Greg Mamula

Continued from Page 39 with my coaches, determine a method of restoring a program that has been relatively mediocre over the last several seasons.

“That’s the challenge – to take a group of players who are used to playing nothing better than .500 baseball and encouraging them to create a championship-level program.”

Over the long course of his collegiate coaching career, Mamula has had only one season without baseball. Following the 2015 season, Mamula and several coaches were terminated from the University of Cincinnati baseball program after the Bearcats compiled a 15-41 record. During that year away from the game, he frequently asked himself if the life he had chosen for himself when he was ten years old was truly what he wanted.

“I asked myself if I was really as passionate about the game as I thought I was, but after a year away, I was hungrier than ever to get back to the game,” he said. “Baseball has always been my passion, and nothing has ever distracted me from that love, and college baseball for me is like a drug and that is what brings me back to the University of Delaware – to embark on a constant challenge to see how good we as a program can get.”

Greenly departs after five innings of one-run pitching, as Mamula hands the ball to reliever Eli Atiya, who surrenders a solo homer in the eighth and little else. With one away in the sixth, Andrew Amato and Lesher draw walks, and both come around to score on a double by JJ Freeman, who then scores on a single by Covino to give the Blue Hens a 7-1 lead. Delaware tacks on three more runs in the eight for a 10-2 victory, moving their overall record to 11-14. On April 2, the team completes a three-game sweep of Charleston on a walk-off, bases-loaded single by pinch-hitter Eric Ludman. After the game, Mamula tells a reporter, “Our focus has been on getting better and growing as a baseball team and I think you’re seeing the signs of that. We’ve got a lot of guys who are pitching better and playing really good baseball and growing as a baseball team.”

To learn more about the University of Delaware baseball program, visit https://bluehens.com/sports/baseball.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.