BeaverBeat February 2016

FEBRUARY 2016

Issue No. 1

POWERED BY

Don’t Call it a Comeback!

How CCNY Basketball Is Turning Their Program Around

For the Love of the Game:

How Taylor Pompilio and Erika RIchards fought back from major injury

Return of the Mac:

Che McCoy’s Trials and Tribulations

Retooled and Reloaded:

CCNY Baseball ready for 2016

The Team February 2016

Issue no. 1

Contributors:

CCNY BeaverBeat @ The Campus Magazine

-Taylor Jo Gillen -Fran Kilinski -Sidney Corniff -Christian Hernandez

160 Convent Ave. NAC 1/119 New York, NY 10026 (212)650-8177

Jeff Weisinger Founding Editor

Diana Perea

Curtis Ashley Lead Sportswriter

Don Gutierrez

Business Manager

Chief Photo Editor

Demi Rodriguez Features Writer

The Lineup Pg. 4: Letter from the editor

By Jeff Weisinger

Pg. 5: For The Love of the Game

Pg. 12-13: “Harlem’s Heroes”

By Fran Kilinski

Pg. 14-15: Baseball’s season ahead

By Curtis Ashley

By Christian Hernandez

Pg. 6-7: Return of the Mac

By Demi Rodriguez

Pg. 8-11: From #StruggleCity to #ComebackCity

By Curtis Ashley and Jeff Weisinger

2

CCNYBeaverBeat

@CCNYBeaverBeat

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CCNY BeaverBeat

BeaverBeat

February 2016 3

Letter from the Editor:

We’re Weird and We’re Here!

Weird is good. In ways, when you think about

it, the most successful people in life are weird. I don’t mean “weird” as in abnormal, I mean weird as in different, those who don’t tend to follow the social norm.

Before I continue, I have a confession to make: in creating this very first issue of the magazine I had no experience whatsoever designing, laying out, or even writing a “letter from the editor.” So this is going to be weird for me, maybe weird for you reading this, and this will definitely be far from perfect. I just about winged it for the entire issue.

Yet, when I think about it, that’s been the theme of this overall BeaverBeat project: winging it.

When I started covering sports at CCNY after arriving from California in 2013, The Campus had no sports section. Nobody covered it, nobody cared to cover it, nobody knew how to cover it. Fast-forward to two and-a-half years later, there’s a dedicated team, a solid social media presence and a website that is continuing to develop. Weird, since this all started from a simple hashtag.

This wasn’t easy by any means. No seriously, this was freaking hard to put together. A lot of late nights, very little sleep and the usual stress.

Honestly, the hardest part was getting a staff willing to put in the work. I’m very lucky to have that found 4 BeaverBeat

that kind of group. The kind that’s willing to put in the long hours, come in during winter break -- I mean, seriously, what’s a “break?” -- and go to games to watch a team that the general population of CCNY makes fun of or simply ignores.

(For the record, I’m still waiting to see CCNY President Lisa Coico at games. At a game. Just one.

Even for a half.)

However, this is where being “weird” comes into play – we do all of that and more. Where people miss out with CCNY sports are the storylines behind the teams and the players; stories that, as journalists, are our job to tell.

This is the basketball issue – perfect timing considering that the CUNYAC tournament is right around the corner. This has been a fun year not just for the fact that both programs are winning, but if you’ve watched this team, this program over the last two years, it’s like patience is paying off. I am also probably jinxing both teams by saying all of this.

But the new, growing, winning culture at CCNY isn’t the story at all. The Men’s soccer team won the CUNYAC in the fall, the track teams will more than likely win it all once again and fencing will again have a good NCAA run in March. The big story with CCNY basketball is how they’re doing it and who they’re succeeding with. To go from a losing atmosphere to a winning, positive one doesn’t just happen overnight.

To do it with players who came back from serious injury, to do it while dealing with adversity, to do it with new faces and even some old ones and to do it almost without large support of the college that they represent is incredibly admirable and pretty badass.

