Baseball Strikes Back

16

Author: Adam Greenhouse

The Oxy Baseball Team equaled last season’s win-total by taking two out of three games from Whitworth College last Friday and Saturday at Anderson Field. The 16-15 Tigers won game one of Saturday’s doubleheader 7-6, dramatically scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Oxy swept the day with a 6-4 victory in the second game.

In Saturday’s first game, Oxy jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first four innings. Tyler Colville (senior) homered to start the second inning, and starter Jayson Williams (senior) pitched four lights-out innings before giving up two runs in the fifth. In the seventh, the Whitworth Pirates sparked a two-out, four-run scoring spree. Down two runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers took advantage of their last licks. Patrick Sarkissian (first-year) knocked in pinch runner Seth Goss (junior), and Whitworth pitcher Ryan Snell walked three straight batters to give the Tigers the victory.

The second game featured a solid pitching performance by Marcus Stolber (sophomore). He kept the Pirates off the board for two and two thirds innings, helping the Tigers to the day’s second victory.

Win number 16 for the Tigers means more than the team being one game over .500. Two seasons ago, the baseball program won only six games. Last year, the team won 16. And, if they win four of their last nine, they will reach the 20-win mark, which is something that hasn’t been done by an Oxy Baseball Team since 1990. The last two seasons have marked vast improvement, and according to players and Head Coach Elliot Strankman, it all has to do with the team’s mindset.

“I think the biggest things that have happened over the last two years is belief and leadership,” Strankman said. “When I say belief I’m saying that these kids believe that they can compete with anyone. That’s a very important part of winning.”

Williams, a pitcher who has been a part of the baseball program for three years, also attributes the players’ approach and attitude to the program’s progression. “We have gone from going into games hoping we don’t get beat to believing that we are the team to beat,” Williams said.

Not only do the Tigers believe they can win ballgames, they have grasped the concepts of upperclassmen leadership and team play. And there is no doubt that Strankman’s influence helped teach the more experienced players how to lead younger teammates.

“I try to emphasize to them how special it can be when upperclassmen set the bar for others to follow,” Strankman said. “Without question, that has been the difference.”

Although the baseball team accomplished a lot this season, Strankman and company are not satisfied, yet. Next Friday, Oxy will play the University of Redlands at home at 3 p.m. Friday starts the leg of their season which includes six Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match-ups: two against Redlands, two against Pomona-Pitzer, and the final two against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Oxy is currently tied for the fourth spot in SCIAC, three games behind the first-place University of La Verne. Strankman said the team cannot wait to make the final push in the SCIAC and continue to elevate the program’s prominence.

“I’ve become almost obsessed with putting Oxy Baseball back on the map,” Strankman said.

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