When Wentworth baseball coach Steve Studley held his pre-trip meeting on Feb. 27, one of the things he stressed was that we would be landing Saturday afternoon and the next thing we knew it would be Wednesday. He wasn't kidding and as Leopard Tracks tries to catch up, we are into Wednesday evening and haven't had a post since Friday night.
So here is where we stand...baseball is 3-2 through its first five games. The Leopards trekked over to Dodgertown (where every "street" in the complex is named after a Dodger legend - VERY cool for baseball history buffs) and faced a very good Oneonta State team. The Red Dragons wasted little time in the first game, plating six runs in the first, en route to a 14-9 win and earned the sweep with a 6-0 win in the nightcap. Monday was the shortest trip of the week, with a doubleheader against Newbury played at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. Newbury is a MUCH improved team from the last couple of years and gave the Leopards all they could handle, but Wentworth took the sweep, 7-4, and 2-1. The third win in a row came in a very entertaining game against Albion. Junior Doug Papuga, who gave Wentworh a 2-1 lead in the second Newbury game, hit a walk-off double to cap off a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 Wentworth win. The Leopards are supposed to play St. Joseph's of Maine Thursday morning, but the sky looks like we could be for some bad weather, which could impact Friday's twinbill against WPI as well.
A few hundred miles to the northeast, the softball team has a 3-4 record through seven games, with one game remaining on its spring trip. Wentworth opened the season with an 8-1 win over Keystone on Sunday before splitting two games on Monday. The Leopards fell, 9-8, in nine innings to Penn State-Altoona before rallying to defeat College of St. Elizabeth, 10-0. Tuesday saw Wentworth drop both its games, falling to Penn State-Berks, 4-0, and Juniata, 10-2. Wednesday's action saw Penn State-Altoona pull out a 10-2 win, while Wentworth shut out St. Elizabeth, 5-0. Box scores will be available at the official website of the Leopards later tonight.
Random Thoughts: the baseball staff enjoyed a staff dinner at Carrabba's on Monday night where Leopards Tracks HIGHLY recommends the Chicken Parm ... Tuesday night was the annual team dinner at the Outback - pitching coach Billy Sittig's favorite dining establishment. While it was a pay-as-you-go event, for a party of 37, roughly $1,040 was spent on a good meal and a fun time ... today was the off day for everyone. The staff headed to Hollywood Studios (Leopard Tracks was not there as rides have never been high on the list of things to do), while players scattered about. Some went off with their families, while a group headed on a road trip to the beach ... great to see Albion SID Bobby Lee when the Leopards and Britons battled each other. Bobby is a class act and a heck of a play by play guy. Albion bused down from Michigan and it amazes me how many teams actually drive down here ... A good number of Leopard families have made the trip to support their sons and to support the team. A big THANK YOU goes out to them ... As I wrap this up, I am going to meet a very good friend of mine, Jason Fein, who is the Director of Athletics at Drew University for dinner. Jason, a former SID at the College of Staten Island, is down here with his baseball and women's lacrosse teams and has been on a fundraising trip the past couple of days. I succeeded Jason as the president of ECAC-SIDA. His term was during the 2007-08 year, while mine was in 2008-09.
Until next time...
