For Baseball, Consistency Is The Foundation For Success

CHICOPEE, Mass. - The Elms College baseball team is coming off the most successful season in program history. The Blazers earned a share of the inaugural New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) regular season title, and were runners-up in the conference tournament en route to a program-best 16 wins.

Consistency in every aspect of the game is the key to success for the team in 2010 under first-year head coach Mike Leonard.

“Being consistent in preparation, mental approach, and maintaining team chemistry is something that great teams can do with ease,” Coach Leonard stated. “The challenge for me as a first-year head coach is to be able achieve that with our team. If we can do that we will be in great position to win some games.”

This season’s squad features 23 players with just four newcomers. Of the returners, six are seniors and seven are juniors. With upperclassmen comprising more than half the team, leadership shouldn’t be hard to find.

“They’ve really been challenged to step up as leaders,” Coach Leonard said of the upperclassmen. “I’m still waiting for that to fully develop right now. We have three captains that were selected by the team and they each bring something different to the table. Once we start playing games, I think the leadership role changes a little bit. Being a leader during workouts and practices is one thing, but being a leader on the field during games is something different.”

The 2010 Blazers are a versatile squad with an abundance of players that can play somewhere other than their every day position.

“The challenge for me as a coach will be to get the best nine bats in the lineup, and hopefully at the end of the day, I’ll have to have someone out of the lineup who is capable of being a starter. That would be a nice luxury to have.”

Here is a look at how the roster breaks down:

PITCHERS

The pitching staff returns five lefthanders and four right-handed pitchers, including junior righty Matt Wood (Feeding Hills, Mass.), who registered a team-leading 3.54 ERA and was named NECC Pitcher of the Year in 2009.

Sophomore southpaw Zach LeBarron (Bennington, Vt.) finished last season with a team best 4-2 record and a 4.69 ERA and anchors the staff’s left-handers.

The unit also returns three seniors: right-handers Dan Ingraham (Granby, Mass.) and Mike Bieber (Wading River, N.Y.), and senior lefty James Kosiorek (Springfield, Mass.). Ingraham and Bieber were both named captains for the 2010 season.

Rounding out the staff are junior southpaw reliever Nick Cordeiro (Berkley, Mass.), sophomore Andrew Bunger (Southington, Conn.) and freshmen John Russell (Springfield, Mass.) and Ryan Burnette (Chicopee, Mass.).

“Pitching is definitely our strong point,” Coach Leonard explained. “We have five legitimate candidates to be our weekend starters. I think we bring a solid corps of returning players. Consistency is going to be our biggest hurdle to get over. I think the ability is there for us to be able to compete with anyone we play against. The question is can we be consistent enough and execute to be able to win games. I think our starting pitching will be as good as any in the NECC.”

CATCHERS

Junior Carm Bonavita (Springfield, Mass.) is the Blazers’ third captain and will be the squad’s leader behind the plate this season. Bonavita, who was one of seven Elms players to hit above .300 last season (.333), will be joined by sophomores Reynaldo Rivera (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and Sean Shanley (Bristol, Conn.). Rivera and Shanley will be called upon throughout the season to step up and perform when needed.

INFIELDERS

Seven of the Blazers’ eight infielders return from last year’s team, including junior shortstop Brendan Cordeiro (Berkley, Mass.). Cordeiro, junior Hector Roche (Bronx, N.Y.), and sophomore Nicolino Iavicoli (Hampden, Mass.) each hit above .300 in 2009.

Seniors Brian Marrero (Kendall Park, N.J.) and Mike Andrews (Greenfield, Mass.), and juniors Albert Betances (Springfield, Mass.) and Ramon Sosa (San Juan, Puerto Rico) will provide a plethora of experience. Sophomore James Kravontka (Manchester, Conn.) is the group’s lone newcomer.

“The infield still has a lot that’s to be determined,” Coach Leonard stated. “Aside from Brendan Cordeiro being our everyday shortstop, all the other positions are very much up in the air.”

OUTFIELDERS

The question for Elms this season will be in the depth of its outfield. Senior Robert Reyome (Westfield, Mass.), who batted .341 last season, joins sophomore Donald Morse (Alfred, Maine) and newcomer Stephen Fisher (West Boylston, Mass.) as the squad’s every day outfielders.

“Our outfield is extremely thin,” Coach Leonard mentioned. “We’re going to rotate through three primary outfielders and a couple of players who have a secondary position in the outfield.”

SCHEDULE

Thirty-three games dot the Blazers’ 2010 schedule, beginning with its annual spring break trip to Florida to open the season. This year, Elms will play nine games at the Gene Cusick Classic in Fort Myers before returning to New England where it will travel to Westfield State (March 23), MCLA for a doubleheader (March 27) and Springfield College (March 31).

Elms opens its home slate on April 1 when it hosts Mitchell College in an NECC tilt. The Blazers will then travel to New London, Conn. for a doubleheader against the Mariners on April 3. The NECC format features a single game at one venue, and a doubleheader at the other.

Elms will play five more non-conference games including home contests against Nichols College (April 8), Fitchburg State College (April 15) and WPI (April 27).

The Blazers will host Becker College (April 10) and Newbury College (April 24) in NECC doubleheader action and will play single games in Leicester, Mass (April 11) and Cambridge, Mass. (April 25).

Elms will travel to Bennington, Vt. and Nashua, N.H. for doubleheaders against Southern Vermont College (April 17) and Daniel Webster College (May 1), and will host single games against the Mountaineers on April 18 and the Eagles on April 30.

WRAP UP

For the 2010 baseball team, consistency in every phase of the game, from preparation, to mental toughness, to team chemistry will be the underlying cause for success this season.

“If we as a team can focus on controlling the things that we can control on a consistent basis, and realize that you have to work harder than what you already thought was hard work to achieve that consistency, then we will be in a good position to win games at the end of the year.”