Every single member on our baseball team has played plenty of games to know that every time you step onto the field, you can either win or you can lose. Sometimes the ball bounces your way and sometimes it bounces away from you, just out of your grasp. Although our team may be disappointed with losing our games on the NCAA Championships that should never overshadow our accomplishments this season.

We lead Division III in ERA and a number of other statistics. We are both NESCAC and Regional Champions for the second year in a row. Our younger players were able to really step up throughout the season and our older players supplied leadership that was necessary to be a successful baseball team. These two dynamics along with a number of other characteristics allowed us to be undefeated in our conference, and also only have 7 total losses.

For me and the other four seniors on our team, its the last college baseball game we will ever participate in. It's an interesting feeling, when you know something is "definitely" over. Although I graduated last week, I now fully feel that I am an alumni of Trinity College, but more specifically a former player of the Trinity College Baseball team. It's not sad, it's not upsetting, it's ultimately just another step in my life and the life of the team itself. I love this game, and I loved playing every season for this team. All the seniors will go off and do great things with their lives, whether it is playing baseball professionally or doing something that has nothing to do with baseball.

Baseball as a sport is just as much a learning experience as it is game. The lessons you learn when a pitcher strikes you out, or a batter hits your best pitch teaches adaptation, focus, and tenacity. All these characteristics can and will stick with every player that comes out of this program, which will yield success for all when applied to the real world. These types of lessons are so valuable and thats makes this sport such an effective teaching tool.

I look forward to seeing every player that will return next year and the years after that improve over every off season and during every season. I loved playing for team, it was a great season.

Thank you
kcoll, Sully, LiDonni, ED, KG, Piaz, J-abs, Seany, Angus, Bernie, COP, Rammer, Jenga, Roberto, Morty, Kicki, Marko, Woodman, Simons, Luke, Jerry, Marky Mark, D-rok, Jay, Bagoon, Nova, Dougy, Snorlax, Coach Decker, Coach Lambert, Coach Cervizzi, and Coach Smith

It was a helluva ride!

Thanks for reading this blog guys, I appreciate the support, but I guess this is the end, hope everyone stays safe,

Andy Rathmann-Noonan

Well after a long travel day (up at 4 am) and a practice at an unbelievably nice facility (UW Oshkosh) we arrived at the Paper Valley Radisson in an attempt to defend our National Championship crown. To be honest, it felt like we never left, the main street of Appleton has a few new venues, but the clubhouse pub and Vince Lombardi's steakhouse have been thickly rooted in our memories. Yesterday we joined the 7 other teams for pictures and a nice bbq that the committee puts on for all the players. It's a really great event, it gets all the players out on the field and also offers a venue for the kids to see some friends that are on other teams.

It's 8:15 Friday morning and today all the games begin. After a very successful romp through the new england region we look to pick up right where we left off. But Kean is a very talented team, with an effective pitching staff, and obvious desire to get back to the finals like in 2007. We all know Jerry is going to be coming out throwing strikes and get guys out. Our batters have been itching to hit some balls at the Timber Rattlers Park, and it's obvious that the entire team is focused on winning this first game and then moving to our next opponent.

Today should be a great time, the weather in Wisconsin looks like it'll cooperate for the rest of the tournament. The field looks beautiful, and the grounds crew was able to mow the pattern of a baseball into the outfield grass. They really do a great job out here, all the committee members, host families, and all the individuals associated with setting this event up. As a program we look forward to coming out against every team we play and making a statement about what kind of program Trinity College Baseball is.

This is gonna be fun...grind it out

The bases are loaded with 2 outs and Shawn Gilblair walks to the batter's box. Eastern Connecticut was able to put pressure on us to make a big play, and Jerry really rose to the challenge. After loading the bases due to a couple tough ground balls, Jerry struck out the 3 batter, in order to face Gilblair. On the first pitch of the at-bat, which arguably is the best time to swing, when facing Jerry, Gilblair fisted a pop-up to Robby Martin over at shortstop, the ball fell in slow motion. And Robby seemed to be so anxious to catch this last out that he almost jumped from the ground to snag the ball, in case something crazy happened. But it's path was inevitable, Robby snared the ball and we all rushed out of the dugout, tackling Jerry, Sean; creating a pile of complete happiness. Laughing, cheering, screaming we re-oriented ourselves and walked back to the dugouts in order to receive our trophy for winning the New England Regional Championship for a second time in a row.

