A BLUSTERY OPENER
Saratoga takes non-league opener 7-2 over Shaker in snow and sleet
TROY, N.Y. » Come hell, high water, rain, wind or even sleet and snow couldn’t keep Saratoga Springs and Shaker’s baseball squads from postponing their scheduled non-league opener Tuesday.
The two squads moved both the location and the start time of the opener between the two Suburban Council teams, utilizing RPI’s artificial turf Robison Field and a 10:30 a.m. start time.
Everything went smoothly, if you were a Blue Streak fan, as Saratoga put up seven unanswered runs before Shaker responded with a pair of runs late in the 7-2 opener.
The Blue Bison were challenged by Monday’s environment, their first time outside of the Shaker gymnasium this season and then challenged with facing live pitching against a quality opponent.
“Normally we have kind of a courtesy that we’d like to get teams outside at least three times before we actually play a schedule a game,” third-year coach Joe Rispole said. “So it was a priority for us to get out even without having been outside yet. It was just good to get the guys out on the field.”
The Blue Streaks, meanwhile, didn’t show any jet lag from their annual trip to Florida, getting in several scrimmages, the rust of their bats and bonding on the long road trip.
“We’re very fortunate enough to be able to go down south and, get some practices some scrimmages in and I think it does give us a little bit of a leg up in terms of other people who have been in the gym for a month or so,” Saratoga Springs skipper Andy Cuthbertson said. “It’s also nice playing on a turf field today.”
The warm weather trip helped the Blue Streaks stretch their legs and their arms, but the top competition still resides in their own backyard.
“We scrimmaged a very good team from New Jersey down there that we scored two runs and they scored one, but after that the competition wasn’t anywhere near what Suburban Council would be,” Cuthbertson said. “Although we had some success in good at bats and good outings from pitchers down there, I just kind of harp to the guys ‘You know, what we see on a daily basis. It’s going to be very good baseball, it doesn’t matter who we play.”
With that in mind, Cuthbertson handed the ball to Nico Concha who went five innings, giving up a run on two hits, walking four batters and striking out nine in a 35 degree start.
“Your fingers tend to freeze up a little bit,” Concha said. “I think the weather didn’t really affect my pitch selection, my fast ball and curve ball really worked well today. I think the curve ball work very well today, getting batters out on three strikes.”
He was warmed up by two runs in Saratoga’s first at-bats and then a four-run third allowed him to enter cruise control.
Christian Kondo reached on a fielder’s choice before Devin McArthur singled to center followed by a Brad Hipsley walk. Brian Hart hits an RBI single to right, scoring Kondo and McArthur, sending Hipsley to third as Hart advanced to second on a fielding error. Hipsley would score on a passed ball with Hart advancing before Conch hit a sac fly to right to score Hart for the 6-0 lead.
Shaker’s highlights included Jack Mahoney’s sixth-inning solo home run, cutting the lead, 7-2.
After escaping the Shaker gym, the Blue Bison had to adjust to the elements on the fly Monday morning.
“I saw some, some difficulties with fly balls out there, I saw some difficulties reading the ball off the turf,” Rispole said. “First time throwing off a mound this year so we had some difficulty early-on locating pitches and you know, just your basic, what you would expect that first time out.
“The errors, you know a couple of them mental, which is something we don’t expect. Then you know, the errors that you’re going to see, not judging a fly ball properly and not getting the ground ball reads that we would normally get three or four games in the season.”
Expect both teams to be inside on Wednesday with poor weather in the forecast as the Blue Streaks prepare for their annual non-league tilt with Shenendehowa at Shuttleworth Park in Amsterdam Thursday afternoon and Shaker prepares to face Averill Park Saturday afternoon.