By Chris Caron
Forget about Alex Rodriguez’s move to third base for the Yankees. What about J.P. Wechter’s move from third base to the outfield for the Pride baseball team?
After appearing at third base in every game for the Pride this season, the sophomore took a shot at the outfield last weekend against Quinnipiac.
“This isn’t news to him and it was a decision I’ve been trying to hold off on for over a year,” Dotolo said. “Johnny plays pretty well with balls that are hit right at him, but needs to work on his lateral movement. He is struggling swinging the bat a little bit, so by taking him to outfield he might be able to relax and hit better.”
Not quite. Wechter, who went 1-for-11 on the weekend with three runs scored, led the Pride in batting last season with a .328 average. Luckily for Dotolo’s club, Wechter’s woes at the plate were not contagious. In a three game series between the Bobcats and the Pride combined to score 50 runs in the three games, with the Pride coming out on top in two of the three games.
Freshman walk-on Charlie Frago upped his record to 2-1 after pitching his first complete game of the season in game one of a double-dip on Saturday where the Pride won 16-4.
Last season, Sam Deluca and Ricky Caputo led the Pride with two wins each, now only a quarter through the season Frago, a lefthander, has equaled that. “He doesn’t throw real hard. He keeps guys off balance and has got a real good feel on the mound and has a lot of confidence,” Dotolo said.
The game was knotted at one heading into the fourth inning when the Pride bats came alive and put 15 runs on the board in the fourth through sixth inning against the Bobcats.
First baseman captain Mike Perullo went 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs, and three RBIs on a very productive day for the bats at University Field.
Second baseman Ricky Caputo went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and one run scored. “I was pretty excited to finally see us start swinging the bats,” Dotolo said.
In game two the Pride bats continued to stay hot as they produced runs in every inning of the game en route to a 10-7 win over the Bobcats.
David Huth got the starting nod in the game and pitched six innings while allowing five earned runs on nine hits, he also walked one and struck out three. Huth improved his record to 1-2.
On Sunday the Pride headed out to Connecticut to take on Quinnipiac plus the change in scenery seemed to calm the Pride bats as the Bobcats won their second game of the year in an 8-5 win over the Pride. John Furman and Terrence Vogenberger each pitched in the later innings, but the Pride could not come back from the early deficit. The Pride battled back to score five runs between the sixth through eight innings and took the lead after the seventh.
The Bobcats would not be denied on their home opener, responding with four runs in the seventh to take the lead for good.
Dotolo decided to give both Kellen Taylor and freshman Ryan Dunn a chance on Sunday to decide who would be his third starter come conference play.
Taylor, a sophomore, got the start and allowed two hits and one run through four innings to start the game. Dunn (0-2) relieved Taylor in the fifth and struggled in allowing four runs on five hits and picked up the loss.
“Kellen pitched very well,” Dotolo said. “Clearly it was his best outing of the year and we hope that he is going to keep that up in the coming weeks.”
Ron Egan got the start for the Bobcats and pitched seven innings while giving up three earned runs on seven hits. “I just told the guys this is the type of guy that you are going to see in the conference, then you are going to see another guy coming out of the bullpen that is just like him,” Dotolo said.
Wechter’s replacements at the hot corner Felix Adamkiewicz and Andy Campana combined for three errors in the three games played. “They both do things well and they both have to work on a lot of things,” said Dotolo.
After the games against the Bobcats the Pride now stands with a record of 4-9, while Quinnipiac went to 2-7.
The Pride was set to play at St. John’s on Tuesday, but snow decided to play a trick on the Northeast once again and it was postponed until next Friday.
All three Pride coaches were once members of the Red Storm at one point or another including Josh Stern who played for St. John’s before transferring to the Pride. First year assistant coach Asa Grunenwald was a player for St. John’s last year and actually went 0-2 when playing the Pride last season.
Dotolo still stresses the importance of learning during the non-conference games and being prepared for Colonial Athletic Association play starting next Friday with a trip to Virginia Commonwealth. “We want to get as close to .500 as possible before heading down to VCU,” Dotolo said.
The Pride will next be in action Friday at St. John’s and Saturday at Albany.
Freshman infielder Felix Adamkiewicz rounds second on his way to third. The baseball team was snowed out this week.