In fact, it’s the type of comeback story that’s worth the attention.

This may be weird and we may be weird for doing what we do. Yet weird is good.

And “weird” got us here.

- -Jeff Weisinger -Founding Editor

#

Coming Back Strong

CCNY’s Erika Richards and Taylor Pompilio each suffered every athlete’s most feared injury last year: a torn ACL. However after nearly a year of rehab, both have CCNY’s Women’s Basketball team on their best season in over a decade. We talked with both of them about their individual comeback and the team’s comeback this season.

By Christian Hernandez Photos by Demi Rodriguez and Jeff Weisinger

Was it like for you to come back?

Taylor: Rehab in general was just annoying. Like Erica said, without her, Philena and my family I would’ve stopped doing that after like a month. But when we went to get clearance the doctor said ‘I don’t think they’re ready yet.’ That killed me. Philena is trying to tell me to don’t think too much yet because ‘Dr. Pompkin will look at it and I’m sure you’ll be fine.’ So Dr. Pompkin comes in and Erica gets cleared, and I’m like okay let’s see what happens. I didn’t get cleared. He told me I needed to work out for another four weeks, which I was like I’ve already been doing this for so long I don’t want another four weeks of this bullshit, – sorry, excuse my French.

So, about that brace...

Taylor: My surgeon told me that I’m not allowed to play without the brace for my first year back. . But when I went for the other test the guy told me I should definitely wear it. So I already had it in my head before surgery.

What’s the recovery process been like for you to plan out this season? How do you feel about coming off the injury from this recovery process?

Erika: Well in my opinion I think the recovery process was a long nine month process. When I first heard it was a nine month process I was like I don’t know if I could work back from getting injured – basically when you’re injured you have to relearn everything new -- so I didn’t know if I was capable of doing that because it’s just a lot. It was hard and at some points I was struggling and I kind of wanted to give up at a certain point. But Taylor and my family and everybody were always there. And other people who were around always helped us and kept me motivated.

When you came back in camp what was that like? Just kind of like getting back to thing. What was it like getting back into the flow of things?

Erika: That was one of the most awkward things I had to do, because basketball is always such a fast paced game, you’re always cutting.

February 2016 5

When Che McCoy stepped onto the court in the

Nat Holman Gym on December 12, 2013 in a nonconference game against Mitchell College, he didn’t know then that it would be his last time suiting up as a member of the men’s basketball team.

Not like he was missing much anyway. CCNY lost to Mitchell 98-86, McCoy was just 1-for-12 from the court for only two points, despite recording five rebounds and nine assists. However CCNY fell to a 2-4 record. Then it all happened.

During the winter break that year, decided to leave the team to handle personal issues, however instead of returning to the team, he left altogether, then was arrested, getting in trouble with the law on three occasions.

“I asked coach for a second chance,” McCoy said.

“Then the day of my first practice I got arrested.”

In October of 2014, he was charged with possession of a pistol without a permit, then in Nomeber he attempted to cash a fake check and was charged with second-degree forgery, then in February of 2015, he was arrested and jailed after attempting to use counterfeit bills to buy and return over $1,000 worth of merchandise at a Lord & Taylor.

“It worked for a little while,” he mentioned. “The one day that it didn’t work was a real big mess up.

“I was sitting in jail like, damn, now I’m a statistic.

“I felt like I had talent wasted. I always used basketball and school to single myself away and I fell down that path.”

McCoy’s departure was the beginning of the turmoil that the Men’s basketball team suffered for the rest of the 2013-14 season. Without McCoy in the lineup -- he averaged 11.3 ppg in 2013, 34 minutes per game, shooting 30 percent from the court -- the Beavers struggled, winning just five of their final 20 games.

However now that he’s back on the basketball court with a winning Beavers team looking to make a solid run in the CUNYAC tournament, McCoy is taking full advantage of his second chance.

