Baseball team rolls through the south

The Bobcats baseball team hit the road this week with all the confidence that comes from being among the country’s best.

Currently ranked #1 in the nation according to the latest Baseball Magazine NCAA polls, the Bobcats hoped to gain even more ground as they embarked on a six-game road stretch, with Valdosta being the first stop.

After Wednesday night’s 7-3 victory over Valdosta State, the team improved to 25-4 with a 7-2 away-game record before heading off to a three-game Peach Belt Conference (PBC) series at Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C.

“We’re keeping the big picture in perspective,” said Head Coach Chris Calciano. “Our program’s never won a Peach Belt Conference, and that’s the goal. Then we’ll see about the NCAA regional level and see if we can get to the College World Series. We just have to keep rolling with it.”

The next contest began Friday, March 24, with Michael Antonini on the mound against #17 FMU (19-8), followed by a Saturday doubleheader started by Christian Castorri and Michael Bergstrom respectively.

The Bobcats lost the first game 5-2, but swept the doubleheader, winning 2-1 in the first game and 6-4 in the second game.

After the showdown with FMU, the Bobcats faced Presbyterian College. The Bobcats left Clinton, S.C. with a 11-3 victory and will be in Augusta, Ga. for a two-game series with Augusta State.

“Every weekend out, this Peach Belt Conference is a battle,” Calciano said. “We’re facing really good, highly-ranked teams. It’s the kind of league where you don’t know how it’s going to shake out until the end.”

Before the first series, Bergstrom said he believes this team’s cohesiveness is what sets it apart from those of his previous three years as a player.

“I’ve always played for a good team,” said Bergstrom, “but everything didn’t really collage like it has this year. The pitching, the hitting-the team has been doing really well as a whole up to this point.”

Calciano said it’s important for the Bobcats to seize the upperhand this trip, rather than waiting until April.

“We want to be in a better position than we were last year,” Calciano said. “We had to go out and sweep teams to make it, and we ran out of time. We want to be in control going into late April.”

According to Calciano, the Bobcats have had some big clutch hits this season, but most of their success is owed to pitching.

“Our pitching is really strong right now,” said Calciano. “We’re getting timely hits, but through 29 games, our pitching has shown up day in and day out really well.”

Going into the FMU series, Castorri said he felt “fully confident” taking the mound for Game 2, and in his team’s ability to accomplish its mission.

“(Being at the top) obviously feels good and there’s a lot of pressure out there,” said Castorri. “But you can’t let anything slip away. I think that’s where we’ve excelled as a team. We’ve won a lot of one-run, tight ballgames because we create our own opportunities. They don’t just fall on us.”

Castorri said, though the team’s high ranking has morale high, they must be careful not to underestimate any of their opponents.

The Bobcats play Augusta State this weekend. Augusta State is winless in the Peach Belt Conference this year.

The Bobcats swept Augusta State last year in a three game series with a 12-7 win in the first game. The Bobcats took game two 13-5 and rallied with five runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to complete the sweep with an 8-5 win in game three.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 31 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry