Mustangs Tenaciously Dominate Myrtle Beach Spring Training
Myrtle Beach, SC - The Mustangs baseball team traveled down to Myrtle Beach South Carolina to participate in the Ripken Experience's Spring Training playing seven games in five days! The Mustangs not only had to battle other top-level Division II & III collegiate teams, but the abnormally cold ocean air and intense fatigue. But through all of their challenges they rose to the occasion and played past the point of exhaustion earning an incredible four wins and only three losses!
Sunday March 12, SUNY Sullivan
The Mustangs were rushed into the week after severe thunderstorms pushed their first game forward by three hours as the bus lagged players got off to a slow start against the Division II State University of New York Sullivan Generals. Ace starter Evan Wineburg pitched through 3 innings only giving up 2 hits and 2 earned runs with 2 strikeouts, while A.J. Schnieder and Jimmy Marino pitched 3 innings of relief without any earned runs. Gregg Hanson started the scoring off for the Mustangs with a double before advanced to third and scoring on two passed balls. Final Score Generals 6, Mustangs 1.
Monday March 13, Finger Lakes Community College Double Header
Not letting their first loss get in their heads, the Mustangs immediately bounced back for a double header against the Lakers of Finger Lakes Community College. Cole Schuck took the mound for the Mustangs, allowing no earned runs, 1 hit and 4 strikeouts through 4 2/3 innings. Connor "Woody" Woodson was lights out in relief striking out 3 Lakers, while allowing no runs and only 3 hits in 2 1/3 innings. Offensively the Mustangs kicked it into gear in the 4th inning. Sophomore Sean McAfee kicked things off with a 7 pitch walk and reached second base from a sacrifice bunt from Evan Wineburg. Connor English shot a line drive into center field sending McAfee to third and Jake Phillips walked to load the bases. The Lakers could not handle the heat of the moment as a wild pitch scored McAfee and Travis Schiller sent a sacrifice fly to deep left field to put the Mustangs up 2-0 with two outs with Phillips on third. Finally, Mike Greco capitalized on a fielding error from his hard hit ground ball to first base to score the Mustangs third run of the inning. Thanks to our elite pitching the Lakers were unable to get their offense going and the Mustangs took the first game with a Final Score of Mustangs 4, Lakers 2.
Game two against the Lakers was a bullpen game with Evan Wineburg starting his second game in as many days. The Mustangs tried out new arms, but our defense could not keep up after more errors caused us to fall behind early. The Lakers struggled on the mound as well after 3 walks and three wild pitches allowed Jake Phillips and Travis Schiller to score in the bottom of the fourth inning. Cole Schuck started a late game comeback with a 7 pitch walk, quickly followed by back to back singles by Sean McAfee and Aidan Rapp loaded the bases. Connor English and Schiller put the ball in play with a hard ground out and sacrifice fly to score two runs. While Michael Pennisi singled on a ground ball past the shortstop for a pinch-hit RBI! Final Score Lakers 11, Mustangs 5.
Tuesday March 14, Community College of Morris @ Pelicans Ballpark
Spirits were high going into Tuesday, as a last-minute schedule change saw us facing off against Region 19 Division II rival Community College of Morris Knights at the historic Pelicans Ballpark! With tired arms across the team Head Coach Mike Fitzgerald turned to the yet untested Gregg Hanson to take the mound in his first start of the season. Hanson proved to be more than ready for the challenge of the DII Knights as Gregg proceed to pitch the Mustang's first complete game of the season! Lasting all 7 innings and throwing an impressive 100 pitches, Hanson only allowed 3 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 5 of the Knights in an incredible first pitching appearance. The team rallied behind Gregg as he started the Mustang's offensive production to give himself plenty of room to pitch behind. With two strikes, Hanson shot a hard ground ball pass the third baseman for a single and was quickly joined on base by Sean McAfee after he was hit by a pitch. Heads up baserunning after a wild pitch paved the way for Rapp to launch a hard ground ball into right field scoring the Mustangs first two runs! Gregg revved the offense up in his very next at bat as a pair of walks for himself and Rapp allowed them both to score after a deep fly ball from Travis Schiller for an RBI double! To cap things off in the top of the seventh, Rapp and Connor English smoked two singles into the outfield with two outs who both scored after a costly error from the Knights after Schiller's hard ground ball to first base. Not to be left out, Mike Greco sent the Knights back to their hotel with a line drive to deep center field to score Travis for the Mustang's final run. Final Score Mustangs 7, Knights 3.
Wednesday March 15, SUNY Sullivan & CCRI
In the most anticipated rematch of the season reliever Connor Woodson took the mound with only one thing on his mind, to dominate the SUNY Sullivan Generals, and domination would be an understatement! Woodson pitched the second complete game in a row for the Mustangs with 126 pitches in 7 innings. Connor only allowed 6 hits, did not allow a single earned run, and struck out an incredible 10 of the Generals. The Mustangs wasted no time getting on the board following the momentum of Woodson's two leadoff strikeouts, and the Generals quickly realized they were not facing the same team from Sunday. Sean McAfee led the game off with a walk and quickly stole second base. With runners on the corners after a single from Aidan Rapp, Travis Schiller singled up the middle to start the game with a quick 2-0 lead. The Mustang's kept up the pressure in the third, after Jake Phillips singled and stole second base forcing an error from the Generals when Mike Greco sent a ground ball to shortstop allowing Phillips to score. The remainder of the game was the Woody show, as Woodson decimated General after General securing the win for the Mustangs! Final Score Mustangs 3, Generals 2.