He returned to the team on Monday, January 25th for the first time since leaving in 2013 and knew that he’d have to work his way back into being the same Che McCoy that helped lead and set up a CCNY offense two-and-a-half years ago.

“It was different,” McCoy said about his return to practice. “A good experience, but different. i had to really adjust and fall back in and get to feel out the guys because they heard a lot about me. So I felt like there was a lot on my shoulders because when I was

here, I was the man, and now I’m coming onto a team that’s already established. I felt like coming into the first practice, I got to come and play hard.

“It’s the stuff off the court that people wouldn’t allow me on their teams. It’s better to get a second chance than to get no chance at all.”

Athletic Director Dr. Kevin Abdur-Rahman plays a huge role in McCoy’s comeback at City, as does teammate Khalil Hamer, CCNY’s top scorer.

“Doc told me ‘there’s more to basketball.

Basketball helps us get back into school, but he told me to get back to school for a degree,’” McCoy said.

“Khalil was one of the key factors in me coming back. After their losses to Brooklyn, Lehman and Connecticut, Khalil was in coach’s ear and texting me like ‘come back and let’s work,’” he added.

His hard work paid off when he made his return at Hunter College just two days later, playing nine minutes and scoring his first three pointer of the season in City’s 84-73 win.

“I was just ready and prepared,” he said about getting in against Hunter. “Honestly, I didn’t think he was going to put me in.” Three days after his return, in a key conference game at Lehman College, McCoy went 6-for-8 from three-point land, scoring a teamhigh 21 points in CCNY’s 85-80 loss to the Lightning.

He played 27 minutes, nearly leading the Beavers back from a halftime deficit.

“I feel like this is the year that we can really do something,” McCoy added. “I feel like this team can win the championship.”

February 2016 7

From #StruggleCity t

Going from near-perennial losers to possible, legitimate playoff cont However it’s finally happening, and it’s specta

Shocking the CUNYAC -This Time, Together

By Jeff Weisinger

Disappointing. Embarrassing. Careless. No desire.

A nightmare. Individual.

These were words that were used to describe the 2014-15 CCNY Women’s basketball team, as they cruised through their 5-21 season last year, limping through CUNYAC play, let alone the season, worse than a drunk, homeless person begging for change on the subway.

Now, to their defense, this was a team that lost one of its potential top scorers, Erika Richards, in just the second game of the season to a torn ACL, followed by losing their starting point guard and captain, Taylor Pompilio, in the first game of the 2015 calendar year to the same injury. The girls lost 10 of their last 11 games, finishing the year with a 104-61 loss at Baruch in the CUNYAC Quarterfinals.

With that story said, how does a team wake up from a nightmare? By sticking together.

After their upset win at Brooklyn College, Robin Daley said that her teammate, top-scorer Tiara Brown, “never lets [her] down.”

“Our chemistry off the court is so good, that it comes on the court. I expect nothing but the best from her.”

That sense of camaraderie has pushed the Lady Beavers to a 12-8 record (as of Feb. 1), their best record since the 2002-03 season where the program finished with a 16-11 overall record, the last time they recorded a winning record.

“We’ve been able to maintain a level of execution,” Head Coach Jamie Angeli said after the team’s upset win at Brooklyn College in late January, “to keep us in the game, to keep a lead. We’re starting to get a bit of a swagger. I don’t want it to ever get to overconfidence.

“I want them to have a swagger, but still be hungry.”

This year’s team is a complete turnaround from the 8 BeaverBeat

Erika Richards (left) and Tiara Brown (right) have led the CCNY W 2002-03 campaign, sparking one of the best turnarounds in the CU team that won just five games last season. City is third in scoring in the CUNYAC, averaging 63.9 points per game and second in scoring defense allowing just 56.9 points per game. Their seven-point scoring margin is also second in the conference behind Staten Island (13.6).

Leading the way for CCNY are senior Tiara Brown and junior Erika Richards, the team’s two top scorers.

Brown leads the team averaging 15.8 points per game, while Richards is right behind her averaging 13.8 points per game.

