Baseball’s season-opening trip to Florida was one to forget

By RYAN RAGGIO Staff Writer

A well-oiled machine can’t operate without all its parts. The Quinnipiac baseball team didn’t have its offense or its defense running smoothly in the Snowbird Classic at Port Charlotte, Florida this past weekend.

Rounding out the three-game stretch for Quinnipiac were two games against Iowa and one against Indiana State, all of which ended with the Bobcats on the wrong end of a lopsided box score.

On offense, the Bobcats scraped together only two runs and 14 hits in three games, including being shut out in their last game against Iowa 10-0. It was evident that it was the team’s first look at live pitching as the strikeout rates were high and the walk rates were low. Quinnipiac played 78 outs between three games and struck out 33 times, while only being walked five times in 89 plate appearances.

The Bobcats’ strikeout rate lowered in the third game, as the team had only three batters who were rung up; But, the record shows that when one thing got better, another got worse. Quinnipiac’s defense committed four errors in the second game against Iowa, adding to the weekend’s total of six. Their opponents capitalized on the extra outs by registering 23 runs and 28 hits combined.

A bright spot for Quinnipiac’s offense was junior first baseman Sebastian Mueller. The Pottersville, New Jersey, product went 4-8 with a walk and two strikeouts on the weekend.

Graduate student infielder Kyle Maves went

3-12 as the Bobcats’ leadoff hitter. The highlight of his weekend came against Indiana State where he laced a ninth inning triple and eventually scored the Bobcats’ only run.

Despite the high run totals by their opponents, the Bobcats had two pitchers with solid outings over the weekend: graduate student starter Tim Blaisdell and sophomore reliever Mason Ulsh.

Blaisdell started the second Saturday game against Indiana State. He shoved five strong innings, allowing one earned run and striking out six. The offense just couldn’t crack Indiana State’s bullpen and provided no run support.

Ulsh came into game three against the Hawkeyes to relieve senior starting pitcher Kevin Seitter and threw 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts.

Going forward, Quinnipiac will need to sharpen its defense and wake up the sticks. The offense has to get itself into hitters counts and not let the opposing pitcher get ahead. And if they go down in the count, hitters have to remain aggressive because the guy on the bump is hunting for a second strike.

The best thing the Bobcats can do right now is forget about the weekend. It’s early in the season and with a month until MAAC play starts, Quinnipiac has the opportunity to make adjustments in all aspects of its game. This tournament was a good way to shake off the rust.

The Bobcats return to action next weekend for a three-game series at Maryland Eastern Shore.