By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, News Correspondent
Winning the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Rookie of the Year award doesn’t guarantee continued success, but last year’s winner Aaron Barbosa has picked up right where he left off.
Barbosa, a sophomore outfielder, continued to put up team and conference leading numbers through the first month of the season.
Barbosa took command in the leadoff spot in the Northeastern line-up, leading the team in batting average with .353 – which also ranks 11th in the CAA of players with 30 or more starts this season – and in hits with 48.
“He’s gone to the next level from being Rookie of the Year in the conference to now being probably a legitimate all-star in the conference,” head coach Neil McPhee said.
However, the starting center fielder seems to have his focus on more team goals rather than individual honors.
“What I try to focus on is being better for the sake of our team being better,” Barbosa said. “Our goal coming in to the season was to finish sixth and make the conference tournament. I really kind of built my motivation around that.”
Barbosa has had a red-hot April, recording a 19 game streak of reaching base before going 0-4 at bat Sunday against George Mason University.
However, the streak came during the team’s worst slump of the season as the team has now only won two of their last 13 games, nine of those games being in-conference play.
“Really, all my focus was on that the team wasn’t winning, like I wasn’t paying attention to how well I was doing and everyday, even during the little losing streak we had, I was focused on getting hits for the sake of the team breaking the losing streak and the team winning this game,” Barbosa said.
He played a key part in the Huskies finally breaking the eight-game losing streak April 11 against Harvard. Barbosa led the team with four hits and his first home run of the season against the Crimson. The sophomore also got four hits in the Huskies’ 6-3 win in Friday’s series-opener against George Mason.
“From my personal experience, when I see someone else or a group of guys hitting well it definitely improves everyone’s confidence going up to the plate,” Barbosa said.
In Saturday and Sunday’s losses to George Mason, Barbosa did not have a hit, going 0-for-9. However, throughout the season, Barbosa has been one of the most consistent contributors to the Husky line-up, batting .353, current ranked 10th in the CAA.
“He’s got a chance to go beyond this level. He can really swing the bat, got great speed so for us, he’s a huge key at the top of our order,” McPhee said. “Hopefully we add more of the talent that came with this freshman class and you start meshing it all together, he’s going to be the spark that gets the offense going, no question.”