And now we move forward, just like the bottom of the 1st inning is inevitably followed by the top of the 2nd. Winning the Regional Championship against a pool of unbelievably talented teams, showed our willingness to rise to the occasion and shed "no blood" in the "region of death." Some may say it was our mustaches (which are real by the way). Some may say it is Jeremiah's relentless winning streak, but I'd attribute this years team's success to our attitude. It's a combination of a relentless will to grind out games, and a refusal to never look back. Last year's team was almost perfect, but if their is anything that you learn in baseball, is that what makes baseball fun, is not perfection, it's the imperfections that make the season exciting. It's the fact that we lost to WPI earlier in the season, and then pummeled them in order to make it into the regional championship. It's the fact that Gilblair (New England Region Player of the Year) was able to face our own Jeremiah Bayer (New England Region Pitcher of the Year) in the last inning despite the fact that Gilblair wasn't due up in that inning. And most of all, we lost 4 more games than last year, 2 of those losses occurred in Florida, on our Spring Trip, but we're heading back to Wisconsin, because we made the big plays, recorded key hits, and refused to let any critics or teams stand in our way.

So either way you look at it, we're right back where we were at this time last year, which was our goal from the very beginning. And that is a wonderful feeling

I'll have pictures up in a little bit. And by the way thank you parents, siblings, relatives and fans for all your support. It was special to receive our awards and look back to see all you standing, cheering, and waving. Your encouragement and support through all of our respective baseball careers can never be matched and we are honored by that unheralded devotion. Hopefully we can bring it home for the second year in a row.

Well this is it; well not really, but each step we've taken this entire season has culminated in a very important checkpoint in this 2009 Trinity College Baseball squad. Tomorrow we play Eastern Connecticut in order to punch a ticket to Appleton, Wisconsin and return to hallowed grounds that brought us such joy and success a little under a year ago.

The last three games we have played our best baseball all season. Our defense has been absolutely stellar, and our bats have remained consistently powerful as we plunged through the "region of death" undefeated. So with at 3 and 0 record in the regional playoffs we look to tomorrow as a defining moment for this season.

In our game against Southern Maine, Jeremiah Bayer recorded one of the best pitching performances I have ever seen. Coming off recent criticism from sources unknown on the D3baseball.com message boards, Bayer merely stuffed a sock into this this vocal minority, and recorded a 7 hit shut out performance that placed us at the top of the heap.

Last night our bats exploded for 15 runs, and Derek Anderson absolutely "dealt," fooling many WPI batters with an unbelievably wicked change-up that left many stumbling for a foothold in the batter's box. The game ended just around midnight, but we all knew that the game we just played was a statement game. Earlier in the season we had dropped a tough loss to WPI and last night we left no doubt that we were the better team on the field that night. As we all huddled around coach, he mentioned that 4 of our seniors will not be walking at graduation, because we had A CHAMPIONSHIP TO WIN.

I love Trinity College, it offered some of the best times of my life. But I'd much rather be sweating in a vegas, white, and blue, then receiving my diploma in a black gown and a goofy hat. Don't get me wrong, tomorrow's graduation will be a sad event to miss, and I hope all my classmates have enjoyed their 4 years of college as much as I did. But tomorrow; tomorrow is just a game, a game of laughter, joy, sweat, and success. Trinity College Baseball will take the field tomorrow in an attempt to keep this season going, and to bring the walnut and bronze one step closer into our outstretched arms.

Yesterday was our first round match up against Westfield State, a team we had played very early in the year in Florida for our spring trip. The tone was set much earlier in the day, in that the world seemed to be upside down. Eastern Connecticut fell to Babson earlier in the day after giving up 9 runs in the first 2 innings. We were able to catch the last half of the game, and all shared a collective smile as one of our former teammates Mike Regan was able to be a part of the win (as a coach) for his new team. Although we all agreed he looked a lot better in navy, vegas, and white, the green and white would have to do for now.

But disregarding the apparent theme of the day, we took to the field with no thought of being upset by the number 6 seed. Rammer pitched real well, after having to adjust to a tough zone, he made some great pitches at some key points and then Cop and Jenga closed the door, to keep the Owls from taking back a lead that we had seized in the 4th.

The wind was blowing out to leftfield, and our batters were chomping at the bit to do some damage with the "long ball," a tactic that we had adopted in many of our games. But what really turned this game around, was selectivity at the plate and some well-timed hits. One of those well-timed hits was Jim Wood's opposite field 3-run homer. After his blast tied the game up, we never looked back.

Tonight we face offensive power house Southern Maine. The weather doesn't appear to be that great and as the sun sets over the New England Horizon, the night game will probably be a pretty cold evening affair. But in the post game meeting, our coach repeated a mantra that this team has adopted over the entire season. We will grind out games, get big hits when necessary, throw key pitches in tough spots, and make big plays when we are in need of a stop. What makes this team so exciting is that we are different from last year, and yet we are achieving the same results. We got to the New England Regional because we are determined to win every game we play from here on out. It's 3 more wins in a row to get back to Fox Cities...it's time to enjoy the ride.

Come watch us if you can't make it to the game
http://www.littleeast.tv/
just look for links for Trinity vs.

