The Husson University baseball and softball teams are close to finishing their yearly Florida spring trip. The baseball team (4-3) has one more game left Thursday evening before they head back East, while the Eagles softball squad (5-5) has two games Friday before they head back up the coast.
The baseball team entered Thursday having won two games in a row as they split a doubleheader with Concordia College on Tuesday winning game two, and then beat North Atlantic Conference member Cazenovia College on Wednesday. Kobe Rogerson has led all Eagles batters so far with an impressive .640 batting average, an OPS of 1.517, and an .840 slugging percentage. The senior graduate shortstop has 16 hits in 25 at bats and eight RBI. Graduate Ethan Stoddard and sophomore Ty Knowlton are also hitting over .300, as Stoddard has driven in five runs and Knowlton four. Sophomore Matt Wallingford hasn’t made a start on the mound but leads the staff out of the bullpen with a 0.00 ERA in 7.0 innings thrown allowing just three hits, walking two, and striking out 11. After the game with Immaculata University on Thursday, Husson heads to Rhode Island for two games with Salve Regina on Sunday, March 19 before another doubleheader in Connecticut on the 26th at Mitchell College. The home opener is also in non-conference with doubleheaders against SUNY-Canton on both April 1 and 2 at the Winkin Complex. The conference home openers are the weekend after on April 8 and 9 against Northern Vermont-Lyndon. The Eagles are the defending NAC Champions, going 1-2 in the NCAA Division III Tournament last May having their season ended by #16 SUNY-Oswego 12-10 in an elimination game
The softball team has won three in a row to get back to a .500 record after a 2-5 start. Husson defeated Gordon College 11-0 in five innings by mercy on Tuesday, and then swept past Kenyon College 8-0 (five innings) and Catholic University 3-2 on Thursday morning. Sophomore infielder Tori Exel has led the Eagles at the plate so far hitting .364. The Berwick, Maine native has eight hits in 22 at bats with two runs driven in. Freshman outfielder Angelina Fucci checks in at .350, and senior outfielder Katie Raymond is at .333 and leads the team with six RBI and an OPS of .927. Senior pitcher and Old Town native McKenna Smith is leading the way in the circle. Smith has a 3-2 record, starting five games (all complete games), with an ERA of 0.80. She has 41 strikeouts in 35 innings thrown so far. Freshman Emily Rerick is also off to a solid start in the circle with a 1-1 record and a 1.54 ERA in three starts. Husson plays York College of Pennsylvania and Misericordia University in their last two games in the sunshine state, before they head to play a couple of national powers. They play a doubleheader in Virginia against the #1 team in Division III Christopher Newport University next Friday, March 17. The next day on Saturday the 18th they are in Virginia Beach to face #7 Virginia Wesleyan for a pair of games. After non-conference games with the University of New England, Colby College, and Saint Joseph’s College (ME), they open NAC action at Northern Vermont-Johnson and Northern Vermont-Lyndon on Saturday and Sunday April 8 and 9 with doubleheaders each day. The home opener is a non-conference doubleheader against Plymouth State on April 13. They open the home conference slate two days later against the University of Maine-Farmington with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 15. The Eagles softball team is also the NAC defending champions, going 1-2 in the NCAA Division III Tournament last May having their season ended by #22 Amherst College 1-0 in an elimination game.
Story by Chris Lessner
