The Elizabethtown College baseball team had a rough start to the season, ending 4-5 on their spring break trip to Fort Pierce, Fla. After their trip down south, the Jays have not only had to battle their opponents, but also the weather.
While in Florida, the Jays could not seem to get the sweep of any team. Although they picked up their first win of the season against La Roche College 9-2, they followed the win with a painful loss by 27 runs. The Jays picked up another loss to Penn State Behrend 2-6 before beating Susquehanna University by 10 runs. Etown was dealt another large deficit loss by Muhlenburg College the same day they fell to Westminster College. The Jays returned the following day for a doubleheader against Westminster, but again missed the sweep of the day, settling for a spilt instead.
Redshirt junior shortstop Kyle Gable said, “We played a lot of good competition in Florida. We have quite a few young guys playing and hopefully we can learn from those early games and bring our best baseball up north, especially in conference.”
The Jays returned from Florida, but still struggled to get the momentum on their side. Etown played York College this past Wednesday and could not hold them off, losing 5-9. The Jays started the game in the driver’s seat, scoring first in the top of the second off first-year Aaron Rahn’s single to right field, earning him his first career run batted in (RBI). On defense, the Jays stayed strong behind starting pitcher and senior Jake Hoffstein until the fourth inning. York loaded the bases with a double, walk and bunt. Hoffstein allowed two more walks forcing in the runs and giving York their first lead, 2-1. A passed ball and single drove in two more runs, until Head Coach Cliff Smith decided to make a change on the mound, bringing in sophomore Kris Davis.
The Jays were not to be kept down. Answering in the following inning off the bat of senior catcher Dillon Tagle and again in the seventh inning, the Jays were still not able to put up enough to close the gap. York’s pitcher, Josh Kohn, picked up the win going 5.2 innings while Hoffstein was handed his second loss of the season.
The Jays started their conference play just two days later against Arcadia University. The Jays were slated for a single nine-inning game on Friday at Arcadia followed by a pair of seven-inning games on Saturday at home. Due to bad weather, the Jays’ doubleheader was postponed not once, but twice, pushing the games to this Sunday, March 24. Luckily, Etown was able to get one game in, even though they finished the game playing in the snow.
From the beginning of the game the Jays started in the hole, allowing six unearned runs in the first inning. Senior Matt Ruth started the game on the mound and had the inning almost complete before a two-out error allowed the Arcadia University Knights to continue and score six runs off of four hits. The Jays attempted to answer back with an RBI single from Gable that scored sophomore Ryan Haggerty. The Knights continued to score in the fourth off a fielder’s choice and in the eighth with a combination of an RBI single and a two-run home run. The Jays made one last attempt in the top of the ninth, scoring their final run with an RBI single from junior Ian Smith, but it would not be enough. The final score was 2-10.
Although Etown has seen a few rough weeks, the Jays believe now is the time everything will come together with another conference weekend against Stevenson University. Tagle stated, “This is by far one of the hardest working teams I have played on over the years. Everyone is excited for the opportunity to go out and win some conference games. Even though we lost a few games, everyone seems to be falling into their comfort zone and I really expect us to settle into a groove and put together a string of wins soon. We are looking forward to working hard all week so we can come out looking sharp against Stevenson and pick up our first conference win.”
The Jays will first play a nine-inning game against Stevenson at home Friday, March 22, followed by two seven-inning games Saturday, March 23. As a new opponent in the Middle Atlantic Conference, this will be the first time the Jays will play the Mustangs.