|
Baseball
Holy Cross’ 4-11 record in its first 15 games is not
indicative of how competitive its season has been thus far.
Seven of the College’s 11 losses were decided by two
runs or less, including four games lost by a single run.
The Crusaders kicked off their 2003 season with a grueling
six-game swing down south. The team won its first game, a
5-3 decision over Valparaiso. On March 3, a 3-for-4 effort
at the plate by Drew Bigda ’05 (Stamford, Conn.)
backed up a solid outing on the mound. Bigda scattered five
hits over 5.2 innings with one strikeout. The next day, center
fielder Tom Potvin ’06 (Worcester) led the team’s
offense against St. Bonaventure, registering three hits in
the 4-2 loss. The Crusaders dropped a 10-4 decision to Duquesne
on March 5, despite out-hitting their opponents, 9-8. In
their second meeting with St. Bonaventure, the Crusaders
rallied from a 6-2 deficit heading into the bottom of the
eighth but came up one run short, losing, 6-5. The Crusaders
then stumbled against perennial nemesis, Boston College,
7-5. Mike Schell ’05 (Newtown, Pa.) had three
hits along with two RBIs in the loss to the Eagles. The team
was then hit with another heartbreaking loss, this time to
Harvard, 3-2, despite a fine pitching effort from D.J.
Lucey ’03 (Shewsbury, Mass.). Lucey three-hit the
Crimson for 8.0 innings, racking up five strikeouts. Bigda
suffered the loss in that game as Harvard scored three runs
in the bottom of the ninth.
Since returning to the Northeast, Holy Cross has won three
of nine contests. The team’s first game after Florida
was a 12-4 loss to Central Connecticut. However the next
contest saw a win over Bentley, 5-2. Mike Marron ’05 (Huntingdon
Valley, Pa.) pushed across the game-winning run as both Bigda
and Bill Andruskevich ’03 (Milford, Mass.) each
tagged a pair of hits.
UMass Lowell used a seven-run inning en route to an 11-5
victory in the Crusaders’ next outing. Boston College
then revisited Holy Cross and notched an 8-4 win despite
nine strikeouts from John Dibble ’03 (West Orange,
N.J.). In a fiercely contested Patriot League battle, Bucknell
took three of four games from Holy Cross at the end of March.
The Crusaders were paced by Marron and Potvin, who each batted
.455 in the four-game series. In addition, Marron, the No.
9 hitter, and Bigda drove in five runs each.
Holy Cross dropped the first game, 5-4, and fell, 3-2, in
the second game of the doubleheader. The team then recovered
from an 8-6 loss in game one to defeat the Bison, 5-1, in
the final game of the series behind a solid pitching effort
from Jim McCloud ’06 (Medfield, Mass.). He struck
out six batters and did not issue a walk in a complete, seven-inning
effort. Ben Deane ’03 (East Longmeadow, Mass.)
led the way to a 3-1 victory over Siena in early April. The
senior scattered five hits through 6.0 innings of work, giving
up one unearned run, and striking out three Saint batters.
|