#

y to #ComebackCity

ayoff contenders didn’t come easy to the CCNY Basketball program. t’s spectacular.

By Jeff Weisinger ana Curtis Ashley

and win streaks prove it. Their recent five-game win streak -- including upset wins over Baruch, ending a 31-game losing streak to the Lady Bearcats, and at Brooklyn College, their first at Brooklyn since 2010 -is the longest for the team in over a decade, and their current eight-game stretch, where they’ve won six of their last eight ties their eight-game stretch to open the 2008-09 season where the program achieved the same feat. That year, however, they finished 13-13.

That brings us to the here and now. Sitting at 12-8 with five games left, three on the road, can this CCNY team get past the 13-win mark? Or, better yet, can they finish the season with a winnnig record for the first time in 13 years?

Of their remaining five games, three of which are against teams that are ahead of CIty in the CUNYAC standings: Staten Island (Feb. 2), at Baruch (Feb. 9) and against Lehman (Feb. 14). City also plays John Jay (Feb. 12) and at Medgar Evers (Feb. 16), both teams that the Lady Beavers defeated earlier in the season.

Wins over John Jay and Medgar Evers would put CCNY at and over the 13-win mark for the first time in eight years, however it’s the upcoming games against CSI, Baruch and Lehman that could determine where City is seeded in the upcoming CUNYAC tournament.

If this team can stay healthy for the final five games, as they have been all season, and can be as resilient the CCNY Women’s Basketball team to their best season since the and consistent as they’ve been all season, there should nds in the CUNYAC. Photos by Jeff Weisinger be no reason that CCNY doesn’t finish with a winning record and a top-four seed in the tournament.

For the first time in a long time, there’s a positive Sophomore Liz Durchhalter and senior Robin Daley environment surround the women’s basketball team. have become solid scoring threats as well.

Yes, winning often helps with that as it always would, The bigger story here, however, is the return of both however the scrappiness by the girls and the drive to Richards and Pompilio. bring a title home is something that CCNY hasn’t seen Richards’ scoring capability is something CCNY in quite a long time. missed last season, however Pompilio’s ability to It’s a refreshing sight for a school that preaches about control the team while on offense is something that City needed a lot last year, and is getting back this year. strivers on the signs of its street lights across Convent Ave. For the first time in the last two years, and the first It’s refreshing to see them playing together. time in the Jamie Angeli era, CCNY’s Women’s Basketball team is playing together and their record February 2016

9

CCNY’s Brand New Guys

points and 6.8 rebounds last year, his last full season.

With certain roles on the team left vacant, it was

By Curtis Ashley time for Head Coach Tom Green to make some big changes. This included giving some of his veteran players, like Khalil Hamer and David Solano, even bigger roles.

The team also found talent outside the school.

Mark Richards transferred to CCNY and joined the basketball program, joining his sister Erika who plays for the women’s basketball team.

Watching the men’s basketball team play, it’s almost shocking to believe that they had gone 8-17 for the 2014 -2015 season.

So how did they go from a team with only eight wins last season to becoming a team that currently has a double digit winning record?

Well, they learned to play as a team.

Instead of having two people averaging over 18 points, one person averaging 12, and the rest of the team having little to no scoring impact, you now have a team with a balanced offense. Hamer, one of the players who averaged over 18 points last season, now averages 15 a game. Richards averages over 13, Solano averages 12, and Robert Dionisio averages about 10. Meanwhile the rest of the players get used in other important ways.

The team averages 14 assists per game, a slight increase from last season, when they averaged 12.

City also gained a big boost with the return of guard Che McCoy, who left the team just six games into the Photos by Curtis Ashley 2013-14 regular season. In his two games back, he’s scored a total of 24 points, highlighted by a 21-point Eight months. effort at Lehman College on Jan. 30 where he shot That’s the amount of time that elapsed between the 6-for-8 from beyond the arc. Along with Hamer, Dionlast game of the 2014-2015 men’s basketball season isio, Richards and Solano, McCoy adds another scorand the first practice of the 2015-2016 season. So ing threat to a potentially dangerous CCNY offense as much has changed within those eight months, with the the team heads into the final stretch of the season. biggest changes directly affecting the roster.

