Expectations flying high for baseball

Coming off a Conference Championship win last season, the Hopkins baseball team has big goals for 2016. In a five-game series last May, the Jays defeated the Franklin & Marshall College Diplomats for the conference title.

They ended their successful 2015 campaign with a 30-13-1 overall record. Led by five senior captains along with many key players returning from last season, the team’s future is looking bright.

Tournament MVP Conor Reynolds played a major role in leading the Jays to the Conference Championship win last season.

Now a junior, the shortstop proved to be a force at the plate and the basepaths. With 51 runs and 21 stolen bases, Reynolds finished the 2015 season with team bests in both.

Along with Reynolds, first baseman Daniel Albert also had a strong presence at the dish. The current junior tied with Reynolds to lead the team with four home runs. Making Babb Field history, Albert hit two of these home runs against the McDaniel College Green Terror on April 13, racking up three runs batted in (RBIs).

Also look out for juniors Ryan Orgielewicz and Thomas Mee to have huge 2016 campaigns. With 16 RBIs and three home runs, Orgielewicz finished the 2015 season with a .298 batting average.

The catcher proved himself at the Conference Championship against the Diplomats with his season-best three hits. Mee also had a break through performance in the Centennial Conference tournament recording a career-best four hits against McDaniel.

The team will look to the leadership of their captains, seniors Carter Burns, Colin Friedman, Mitch Weaver and Trevor Williams and graduate student Jake Enterlin. With all of their experience, the captains will be crucial in guiding the team this spring.

Coach Bob Babb will look for Weaver to shoulder much of the catching load. Weaver ended his campaign last season with a .312 batting average and started in 23 games.

Meanwhile, Burns and Enterlin will be key to the team’s defensive success. Playing as a graduate student this year, Enterlin led the team with 61 strikeouts last season. Enterlin’s 2.44 career earned run average (ERA) ranks fifth in all time program history, and this year he will look to cap off his historic time as a Jay. Joining him is senior fireballer Carter Burns.

Coming off a successful 2015 campaign after finishing 5-1 in eight starts, he is currently tied for 22nd in program history with 16 career victories on the mound.

After a successful 2015 season, the team is hopeful looking forward this spring.

“The goal is a trip to the College World Series,” Burns said. The last time the Jays appeared in the series was 2010.

The Jays will also face the defending national champions in a two game series beginning March 5 in Baltimore against the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons.

The team plans to treat the game against Cortland the same as they would treat any other game.

“We’ll just go out there and give it our best effort,” Burns said. “If we play the way we know we can, I am sure we will win.”

The Jays will face the Keystone College Giants to kick off the season and will face an exciting slate of early-season action before it takes its annual Florida trip.

The Giants, who have been named the preseason favorite in the Colonial States Athletic Conference Coaches’ Poll, will give the Jays some good early competition. The game will be held this Saturday, Feb. 27 at Babb Field at 1:30 p.m., and the Jays will play again Sunday.