Contact Information
The Spectator
Baseball Finishes With All-Time High of 14 Wins
By Jeff Rudberg '10Sports Writer
This year's baseball team finished 14-21 overall and 4-8 in the NESCAC. The 14 wins is an all-time high for the Continentals. However, the 35 total games played this year breaks the record of 34 set in 2006. Despite the records, 2009 is the 18th consecutive season without a winning record for the school.
A lack of pitching depth contributed to some of this season's struggles. The 1-2 starting combination of Max Foster '10 and Jakob Saidman '09, with Alex Augustyn '10 in the bullpen, kept Hamilton in many close game this year. Unfortunately, other than these three, no one stepped up as a consistently effective and healthy option on the mound. The lack of pitching depth proved costly in the team's five extra inning games, as all five resulted in Hamilton losses.
The Continental offense, on the other hand, had multiple contributors to their successful season. This year's team scored a run in every single game, until the final contest of the year against nationally ranked SUNY Cortland, They smashed the school record with 221 runs. The previous record, set in 2006, was 182. Hamilton had another aggressive year on the base paths. They stole 50 bases, 7 more than the record setting 43 from last season.
In addition to these team records, several individual defensive and offense records changed hands this year. After breaking the career strikeout record earlier in the season, Max Foster tied the single season mark of 62 as well in his final outing of the year. Augustyn set marks on the mound and at the plate. The junior's four saves matches the record for one year and his 14 doubles sets a new single season record. In his first season of college baseball, Sam Choate '12 produced both the school's runs record (30) and the stolen bases record (15).
Perhaps most amazing is this year's teams assault of the single season hits record. Before 2009, no player had equaled John Porges' '07 42 hits in 2005. This year four players, Augustyn (42), Choate (45), Justin Atwood '11 (46), and Wes Mayberry '11(49), either reached or surpassed Porges' previous milestone. Even though the 2009 team played two more games than the 2005 team did, this is a remarkable feat for these four batters. The chase for the first 50 hit season will be tight between these sluggers in 2010, as all four are returning next season.
One of the surprise contributors to this year's team was catcher Pat Gennaco '11. Even though Gennaco played sparingly in 2008 with one start and only seven plate appearances, he quickly emerged as a solid member of the lineup. Gennaco started 20 games this year and finished the season hitting .310 with a team high .444 on-base percentage.
Next year the Continentals lose 4 strong players from this senior class. Ryan Calabrese, Zak Cohen, Saidman, and Gideon Clark each contributed to the 40 career wins in their four years. The 40 wins matches the school record set by the class of 1998, although the class 2009 played in 23 more total games during their four years.
Hamilton baseball will miss each these four players, but perhaps the biggest loss of all is second baseman sClark. The senior captain finished his outstanding career in the school's top 10 in at-bats, hits, runs, and stolen bases.
Although 2009 may not have been as successful as he had hoped, head coach Tim Byrnes completed his third consecutive year of improvement with the team. When Byrnes took over in 2007, he inherited a team that lost all 12 of their NESCAC games the year before. That first season under Coach Byrnes Hamilton won 2 conferences game, followed by 3 wins in 2008, and finally 4 this year. There is no doubt Hamilton College baseball is moving in the right direction.