The Blue Jay baseball team will be playing on a field befitting of its storied history for the first time this upcoming season since the construction of Babb Field at Stromberg Stadium was completed this summer. Bob Babb’s squad is looking to turn out a season that lives up to its beautiful new digs.
The infield and outfield surface of the new field is a baseball-specific turf called Double Play Classic and is the same playing surface used by elite D-I programs like Louisville, Texas and Oregon. The mound on Babb Field remains dirt, and a new 20-foot net in right field was put in to corral long fly balls before they hit cars and pedestrians on University Parkway.
The right field fence is just 295 feet from home plate but plays more like 320 feet, while the other dimensions of the field are 307 feet in left field, 340 feet in left center, 396 feet out to dead center and 320 feet in right center. The fences include a windscreen and banners displaying conference championships, NCAA Tournament and NCAA World Series appearances.
Visitors to Stromberg Stadium this year will enjoy a grandstand with individual seats that can accommodate 260 people along with several standing-room-only locations.
The press box will now include cameras for live-streaming games and a new public address system with speakers in both dugouts and the grandstand. A large scoreboard with video and animation features will be in place for the start of the season.
In short, the viewing experience at Hopkins baseball games is set to improve dramatically. An outdoor plaza area down the right field line has tables and chairs and a beautiful bathroom facility as well as a concession area. During a ceremony earlier in the year, University President Ronald J. Daniels dedicated the field officially.
Last year’s season was disappointing for a Hopkins team that has traditionally dominated the Centennial Conference. The Jays finished 22-18 overall and 9-9 in conference play. Playing every game on the road because of the construction on the new field proved quite taxing for the team.
However, the Jays will return with many of their mainstays from last year’s team and look forward to welcoming several promising freshman.
The Jays, much like last year, will be anchored by proven, solid pitching staffs. Redshirt senior fireballer Jake Enterlin will lead the Hopkins rotation after a 3-3 campaign in which he struck out 49 hitters and recorded a 2.91 ERA.
Junior Carter Burns had another great season with five wins in 54 innings pitched to go with a .195 opponents batting average and 55 strikeouts.
Big things are also expected from junior starter Trevor Williams who led the Jays with a 2.14 ERA and racked up four wins in six starts behind 40 strikeouts and a befuddling cut fastball.
Junior sinkerballer Colin Friedman, affectionately known by his teammates as the “Horseman,” racked up 45 innings of work and a 3.40 ERA.
Out of the bullpen, senior captain Justin Drechsel will likely handle the closing duties after recording two saves last year and 18 strikeouts in 17 innings of work. Junior Ross “The Boss” Lazicky looks to play an integral role out of the pen this year after turning in a 2.31 ERA last year, best among Blue Jay relievers. Fifth-year senior reliever Ed Bryner, the senior statesman of this year’s Jay squad, will provide veteran leadership and plenty of wisecracks from the pen.
The Jays are not short of talent on the other side of the ball either. Senior utility man Craig Hoelzer led the conference in hitting last year with a .416 batting average to go with 16 runs batted in. The position of shortstop will likely be held by second-team All-Conference sophomore Conor Reynolds, who paced the Jays’ running game with 12 swiped bags and hit at a .350 clip, including five doubles.
Other Hopkins position players who will make an impact right out of the gate include senior Colin McCarthy, who hit .383 with seven doubles in the 3-hole, and led Jay regulars with a solid .489 slugging percentage.
Both sophomore Ryan Orgielewicz and junior Mitchell (Andrew) Weaver are outstanding defensive catchers and will likely get plenty of time behind the plate.
Several spots in the Hopkins line-up are up for the taking, and Babb is excited to see who steps up to win spots. Several freshmen showed quite a bit of promise in the fall intersquad season, and many veterans who have not seen much playing time will get a chance to show what they can do this season.
Opening Day for the Jays is home against Alvernia. The excitement is palpable on the baseball team for the first game on the new Babb Field. The team is hoping that fans brave the initial cold to see them play, as the team’s first eight games are at home this year before the Jays head down to sunny Fort Myers, Fla. for their spring trip.
