As one of the most productive and busy weeks of the season, the Blue Jays’ baseball trip to Florida provides a chance for the team to accumulate many in-game repetitions, develop team chemistry and springboard the team into the upcoming Centennial Conference season.
This year’s trip was no different for the Jays, and it came at a decisive moment in the arc of Hopkins’ season.
The Jays came into the trip in less than stellar shape — with an overall record of 1-4-1, albeit, with two of the losses coming in games facing the No. 1 nationally-ranked Cortland State in the previous week. Some teams might take solace in this fact, but this Hopkins squad has their own national championship aspirations and talent and was disappointed by their middling start.
The first game of the week in Florida, however, was much of the same for the Jays since they lost 10-4 to Thiel College in uninspiring fashion. Thiel managed to accumulate five runs in both the fifth and the seventh innings against the Blue Jays, due largely to errors and walks that yielded big innings.
After a first game that was hardly the way they wanted to start their trip, the Jays suited up the next morning for a 9 a.m. showdown against Bethel University. The Jays tightened up their defense, recording zero errors against a tough Bethel team, resulting in an 8-5 victory.
Senior relief pitcher Ross Lazicky weighed in on what this first Florida victory meant to the team. Rather than being an adjustment made overnight, he saw the change as being a long time coming.
“It was just everything the coaches have been preaching since the fall and what we’ve been practicing finally all clicking,” Lazicky said. “We just needed to find our stride, and after that first game in Florida we definitely found it.”
The Jays proceeded to go on a winning tear, winning six of their next seven games, including games where they were forced to grind out solid team wins, a mark of a successful team.
Against Amherst College, the Blue Jays found themselves in a three run hole with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.The Jays strung together four hits in a row by juniors Ryan Orgielewicz, Tommy Mee, Conor Reynolds and Brian Lin to send the game into extra innings.
The Jays overcame another deficit in the tenth inning and, following a key walk by senior David Mampre, won the game after Mee beat out a throw to first base, scoring senior Raul Shah and giving Lazicky his second win of the season.
Lazicky lauded the awakening of the Blue Jay bats and pointed to them as a key to the success that the team experienced in Florida.
“Hitters began to absolutely mash the ball,” the reliever said. “The hitters gave the pitching staff a lot of early leads in games, which allowed the pitchers to be able to pitch with a lead, which all players know is a huge advantage at any level.”
The Jays averaged nearly 10 runs over their last eight games, highlighted by a 16-run performance against the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils.
The early lead that Lazicky noted was essential, once again, as the 12-run lead that the Jays held for two-thirds of the game dissipated in the late innings, resulting in a fairly close affair.
UW-Stout threatened in the last inning, scoring two runs with two runners on base before Lazicky slammed the door, striking out the two batters he faced.
The trend of different relief pitchers stepping up during important situations is very encouraging to the Jays and will become especially necessary come postseason.
“There have been some times that I struggled this year, and the hitters and other bullpen pitchers have picked me up,” Lazicky said. “This is a great confidence booster going into Conference play.”
The Jays finished the break comfortably over the .500 mark, at 8-6-1, and are looking forward to the final few tune-up games before the Conference season commences.