Time to get it done

It was cold, windy, and altogether gray up in the rolling hills of the Berkshires. The Tufts-Williams game had gotten delayed until Sunday Morning so we arrived beneath the clouded sky to watch Tufts prevail. The weather was not baseball weather, it felt more like it was Thanksgiving and we were partaking in some sort of annual Turkey Bowl football game. But nonetheless we donned our vegas gold and white and looked to cement ourselves as back-to-back NESCAC champions.

It was mother's day, and many of our families were there to watch complete and utter baseball magic, just as the sun broke through an almost opaque cloud cover. The game started out rocky with Tufts jumping out to an early 2-0 lead. And all of a sudden the game was moving too fast and we weren't moving fast enough. But through patience and determination we scored a run in the sixth and the seventh; then in the bottom of the eighth we found ourselves thriving on the challenge of coming from behind, again. A couple of baserunners, a perfect bunt, and some very good "eyes" and the bases were loaded with 1 out as one of our fearless leaders, Sean Killeen, stepped to the plate.

I couldn't say enough about this kid. Watching him hit resembles that of a professional hitter, his hands are quick to the ball and his compact swing is efficient and effective. Earlier in the year Killeen stepped to the plate against Tufts in the bottom of the ninth and blasted a ball over the right center field fence of our own Campus Field. So again, he toed the batters box and eyed another opportunity to push us over the finish line.

The clouds broke, the sun poured over the field, covering us in the true sunlight that baseball is meant to be played under. The ball floated towards home plate and the bat met the ball with explosive force. The wind was slicing across the field blowing towards right field. Earlier in the game, Sean had hit an opposite field home run, blasting the ball up into the jet stream and it flew over the right center field wall. The wind had been dictating the distances of the ball, and we all knew for anyone to the hit a home run over the left field wall they would have put an absolute charge into that little white pill.

And then it happened, and Sean knew it when he hit it. The ball scorched across the backdrop of the wooded mountains, it careened towards the sky, arching high toward the left field fence. Sean looked towards the bench pumping his fists, and doing the "gator clap" that we've now adopted as our team celebration when a home run is hit. It dropped behind the left field wall, disappearing with resounding finality. We met Sean at home and celebrated as I think everyone on the team lost their voice.

This game ended, and it marked the next step to a return towards Wisconsin. And somewhere beneath that sun and above those clouds she was cheering.

Congrats guys, it was a helluva win, let's show everyone why you shouldn't mess with the third seed.

Be safe, Thanks Moms



 

It's 1:55 pm and we've got the rest of the day off because we just took care of business in the second round of the NESCAC playoffs. Everyone came out to play and we took it down with an 8-3 win over host college Williams.

It was real character win for Jeremiah, he settled down after grinding out a couple innings. And when we needed him to shut the door his slider was unhittable and his two-seamer was moving all over the place. There is a reason why he hasn't lost a game this season, because of his competitive nature and his unwillingness to give in, not to mention his unreal stuff. He was able to bear down with runners in scoring position and leave no room for Williams to find a way back into the game.

We jumped out to an early 5 to 0 lead capped off by Matt Sullivan's 3 run jack over the left field fence. This kid has just been hitting everything, as he has consistently stepped to the plate and delivered big hit after big hit. Not to mention yesterday he had one of the more amazing catches in left center field; full extension about 2 feet in the air on a well hit ball to the gap. Those types of plays are real confidence boosters, especially in our dugout because everyone gets very "fired up" when a player goes all out for the ball and makes a fantastic play.

But today was a game about the guys who show up everyday to play and everyday to cheer this team on. Every single one of the starters and every single one of the role players were focused on being as supportive as possible. Sean Killeen, behind the plate and at the plate has been solid all season, and he has offered a telling example of how we should approach the game. With his focus and his intensity he has been able to consistently be an absolute wall behind the plate.

Both our captains were able to use their efforts on the field and lead by example. Ryan Piacentini stretched our lead to 8-3 on a solo blast to left center, which capped off our well-played second round game. It was fun to watch as the ball soared towards the fence and the bench simultaneously rose up from the bench cheering as loud as they could. The ball dropped over the fence and Piacentini stepped on home plate, putting an explanation point on our claim as the team to beat in the NESCAC.

Now we get to wait to see who we play tomorrow, bright and early at 10 am. It was a great win, but with continued focus tomorrow's potential win will feel even better.

I'm out...peace

It's been a month since I've had an entry so again apologies for the lack of communication. Over the past few weeks we've had to deal with a ridiculous amount of work both on and off the field, not to mention some pretty great distractions including some beautiful weather and some great campus concerts. But now as Friday May 8, 2009 comes to a close our team is more focused than ever on the upcoming games and challenges.