City’s scoring average has gone up from 68 to 75 However, it’s been the two months that the men’s points. They have even had two 100-point games this basketball team have been playing together that shows season, one against Manhattanville College, the other the biggest distinction between last season’s team and against Medgar Evers College. City also allows less the team they have now: comradery offensive production by their opponents. Last season, There were some notable losses in the offseason. their opponents averaged roughly 74 points a game Anthony Lewis, who scored his 1,000th career point against them. This season, that number is only 70. against Baruch last season, parted ways with the team The most any team has scored on them so far was before returning for a two-game stint this season.

88, in a mid-January match-up with Baruch College.

Lewis averaged over 18 points a game in his last full When I say the team has changed, I’m talking about season, as well as 11 rebounds. Darius Rhodes left a group of guys who have put together the best men’s mid-way through the current season after being one of basketball season in the Tom Green era. the team’s most offensive producers. He averaged 12.6 The team has had some bad games, but a good 10 BeaverBeat

season overall. In fact, the last time the team won this many games was in the 2012-2013 season when the team finished 10-16, a record they have already surpassed.

However, Green himself could tell you that the team’s goal is not to one-up themselves, but instead to one-up the rest of the conference. The best way to do that would be to claim the CUNY AC championship, a feat not pulled off by City since the 2002-2003 season, which also happens to be the last winning season for CCNY’s Men’s Basketball program as well.

As they currently sit at an 11-9 record (as of Feb. 1), CCNY has a chance to finish above .500 for the first time in a very long time. The biggest question surrounding this team as they go into the final five games of the season is if they can finish out games, let alone win a game on the final possession -- something they’ll need to do if they want to make a solid postseason run.

Of CCNY’s nine losses this season, seven of which have come by a single-digit margin -- the only blowouts coming against Hartwick College in the Mulhenburgh Tournament on Nov. 21 and in their first matchup against Brooklyn College in Harlem on Nov. 24. Of those seven single-digit losses, CCNY blew halftime and second half leads in six of them. The Beavers went cold with farily solid leads at Brooklyn and at Lehman, losing in the final seconds at the Lightning while allowing the Bulldogs to end their game in Brooklyn on an 18-0 run in the final seven minutes.

City lost at the buzzer or the final possession to Connecticut College, John Jay, and Lehman this year as well, adding more disappointment to a team that, if they finished through, could be 17-3 overall this season instead of floating just above .500 at 11-9 currently sitting at fifth place in the CUNYAC. That’s not to say that this team isn’t good. CCNY went into Staten Island and beat the Dolphins 81-76, the first for City since 2007 and just their second win overall in Staten Island. The first came in 1996.

This is a team with new, solid talent and a team that can win games, maybe even a conference title.

This year’s men’s basketball team could pull off the “impossible” and win it all if they can find a way to finish games, something that seems to be their biggest challenge yest this season.

With five games to go -- back-to-back games at home before they hit the road for a three-game road trip to end the regular season -- they still have a chance to get into the top-four of the conference, sit-

ting just a game behind Baruch for the fourth seed in the CUNYAC. They’re underdogs. After last season, where they won less than 10 games for the second straight year and failed to show any sort of chemistry, they were ranked low in the conference preseason polls.

Proper at the time. Plain disresepectful now.

But this team will respond to their critics in the final weeks of the regulasr season and in the playoffs.

Whether they prove their critics right or wrong will pend on their ability to play for all 40 minutes.

The Nat Holman Gymnasium hosts the CUNYAC basketball tournament every year. CCNY has never been a part of that part of the tournament. They have a chance to play at home in a postseason game for the first time since the Beavers played at Madison Square Garden back in the 40’s until 1950.(They could also hope that this time there will be a crowd, but that’s another story for another day.)

