Baseball starts with a close game
Franchesca Finelli
Staff Writer
Nature has not been kind to the Vikings this baseball season, but the skies opened up on Friday allowing the team to travel to Poughkeepsie to take on Dutchess Community College.
The Vikings lost against Duchess, currently sitting with a record of 5-2, 5-4 at the end of the nine inning game.
Criminal justice major Nicolas Teitter led the Vikings with two hits and two RBIs.
Criminal justice major Alex Koshgarian and computer information systems major Jon Montesanti each contributed two hits.
Business administration major Danny Coleman also recorded a hit; his first triple of the season.
“We have to improve on little things, but we now know our team identity and what we need to do to win games,” said Jake LaFerriere, team pitcher and civil engineering technology major about the Viking’s match against Dutchess Community College.
“Our main goal is always to improve,” said LaFerriere.
[The team] had a great season last year and should have gone further in the playoffs than [they] did. Last year [we] were just short of our goal and of a national ranking and that is a big reason why we are ready to come out strong,” he said.
Earlier in the preseason, the Vikings competed against other community colleges in The Ripken Experience, a tournament held in Myrtle Beach.
The Vikings had one win, 4-3, against Elgin Community College and one loss 5-8. The Vikings won both games against Garrett Community College.
The Vikings also won against College of Southern Maryland, but lost against Harper College, Finger Lakes Community College and Ocean County College.
This year the team is led by head coach Alex Jurczynski along with assistant coaches David Ames and Al Williams.
Jurczynski, Conference Coach of the Year for the past two years, took over the program in the winter of 2015, leading last year’s squad to a 20-12 record.
The team was set to play Jefferson Community College 1-4 on Thursday until a postponement due to the weather.
Their Saturday game against Herkimer County Community College was also postponed due to weather, but their Sunday game against Herkimer was played as of Friday night.
All games will be double headers unless otherwise stated.