The sun shone—literally and figuratively—on the Red Hawks’ offense only briefly, but it was enough to overcome the Golden Bears of Western New England, 5-1, in the baseball team’s home opener. The star of the game was clearly David Hubbs, who threw eight innings for Rensselaer, allowing only a single (unearned) run on four hits and striking out seven. Junior Ed Haldeman came on to close out the ninth inning to complete the victory.
Things began poorly for the Red Hawks. Hubbs hit the leadoff batter with a pitch, and that runner came around to score after fielding errors on the next two plays, leaving runners at second and third and no outs. Hubbs worked out of that jam without any further damage, but trouble threatened again the following inning when, with two outs, he walked two consecutive batters. However, he ended that scoring menace himself, making a nice defensive play to retire the side.
The Golden Bears did not advance beyond first base again until the eighth inning. A single and a walk put two runners on with no outs, but an infield fly and a pretty double play made quick work of the Western New England threat. Two runners also reached in the ninth, and again the RPI defense answered with an inning-ending double play.
The offense also got off to a slow start, as Golden Bears starter Kyle Snurkowski retired the first nine Red Hawk batters in order. A walk and a sacrifice bunt put a runner in scoring position with one out in the fourth, but Rensselaer could not capitalize.
The clouds finally broke in the fifth as the bottom of the lineup came through for RPI. Outfielder Matt Faraone reached on an error, and then DH Brian Marine drove the ball into right-center field for a double. Second Baseman Tim Egan followed that up with a single, scoring Faraone, and Dan Stevenson grounded out to drive in Marine for what proved to be the game-winning run.
Rensselaer picked up 3 more runs in the bottom of the eighth as Stevenson, Pat Hughes, and Brendan Witherell opened the frame with back-to-back-to-back singles, loading the bases. Center Fielder Travis Teeter hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field, advancing all three runners, and Scott Gianoni drove in another run and moved Witherell to third when he reached on an error. Nick Parenteau closed out the scoring with another sacrifice fly, picking up Witherell.
Head Coach Karl Steffen seemed largely pleased with the team’s performance, although he recognized that it took time for the team to get back up to speed.
"When we came out of Florida, we were right where we wanted to be," he said. However, the weather has prevented the team from practicing, and it showed in the three errors committed by the Rensselaer defense.
Pitching Coach Steve "Smoke" Allard added, "We’re gonna be fine—we just haven’t been outside enough."
Steffen was also upbeat about the team’s future, citing an outstanding pitching staff and normally solid defense as cornerstones of the team’s success. He also said that this was the part of the season to work out any kinks, noting that the UCAA games—which determine postseason play—are in a lot of ways more important.
"These games are really (just) to get us ready for the conference games," he said.