We won today in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs, beating Wesleyan 13-6 who we had disappointingly split with the previous weekend. 1 game down and 2 to go, tomorrow our game is at 1030 against the host team, Williams. Jeremiah Bayer has been absolutely outstanding the entire season and tomorrow should be no different.

Today was a great game for us. We went up quickly after 2 innings of patient hitting 6-0. Jim Ramsey battled and put up some good innings for us and finished up after a 6 innings of 4 run ball. But just as it looked like Wesleyan thought they were gathering a bit of momentum, our hitters zoned in and shut the door. After loading the bases, each player that came up had quality at-bats and were able to produce at least a run. The inning ended and we went on to add a few more to complete a well played game.

The top of our line up did an unbelievable job creating momentum at the beginning of each rally. Jack Abbott had a couple fantastic hustle plays, and quality at-bats that were catalysts for our big innings.  It was a quality win that puts in a great spot to take care of business tomorrow. On the bus ride home, the hitters were talking about, "once they zone in..." we can close out teams. Today was indication of our offense's ability to shut the door, and squelch any possibility of a momentum shift. It's an exciting time...and we're all looking forward to continuing this season for as long as possible.

Before the game, we had a moment of silence for the young woman that was slain at Wesleyan earlier in the week. I speak for all the players and members of the Trinity Baseball Team that our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends in this time of great tragedy.

I'll be back tomorrow hopefully with more good news

It's 6:45 on Saturday night. We're traveling home from a very successful 3 game weekend against Bates. Our mid-week game with western connecticut was postponed but we used that time to gear up for a weekend that could potentially clinch first place in our NESCAC division. So Friday rolled around, and before the sun rose above the horizon we packed up the bus and headed to Bates to try and keep a zero in the conference loss column.

The swings were smooth and powerful, the defense was consistent, and the pitching was dominant. At the end of the weekend we had scored a total of 49 runs, helped out by 12 homeruns, and held their offense to only 7 runs over three games, not to mention we swept the weekend series. Every game we played with a sense of energy and urgency because we knew that these three games were important for us to take some pressure off us during the home stretch. Next weekend is Colby and if we can remain consistent in our performance we will be in a very advantageous spot when the NESCAC playoffs start.

We look towards the next 14 days where we will be playing a game against Coast Guard on Monday, 3 games against Colby, a game against Western Conn, and a game against Eastern Conn. Every single one of these games are important, and if we play our game and stay in our comfort zone we will be peaking just at the right time.

Because these seasons are so short, every game is incredibly important. But no matter how hard one game was, or how easy another game was our team always looks forward to the next inning, or the next chance. We played great baseball this weekend, but it's the next game we our focused on, and that takes a lot of discipline. The difference between the good team and great team is not only timely hitting or good pitching, but it's the intangibles that bind a team together, that allow them to beat bad, good, and great teams.

Anyways, Monday is our next opponent, and our next obstacle. We move closer everyday back to a potential trip to Appleton. It's a long road, we realized that last year, but today I think we all saw how dominant we can be when we are firing on all cylinders.

Hope everyone has a good easter weekend, and hopefully be back later with some more good news.

It's Monday April 6th, the day after a pressure packed weekend that ended with that nice symmetrical Zero remaining in our conference loss column. Friday turned out to be a wash due to the beautiful New England weather that's been plaguing this season ever since we got back from Florida. So on Saturday, Jeremiah Bayer stepped to the mound and dominated our conference rivals, Tufts, to set the tone AGAIN for the coming double header on Sunday. Our defense was stellar, once again, but our pitching was what really separated ourselves when it mattered. Saturday was cold and dreary but Sunday turned out to be a pretty great day of baseball. The campus looked great, and the smell of spring was slowly creeping out from beneath the clouds of a long New England Winter.

All three of our pitchers threw complete games. And the last game to complete the series ended in dramatic fashion. Last year at Tufts our undefeated season was threatened by a Jumbos team that hopped out to an 8 to 1 lead, but through bulldog-esque determination we fought back and ended up winning in extra innings. But to tie the game, in the twilight of the day, Sean Killeen hit grand slam to tie it up. It was absolutely electric and the buzz amongst the team as Killeen stomped on home plate could never be matched. But then again yesterday, when it was the bottom of the ninth with the score tied one to one, Killeen stepped to the plate again. On the first pitch of the at-bat Killeen's short compact and effortless swing launched the ball deep over the right center field fence. And the rest, I guess you could say, is history.

So we're 6 and 0 in the conference with bates on Friday. But this weekend it was our desire to play every inning and every out flawlessly that lead to wins. Whether it was the dominant performances of our pitchers or the timely hitting of our batters we expected perfection, and we maintained it at the culmination of the weekend.

Hope the weather clears up, baseball is a spring sport not a winter sport. Talk to you guys after the weekend is over, let's keep that zero.