs this year, Adam Wijaya ’22 says “this season was definitely one to remember.” Wijaya a first-year from Pennington, N.J., played in 13 games this season. “As a [first year],” he added, “I was fortunate enough to be welcomed in by a great senior class that everyone is going to miss next year. The team is definitely looking forward to building off the legacy that this year’s seniors left behind.”
Marooney, a sophomore from Garden City, N.Y., who ended the season with 13 runs batted in and 16 runs in total, said, “The season was gritty. Everyone in our league was beating up on each other. We ultimately fell short of our goals, but I’m proud of what we were still able to accomplish and I thank the seniors for everything they did for us.”
Zaffino, another one of the 12 sophomores on the team, agreed with Marooney that missing the NESCAC playoffs was a disappointment. “Though we didn’t reach our goal, we are bringing back a lot of good talent to next years team, and we will only get better from here,” he said. “We will absolutely remember the feeling of falling short of our end of season goal, and will work hard in the offseason to make sure we put ourselves in the best position have success in all of our goals next year.”
Zaffino, who hails from New Canaan, C.T., ended the season with 19 runs batted in, 22 runs, and one home run — the one he hit during the team’s final game against Utica College.
“The season had its ups and downs and while ultimately we didn’t achieve our goal of making playoffs, we demonstrated significant improvement from last year that we hope will serve us well in the years to come,” added Sam Rowley ’20, a soon-to-be rising senior from Dedham, M.A. Rowley says he hopes that next year will be another year to remember. Seniors Ian Nish ’19 and Craig Sanford ’19 say they will always remember this season and are bittersweet about leaving the team next year.
“I think this season was definitely a step in the right direction. We never played up to our expectations, but I believe we’ve built a solid program that will be very successful in the coming years,” said Nish, one of the team’s main pitchers.
Sanford, a catcher, ended the year with 12 runs batted in, 11 runs, and 1 home run, said that he is also “excited for the future of this team. The guys in the classes below me are incredibly talented, driven, and competitive. They have already contributed significantly to the program, and have the foundation to be successful in the future.”
Nish and Sanford, along with their twin brothers James Nish ’19 and Brett Sanford ’19, and other seniors John Carey ’19, Jordan Northrup ’19, Carter King ’19, and David Braverman ’19 round out an influential senior class. Although their Hamilton careers are finished, they say they are excited to see what great things the program does in the future and are happy they were able to leave a legacy the program can continue to build off of in the coming years.