While some say it’s unlikely, if there’s any team in the CUNYAC this year that could silence all of the nay-sayers, it would be this very CCNY’s men’s basketball team.

February 2016

11

Harlem’s Heroes & the CUNYAC Underdog The Inside the Dam series is a set of articles from the CCNY athletes that talk about certain topics throughout the sports world or topics that affect them or the CCNY community.

Here we are again. Basketball season.

Every season I walk into Nat Holman Gymnasium to prepare for practice, I look at the beautiful court in front of me, thankful I have the opportunity to play the game I love here.

It’s a great feeling, and I get to share that feeling with my teammates as I greet them with daps and pounds every practice.

But this season, there’s a different air in the Beaver Dam, so to speak. There’s more determination, more 12 BeaverBeat

By Fran Kilinski

unity, and more desire for some jewelry.

I’m an academic senior, and an athletic junior. Two years of NCAA eligibility for basketball left, but I finish school this year, so I’ll need to figure out how to participate next year if I want to use that last year.

That’s the least of my problems.

Right now, I’m part of a team that has a lot to prove, in a school where proof isn’t trying to be heard.

Rewind to the beginning of the season.

While other schools practice year round, it’s a struggle for us just to get some gym time before the season. Despite some facilities issues, my guys and I find our ways to improve however we can, whether it’s lifting weights or team dinners.

Our rendition of midnight madness to start the season drew a good crowd, but overall, the student body

# isn’t totally enthusiastic about athletics.

Some stats: 15 wins in two years since I’ve been here. In the past nine seasons, there’s only been two 10-win seasons (12 in 06-07, 10 in 12-13). In both of those seasons, each team had at least six CUNYAC wins.

CCNY Basketball hasn’t won the CUNYAC Championship since 2003, a win over top-seeded Baruch, as CCNY finished 17-12 overall and 9-4 in the CUNYAC on the way to the NCAA tournament.

To put that into perspective, a little more than halfway through the year, we eclipsed 10 overall wins and already notched six CUNYAC wins.

That’s what makes this year different. That’s where that new feeling comes in. We know we have the talent to leave the rest of our division in the dust, and the hunger to prove it overrides everything else. It overrides individual points per game, minutes, shot attempts, and any other stat for that matter.

Khalil Hamer, Ram Chadha and I are the three juniors who’ve stuck with this team through the highs and lows since 2013. I’m the only member of this team who’s suited up for every game since that time.

I may not have played some games. But I was never

hurt, ineligible, or unable to be there to see the action.

For what it’s worth, the grit and grind of a CCNY season is all too real to me, moreso than anyone else.

That’s my motivation. That’s one of the reasons I want to be back on our home court, playing for some jewelry.

Oh, and CUNYAC semifinals are on my birthday (February 23rd). Taking that game would be one hell of a gift.

As if we couldn’t be any more motivated to win after the season we’ve had, the fact that the CUNYAC still doesn’t give us the respect we deserve fuels us even more. Baruch, the defending champion, has knocked us out of contention the past two years, and they’ve become somewhat of a rival to us.

The fact that CCNY hasn’t seen a title in over a decade is one thing. Having to host the CUNYAC tournament in our gym every year and not being able to play in it? That hurts even worse.

As I write this, I flip back and forth between my computer and Tuff Juice: My Journey From The Streets To The NBA by Caron Butler, my newest book purchase. I love this book because I love a good, inspirational story about overcoming insurmountable odds, no matter what the platform.

Kobe Bryant’s foreword in this book speaks volumes for me. His words, talking about another player in this way, left me in awe. To paraphrase Kobe’s words, he said something along the lines of: “Caron has been through so much off the court— guns, drugs and violence—that stepping on the court to yell at a teammate or practice a play is like nothing to him.”

I’ve never felt more grateful to play basketball after reading his story and the adversity Caron faced in his life. And it’s motivated me to play harder every time I step on that court.

