By Thomas Brown
Contributer
The Seton Hill men’s baseball team is leading their conference going into mid-season. With an overall record of 16-5, the Griffins are 11-0 in WVIAC and they don’t appear to be slowing down.
After suffering some losses early in the season, it appears that they just needed to warm up. “We lost games early in the year and actually are on a 13-game win streak right now. Our guys were just figuring out where they fit into the mix and really not concentrating on just doing their jobs. Now that they understand their roles, everyone has been contributing in their own ways,” said head coach Marc Marizzaldi.
This year’s team boasts a strong pitching rotation with Rick Raraigh, Brad Schnelle, and Alex Haines. On offense, 3rd baseman Tom Deangelis, second baseman Dave McCarthy, designated hitter Mike Leviseur, and short-stop Nick Erminio are proving to be invaluable assets on the diamond.
At the plate, the team has several solid hitters. “We have a couple of guys hovering around .400—Tom Deangelis and Mike LeViseur—but nobody is carrying us. We have had lots of different guys stepping up in crucial situations. Our guys have lots of trust in each other and I think that shows by everyone making contributions,” said Marizzaldi, and there is certainly no lack of talent on the mound either. “Our two freshmen—Brad Schnelle and Alex Haines—have performed like veterans and it’s been a pleasant surprise. But our bullpen has been very solid as well, with guys like Brian Warheit, Clint White, and Christian Muth giving us stoppers on the back ends of games.”
Despite the team’s recent success, however, they’re not taking anything for granted. “We’ve won 13 straight, but the streak doesn’t mean anything. We are just playing 1 game at a time right now and really focused on the next pitch and next opponent,” said Marizzaldi. He attributes the team’s consistent progress to this no-nonsense attitude and is fully confident that the best is yet to come; “I really don’t think we’ve played our best baseball yet, so it’s always a work in progress, whether you’re winning or losing.”
When asked what the team still needs to work on, Marizzaldi replied, “the biggest challenge for us is focus. Over the course of 50 games, it’s difficult to maintain a competitive focus every pitch.” Despite this ongoing challenge, however, the rest of the season looks bright for Seton Hill men’s baseball. Looking forward to the second half of the season, Marizzaldi projects,“If we stay healthy, we should enjoy sustained success. Our guys know they have not played their best baseball. We’re all very excited to see how good we can be when we do put it all together—we won the WVIAC last season and made the NCAA Regional Tournament. Our goal this year is to go further.
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