Like most baseball teams, ranging from high school all the way through the professional ranks, the Jeffs headed south to kick off their season. Leaving the cold behind them, the Jeffs spent Spring Break bonding—while playing baseball, of course—during their trip to Fort Myers, Fla.
Senior co-captain and catcher Josh Card described the importance of trip. “You really do get to know your teammates better since you see them constantly,” said Neal Allar ’07. The co-captain and starter at first base, explained exactly how the team came together. “Lots of guys end up sharing beds because the hotel doesn’t have enough cots. There’s nothing like living and playing as a team 24/7 to bring it all together.”
Getting to know each other off the field enhanced the way the team performed on the baseball diamond. Propelled by Allar and Card, both of whom started every game and posted a batting .400, the Jeffs finished the break with a record of 6-4.
The record is a strong start for a team that will rely heavily on the contributions of first-year players. Among the first-years that played exceptionally well in Florida was Jeff Keenan, who earned NESCAC Pitcher of the Week honors after throwing 10 strong innings with an ERA of only 0.90 and picking up his first collegiate victory.
While, as Card asserted, the team may not have won every game it should have, in light of the team’s age, the results were satisfactory.. “We lost a couple of games that we certainly could have won, but we also played with a young and inexperienced team,” the catcher said. “The important thing is that in those games, we found [ways] to come back and found opportunities to win. We were in some tough situations during the trip and we often responded by playing better defense and scoring more runs.”
Certainly, winning is always important. But the value of the yearly trip cannot be measured solely by the record they come home with. Value also lines in what the team is able to learn about itself. As Allar said, Amherst “still has a lot of work to do in every aspect of the game—pitching, defense and hitting—but this group really wants to compete. If we can get some kinks worked out in our game, we should be able to make a strong showing in NESCAC competition.”
Throughout the week in Florida, the team demonstrated a considerable amount of talent. “We have a very young team this year, so the coaches and older players didn’t know exactly what to expect,” explained Allar. “Some of our play was very encouraging—we showed potential to hit the hell out of the ball.”
With a young team it is never certain who is going to show up on a given day, but the Jeffs exhibited toughness on several occasions, mounting strong comebacks more than once. Card added, “I think we’ll play with a lot of competitiveness and resilience this year.”
For a young team that harbors dreams of playing in the NCAA Tournament, development and resiliency are going to be crucial. If Amherst is able to bring all of the pieces together, Allar sees promise in the team.
“We need to get some things fixed up, but if we keep working to improve our skills and our competitive attitudes, we should be tough to beat,” he said. “We’re not taking anything for granted; we just plan to take good, hard hacks at the ball, pitch with courage and stay tough on defense. If we play the game the way [Head] Coach [Bill] Thurston teaches, we’ll be tough to beat.”