With the possibility of a CUNYAC championship coming closer, that book couldn’t have come into my possession at a more perfect time. My team and I have come a long way, and we don’t plan on turning around anytime soon.

If this is in fact my last year, I’d like to go out with a bang. Atop the CUNY. With our team solidified in history.

Whether or not there’s more basketball in my future, only time will tell.

But for now, I gotta enjoy the ride.

February 2016 13

The Season Ahead:

Sophomore southpaw Anthony Cacchione recorded just a 1-1 record in eight appearances last season recording a 5.04 ERA. However he improved his game in the Beach Collegiate Baseball League, going 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA. Photos courtesy CCNY Athletics

BY Curtis Ashley There’s just days left until the start of collegiate

baseball.

For the Beavers of City College, the storyline heading into next season could not have been drafted up any better. From the upsetting loss in last season’s CUNYAC Tournament semi-final, to the acquisition of many new freshman on the team so far, City has had anything but a lackluster off-season.

First, a look back to the end of last season, where the 14 BeaverBeat

Beavers, who went 15-20 overall and 4-4 in the CUNYAC, faced the top-seeded Dolphins of the College of Staten Island. They met in the semi-finals of the CUNYAC Tournament, something City had not seen any action in for the past five seasons.

A fog-delay suspended the game in the bottom of the 8th, with a tied ball game, and runners at the corner for the Dolphins.

The next day, City would not be able to hold them from scoring, and ultimately lost the game 4-3.

“It was a learning experience. We talked to the guys

CCNY Baseball about wanting to reach our goals. We wanted to make the playoffs and we actually went to the semis, so we surpassed what our goals were for the year,” Head Coach Steve Macias recalled.

“We just talked about being really proud of what they’d done and the accomplishments the had made during the year. It was good, it was a productive year for us.”

Heading into the off-season, the team was somewhat plagued by departures.

A couple of notable losses were centerfielder Bobby McDowell, who stole 15 bases and scored 23 runs, and also right fielder Yoribaldis Olivo, who had a .366 slugging percentage. They were both part of the CUNYAC second-team all-stars.

That said, the team was able to get a bunch of new players, including 13 freshman. The young, new faces of the Beavers already got their first taste of college baseball when the team traveled to New Jersey to play fall ball against the Golden Lions of Raritan Valley Community College in a double-header.

“We’re excited about it, because they played pretty well,” Macias had to say. “We’re pleasantly surprised with what we have here right now.”

The Beavers lost the first game 3-2, after freshman pitcher Lorenzo Hiraldo allowed the Golden Lions three runs in the eighth, the only inning he pitched.

Game two ended in the sixth inning with a 10-10 tie due to darkness. CCNY led 10-5, but some good hitting by RVCC allowed them to tie the game before it was called.

“They were playing as a team, trying to win the game. They were playing the same nine guys. We split up. Nine guys started the first game, a new set of nine guys started the second game,” Assistant Coach Derek Faucher said.

“If you combined our teams, I think we probably would’ve walked away with two wins that day, but we’re doing it for the experience. It looks promising for next season, just seeing what they have.”

The team will have nothing but opportunity to prove their coaches right. For the first two months of the season, they will be frequently traveling out of town, even out of state, to face teams in double-headers.

Their season actually begins on the road, when they

face Rutgers-Newark in Virginia on February 20th.

Their first CUNYAC game isn’t for nearly two months, when the Beavers go up against their downtown rival, the Baruch Bearcats, on April 9th.

“This year our goal is to make it to the championship game, and possibly win,” Macias said.

He is certainly not going to let their past season, nor heavy road schedule, deter him and his team from going the distance. About three months remain. There will be lots of time to practice, weather permitting.

By February, the Beavers will definitely be ready to play ball.

Notable Games in 2016:

Feb. 13-14: at North Carolina Wesleyan: season-opening series Feb. 27: vs. Maritime College: home-opener March 5-6: at Shenandoah University April 23: at College of Staten Island May 5: CUNYAC Quarterfinals

February 2016 15

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