Baseball | Hawks drop first games of the season in South Carolina

Leaving behind the Philadelphia snow, the Saint Joseph’s baseball team headed to sunny South Carolina to open their season. Participating in the Charleston Crab House Shootout gave them three games to kick start what hopes to be a successful year for the senior-laden team.

Friday was opening day for the Hawks as they took on tournament host The Citadel.  Despite the excitement the team had after working so hard during the off-season, the team fell 10-5 in their season opener.

Dominic Favazza, ’11, was head coach Fritz Hamburg’s choice as opening day starter.  It was a surprising choice as Favazza was just 2-6 with a 6.27 ERA last season.  He didn’t get off to a good start this season either, lasting just 3.1 innings and giving up six runs, although just four were earned.

The Hawks’ offense was led by leftfielder Dewey Oriente, ’10.  Oriente, who hit .403 last season, went two for five including a double. He also accounted for three of the team’s five runs, knocking in two and scoring one.

Despite the team’s best efforts they were just no match for The Citadel.  The Citadel rode a four-run fourth inning, in which the Hawks committed two errors, all the way to victory.  Rightfielder Matt Simonelli, catcher Bryan Altman, third baseman David Greene, and second baseman Legare Jones all had big days driving in two runs apiece.

The Hawks were back at it Saturday morning for their second game of the season when they faced Radford.  Radford came in to the game 0-4 and the team was hungry for its first win.  They got it, routing St. Joe’s 11-2.

Radford scored two in the first on a bases-loaded single by leftfielder Raphael Turner, and didn’t look back.  While the Hawks answered with a run in the second on a single by centerfielder Mike Coleman, ’10, Radford added six in the third, two in the fourth, and one in the sixth to reach 11 runs.  Saint Joseph’s was able to put together a meaningless run in the seventh as Joe Cook, ’10, crossed the plate on a Radford error.

The most disappointing aspect of the day was the season debut of the Hawks’ ace Randy Mower, ’10. The southpaw was the team’s pitcher of the year each of the last three seasons.  In 2009, he led the team with five wins including a complete game.  He also proved to be the Hawks’ most durable pitcher leading the team with 80.2 innings pitched.   

But on this day, Radford was able to make Mower look less than stellar. He lasted only 2.2 innings and gave up eight runs (four earned).  

The Hawks took the field once again Sunday morning to try to take something away from what had thus far been a miserable opening weekend.  Unfortunately, it was another unsuccessful day at the ballpark.  Marshall was their opponent and, much like Saturday, there were few positives for the Hawks to take from this contest.  They fell 10-2.

It was a close game headed into the sixth, with the Hawks trailing 3-1.  But then, Marshall exploded for a five-run inning to blow the game wide open.  All of the runs were given up by right-handed reliever Chad Simendinger, ’10.  Simendinger had come in to relieve starter A.J. Holland, ’12, who had given up only two earned runs in 4.1 innings, the previous inning. The inning was highlighted by a two run shot by Marshall’s Eric Semeniuk.

Oriente was the leading performer for what was surely a forgettable weekend for St. Joe’s.  He was two for four on Sunday to cap off a superb weekend in which the Hawks’ number three hitter went five for twelve (.417) including two RBIs.

This was not the way the team hoped to start their season, but as Chris Berman reminds us at the start of every baseball season, “It is a marathon, not a sprint.”  Conference play does not open until March 26th, against Massachusetts.  That gives them almost a month to work out the kinks and head in to what they hope will be a very successful A-10 season.

The Hawks will travel to New Mexico this weekend for a four-game series against New Mexico State.