Men’s baseball team is optimistic after a productive fall ball season

As the days grow colder in anticipation of winter, the Saint Anselm Baseball team winds down its fall season and heads indoors until spring. Although the fall season was short for the Hawks, it was a productive season. Head Coach Barry Rosen remains very optimistic for this year's team and emphasized the hard work that everyone put into their practices both on and off the field.

"The squad is getting a lot of work in and has improved defensively," Rosen explained. "The freshmen have picked up on our defensive system very well, and I attribute that to having more repetitions due to the smaller squad." The team roster consists of just twenty-five players. In the past, the typical roster consisted of 30 players. The curtailed roster creates both advantages and disadvantages for the Hawks. While, the bench is a lot thinner, the players that are on the team will get a lot more playing time than in the past, practices will be much more efficient.

During the winter, the team practices inside the Carr Center through a workout system led by pitching coach, Nick Cenatiempo. Rosen explained, "we now go into our off-season conditioning program, which consists of speed, strength, power, and plyometric training." Senior captain Dan DeCoste added, "winter workouts will be tough, but it's all about getting better, and our coaching staff is fully dedicated to pushing us to our limits and making us physically prepared for the upcoming season."

The team has high expectations for when they return in the spring. Players are hoping that this will be their year. Most of the team is returning from last year, so they hope to build on their success and make a playoff run come springtime. "As for the spring time expectations, this team will win, we will make playoffs, and it will be a great thing for the athletics department at Saint A's," said Junior Captain Rob Kelly. Kelly leads a deep core of talented hitters, but perhaps the team's greatest strength is their pitching staff.

The starting rotation consists mainly of seniors, as they retained most of the staff from last year and will be relied on heavily this year. Seniors John Healy, Sean Hayden, Neil Hesek, Tim Cooney, and Joe Latino are all expected to have a major impact on the spring season, but they are complimented by many underclassmen that can contribute regularly. "Our pitching staff will be the strength of the team. We have five senior pitchers with very good skills. They will get the bulk of the starts. The underclassmen will provide the relief, and they all throw strikes and have good movement on their pitches. We will not hesitate to use any of our staff," Coach Rosen added confidently.

Expectations will be high when the team heads south for Spring Training, beginning their season February 11th at Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. Coach Rosen also stated that at least three of their players will get looks from professional scouts, and he is hoping that these players will inspire the rest of the team to elevate their game to that level. Springtime afternoon baseball games are a pastime on the Hilltop, and the games usually have a good turnout from the campus community. "We're also looking forward to playing in front of the best and biggest home crowd in the league --left field rowdies," said DeCoste. "Every kid I talk to who plays against us says their left fielders hate playing here."