By Jimmy Brooks, News Staff
The Huskies baseball team now has more home runs against the Boston Red Sox than it does wins this season. As part of the Huskies’ annual Florida trip, they squared off against the Red Sox Saturday night. Senior third baseman Ryan Maguire’s first-pitch home run over pitcher Kyle Weiland gave the Huskies a run against the almighty Sox, but it didn’t get his team a win, something it still lacks.
“[The home run] was pretty crazy, nobody really knew how to react,” freshman second baseman Aaron Barbosa said. “[Maguire] was kinda joking about doing that before, so when he did, everybody was in shock.”
Since falling to the Sox 13-2, which didn’t count the Huskies are 0-6 on the season. In those six games, the squad has been outscored 62-to-21. The most recent loss came last night, when the team was no-hit and fell to Florida International 4-0.
The team’s closest brush with a win came in two games against St. Bonaventure; the team lost both games by a single run.
In the first meet Feb. 27, the squad managed to take things to the 11th inning before the Bonnies finally capitalized on a wild pitch by junior Sam Berg.
The winless start has been anything but welcome by the squad, Barbosa said.
“So far it’s been a little disappointing,” he said. “As of now, we obviously haven’t won a game. It’s been tough.”
Fielding mistakes have held the squad back, he added. The Huskies have put up 10 errors in five games, and have posted a collective fielding percentage of .948.
Despite the poor start for the Huskies, the rookie added there has been at least some upside to this season.
“The pitching’s been pretty good so far,” Barbosa said. “I still think we could do a little better job of hitting the ball, though.”
Junior pitcher Andrew Leenhouts noted that the team has made solid use of underclassmen players such as Barbosa, who he called part of a talented group.
Outside of the expected loss to the Red Sox and the two close losses to St. Bonaventure, the Huskies have also dropped decisions to Sacred Heart, Rhode Island and Florida Atlantic.
The season opening game to Sacred Heart resulted in a 6-3 defeat. Highlights of the game included a six-inning performance by senior pitcher and co-captain Les Williams, who struck out four batters. Junior co-captain Matt Miller proved to be the offensive star of the game, going 3-5 with a run.
The Huskies struggled early against Rhode Island and never recovered, losing 12-4. The Rams built a 9-1 lead by the fifth inning, and coasted to the finish. The team scored its’ first run off of a RBI single with two outs, immediately following that up with a double to center field, giving Rhode Island a 2-0 lead they never relinquished.
The game against the Florid Atlantic Owls proved to end the same way, although the Huskies did jump out to a 1-0 lead with an RBI double from sophomore catcher Jon LeRoux. The lead lasted not even an inning, as Florida Atlantic responded with five runs at the bottom of the frame. Like Rhode Island, the Owls never looked back either, eventually winning 14-1.
Even after a slew of losses, Leenhouts said he feels as if the team is still as together as they were when the Florida trip started.
“[Team chemistry] is still good,” Leenhouts said. “Off the field its been good, and on the field there haven’t been any issues of people being in the wrong spot.”
Leenhouts added that the Huskies are still getting used to playing outdoors, and that the squad is still in their transition period from the offseason, where they trained indoors.
The Huskies have already played a total of six games in five days, and still have five to go in the last leg of their Florida trip. The team will have a chance for revenge against St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island, and will also face Florida Atlantic, and Western Michigan twice.
Despite the large number of games in such a short period of time, Leenhouts stopped short of making excuses for the squad, saying that fatigue hasn’t been a factor.
“I think this a test for us,” Leenhouts said. [We’ll] see how we react to this type of losing streak, [and] being in this position.”
