Owls Baseball

I am excited to announce to UMPI baseball followers that as of today, 3-13-2010, at least 14 new players will be added to the roster next year.  It is very possible that this number may grow to be 20 or more.  Obviously, the majority of these players will be the much needed pitchers that we have been lacking the last two seasons.  Having a pitching staff of 12-14 players will allow fewer relief appearances by players starting at one of the other eight positions. Our goal has always been to grow the roster to 25-30 players, it appears we may have achieved this in just two seasons.  I’ll keep you posted.

Now that Basketball and Ski seasons are over,  two more players will join the workout sessions in preparation for our upcoming trip to Philadelphia and New York.

Jake Fillebrown, a skier with UMPI’s NCAA Division I ski team, will join the baseball practice routine beginning today.  Jake is slotted to be one of our starting pitchers for the remainder of the season and will also see time in right field.  The other player joining baseball workouts is Ryan Hill, a basketball player for UMPI, whose season ended last week.  Ryan will also see time on the mound and is competing for the 3rd base position.

This brings UMPI’s final roster total to 16 players; still 10 players short of where Coach Saucier hopes to be for next season.  GO OWLS!

Now that we’re home from our first baseball road trip it’s time to reflect and learn something about ourselves as a baseball team; as a group I think we know several things:  1.) we don’t have enough pitching;  2.) our players have to do a better job in the classroom, we’ve lost 4 pitchers to academic ineligibility; 3.) we need players to commit themselves to 1 sport, we need to work on things in the fall, on a field, we can’t do it in a gym; 4.) our players need to be accountable among themselves, learn the playbook, we make mistakes we shouldn’t be making.

We have a lot of work to do to prepare ourselves for our next trip; a March trip to Philadelphia and New York City.  Only one thing is gauranteed as we work towards that trip – we will get better.

The Owls lost 2 more baseball games today, 11-1 against Southern Virginia and 28-10 to Averett University; however, the hitting, which has been amiss until today, is starting to show up.  In their two previous games Owl hitters managed just 4 hits; in 2 games today the Owls had 15 hits and scored 10 runs in game 2 against Averett University.

Unfortunately, game 5 on Saturday morning in Fayetteville, NC will be the last for this first trip of 2010.  And just when the guys bats are getting HOT!  Our March trip takes us to Philadelphia and NYC; lots of cage work and live hitting in the cages until then.

…..sure has been unkind to us this week; but our goal was to salvage at least 4 or 5 games, and it looks like we might just succeed.  The weather for Friday and Saturday looks the best it has been the entire week.  We play in Danville, Va. on Friday and in Fayetteville, NC on Saturday.

Thank you to all the area coaches who tried to accommodate us this week, I know this was an unusual week for all of you.  I really appreciate the attempts to reschedule and find other fields only to have them weathered-out again.  A special thanks to Averett University and Coach Ed Fulton who allowed us to play on their field against other teams and to Southern Virginia University and Coach Mann for the short notice rescheduling and the use of their gym for our team practices.

Despite all the snow, it has been a good week.

Coach Saucier

UMPI Baseball

GO OWLS!

UMPI’s game with Hampden-Sydney has been cancelled due to snow.  The Coach, Jeff Kinne of New Hampshire, said they tried to get the field ready; they removed 17 truck loads of snow but would be unable to get the field ready in time.  UMPI will take the day off then travel to Milligan College in Tennessee for a Thursday game.

The Owls played two games on Tuesday; one in Virginia, and another in North Carolina.  Game 1 was played against Southern Virginia University in Danville, Virginia.  The Owls played well behind starting pitcher Corey Harding who pitched the first four innings; Freshman pitcher Ian Towle finished the game.  The Owls were out hit 14 to 3 and out scored 11 to 1.

After the game the Owls loaded the bus and headed further south to Greensboro, NC and played another game against Greensboro College.  It was cold and windy but both teams needed the game.  UMPI jumped out to a first inning lead on the RBI double by Tyler Delaney; however, Greensboro proved to be the better team by blasting the Owls 17 to 1.  UMPI is back in action today when they take on Hampden-Sydney College of Virginia.

Our southern trip schedule looks nothing like it did when we left Maine three days ago; however, it does appear that we will open our season on Tuesday, February 16.  Due to record snow falls for this area, this time of year, many of the area colleges and universities have cancelled and/or postponed many games that they would have normally played by now.  By weeks end, we may have played more games than some of the area’s teams.  The up-to-date, most current schedule is available for viewing on our UMPI Baseball web site;  it will be updated as quickly as I can get to my laptop each day.

Wish us Luck!

Coach Saucier

The UMPI Owls baseball team will be departing for Roanoke, Virginia on friday morning Feb. 12th where they will spend their vacation time playing teams from Tennessee and Virginia.  The Owls have been preparing for their first road trip since arriving back on campus after the semester break; they are ready to get onto a ballfield for the first time since fall practice ended in October of 2009.  The Owls second trip of the season will be later in March when they head for Philadelphia and New York to play another 10 ballgames.