Unfortunately, the victory lap would not last long as after 6 games in 4 days, the Mustangs were still short on pitching. Facing off against the Knights of the Community College of Rhode Island we brought in two new pitchers Travis Schiller and Mike Greco, as well as partially exhausted arms in A.J. Schnieder and Jimmy Marino the Mustangs struggled to locate the strike zone and what was a close game quickly got out of hand. Nevertheless, the Mustangs shined offensively scoring 8 runs off of 8 hits! Jake Ankele had a fantastic game reaching base in all of his at bats with 3 hits and scoring 2 of our runs. While Sean McAfee and Cole Schuck both had 2 hits and at least one RBI, while Schuck had 3 RBIs against the Knights! Aidan Rapp and Schiller each had 2 hits and 1 RBI respectively. The Mustangs were also dominate on the bases with Ankele, McAfee and Schuck each stealing 2 bases. Final Score Knights 18, Mustangs 8.
Thursday March 16th, Central Maine Community College
With a 10 hour drive on the horizon, the Mustangs wanted to end their week with a win against their fellow Mustangs of Central Maine Community College. After several days of rest Evan Wineburg took the mound for his third start in 5 days and was back to his usual dominance! Evan showed who the true Mustangs were pitching for 6 innings while not allowing a single earned run and only 2 hits! While Evan could have possibly pitched in the 7th, Cole Schuck took the mound to rest Evan's arm after a long week. Schuck pitched incredibly striking out 2 Mustangs while only allowing 1 hit in his one inning pitched. The team was looking to end their week on a high note and got things started quickly in the bottom of the 2nd inning. A pair of walks from Mike Greco and Jimmy Marino as well as a single from Jake Bruno loaded the bases for Jake Ankele to bat in the first run after a fielder's choice ground ball to shortstop. With two outs the Mustangs were aggressive on the base path as Bruno stole home after an attempted 2-6-2 fake pickoff after Ankele stole second base. And just three pitches later, Ankele scored from second base after a wild pitch to put the Mustangs up 3-0! The Mustangs found their most success in the third after Aiden Rapp and Connor English started off their rally with a pair of singles! With runners on the corners, the Maine Mustangs attempted the same 2-6-2 fake pickoff after English stole second base, but after an error by their shortstop, Rapp easily scored. Jake Phillips and Travis Schiller both walked in great defensive at bats loading the bases for the second time this game! Greco was quick to capitalize after an error by the CMCC first baseman allowed him to reach first safely while earning a RBI and keeping the bases loaded. Bruno had a fantastic 7 pitch walk to score another run while Ankele scored our last run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to center field. By the end of the game, the Mustangs were exhausted but victorious and earned their much needed rest during their long ride home! Final Score Mustangs (PA) 8, Mustangs (ME) 1.
Statistical Standouts!
Aidan Rapp led the Mustangs with a .409 batting average, followed by Jake Phillips and Jake Ankele with a .375 average.
Aidan Rapp also led the Mustangs in hits with 9, while Connor English had 5, Travis Schiller, Sean McAfee and Cole Schuck each had 4.
The Mustangs had three doubles with one each from Travis Schiller, Jake Phillips, and Gregg Hanson.
Travis Schiller led the team in RBIs with 7, followed by Aidan Rapp with 4 and Cole Schuck with 3.
Sean McAfee led the team in runs scored with 7 as he also led the team in walks alongside Travis Schiller with 5.
Jake Bruno led the team with the least number of strikeouts only striking out once despite starting all 7 games!
The Mustangs needed a lot of ice this week as Jake Phillips, Connor English, Sean McAfee, and Jake Bruno were all hit by a pitch.
The Mustangs were complete thieves on the basepath stealing a total of 19 bases, with Sean McAfee leading the team with 5, followed by Cole Schuck with 4, and Jake Phillips and Jake Ankele with 3. Not a single Mustang was caught stealing this week!
In a long week, pitching proved to be the most critical aspect of play. Evan Wineburg led the Mustangs with 11.1 innings pitched and 160 pitches thrown. Connor Woodson pitched 9.1 innings and threw 165 pitches. In total 824 pitches were thrown in 45.2 innings across our 9 pitchers.
Two pitchers Cole Schuck and Connor Woodson had an ERA of 0 for the week allowing no earned runs while Gregg Hanson and Travis Schiller only allowed 2 and 1 earned runs respectively earning an ERA of 2 and 2.33! In total the Mustangs combined for an ERA of 3.985!
Cole Schuck (.706), Gregg Hanson (1), and Connor Woodson (1.071) also led the team in WHIP as the Mustangs combined for an impressive 1.599 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched).
The Mustangs accumulated 39 strikeouts, led by Connor Woodson's 13 K's. Followed close behind by Cole Schuck's 6, and Evan Wineburg, Gregg Hanson, and A.J. Schnieder who each had 5!
- Thomas Meehan, Gameday Operations Coordinator