| "What a long, strange trip it's been..."
A week with the Calvin varsity baseball team in sunny southern Florida
By Ted Fackler
Associate Sports Editor
For a state that gets more sunshine during Spring Break than Grand Rapids gets all year, the fields were surprisingly green, and the grass wet and lush. Towering lights straddled the foul lines, with a pair of bullpens directly below. The outfield fence stood a mere 300 feet down the lines. Not too far for a long ball.
Calvin baseball boarded the plane Friday afternoon. Ft. Wayne or bust. So while the majority of Calvin’s student body crammed sleeping bags and a change of underwear into their car, anticipating a twenty-four hour pilgrimage into the sunshine state, the Knights opted for door number two, taking to the air for a breezing three-hour flight. It’s the difference between a week's worth of ramen and a bag of peanuts. And Calvin baseball definitely snagged the peanuts. Yet with a schedule as demanding as theirs, the team’s flight down would be the easiest part of the week.
The schedule demanded the Knights play nine games in six days, many being played as double-headers. Even in the cool air of Grand Rapids, such a demand is a challenge. Add now the heat and humidity of a typical Florida afternoon, and it rivals running circles in a sauna.
The Knights opened their first game of the season with an impressive 10-4 victory over St. Lawrence of New York. Sophomore Jim Deters opened the game, pitching through the heat to his eleventh career victory, fanning a set of batters in the process. Junior Bryce Weston carried the bats. Calvin steadily added point to the board, with Weston giving a 3-5 performance. Adding another pair of RBI’s was fellow teammate Darrell Hueker. One down, eight to go.
The typical day began with a buzz. Not with the buzz of flies flying over your head at the beach, but of an alarm clock. 6:30 seems to come earlier when you’re on Spring Break. Leaving the Best Western, quick stops were made at the local Dunkin' Donuts before heading to the fields. Sprinkles on the glazed one please.
Calvin’s second game came against nationally ranked Aurora University out of Illinois. With a combined seven runs by the fourth inning, it was up to the pitching squad to keep the lead safe. Pitcher Jory Trim secured the victory, allowing only one run in route to a 7-1 win. But Aurora came back in the afternoon to steal the second game of the doubleheader from the Knights. A late rally was mounted in the fifth and sixth inning, adding six points to the board while taking a one run lead over the Knights. Calvin lost the game 7-6.
But the week wasn’t all business. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Replace “Jack” with your name and you get the idea. The team managed to catch a Red Sox-Tigers preseason game with Pedro Martinez at the mound. The beach was also a hot spot, with players frantically trying to lose their recently acquired farmer’s tan, watching Hinkley frantically chase after a dollar on the beach. Too bad it was tied to a string.
Over the following days Calvin was marred with a slew of errors, and a pitching squad that allowed over 10 runs a game. It wasn’t until Friday’s triple-header that the Knights pulled themselves out their slump with a 7-0 win over St. Norbert. St. Norbert was reduced to three hits. Calvin pitching had answered. Yet in the last game of the week, Calvin gave up three errors and three runs, falling to St. Norbert 3-2.
“I had questions marks before going on the trip,” Coach Pettinga comments. “But I came back with some questions answered.” The batting lineup looks to be decided, with Calvin showing an O’Neal, Vriesman, Neher, Eppinga start. That could change in the coming weeks, Pettinga is quick to point out, but for now it remains as is. Commenting on the Spring Break trip, “I’ve felt the last three or four games we’ve hit the ball real well,” Pettinga says. “The batting order is the most run producing lineup we can get out of this team.”
The Knights definitely have the offense. Chances are it will be the pitching this year that will have to step it up. Last year’s graduation claimed Mike Ott and Andy Medema, both quality pitchers, yet they left a handful of talented ones. The only issue is their youth. Over the week, Jim Deters proved himself with a 2.30 ERA in fifteen innings pitched. He also has twelve strikeouts to his name. Freshman Jory Trim also emerged over the week as quality youth, pitching seventeen innings while giving up only five runs. On the young pitching staff, Pettinga acknowledges the chance for “less certainty. There will be ups and downs.”
Deters and Trim are currently the starting pitchers, with the third guy still up in the air. Pettinga sees potential in junior Dean Thompson as a possible relief pitcher, along with Cory Ciesielski closing: “On occasion he did a pretty good job.” But like all things, Pettinga adds, “It’s not written in stone.”
The one thing that seemingly is written in stone is Calvin making it back to the MIAA championship this Spring. They won it last year. And Pettinga swears they can do it again. “We have the offensive firepower and defense ability to do it, that if we’re not battling for the championship at the end of the year, our team will be disappointed.” For Calvin baseball, they’ll have to dig themselves out of an early trench, having established a current 3-7 record. Yet the season has only begun. Calvin’s next home game is today, March 28, at 3 p.m. against Albion. They play at the field here at home.
Their trip down may have been peanuts, but I
Their flight down would be the easiest part of their week.
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