Baseball is one of a kind, in that it is primarily a game of failure. The best hitters in the world fail seven out of every 10 at bats, and they still make the hall of fame. The most dominant pitchers often fail to get a batter out at least once an inning. As Volunteer Assistant Coach, Stan Parese, told us before one of our weekend series, three batters must fail each inning for the game to progress — rendering failure an essential outcome for any game. So while our season (9-22, 2-10 NESCAC) did not turn out as we had hoped, the high points showcased flashes of the type of resilience that all great baseball teams possess.
The team faced a host of extraordinary challenges this off-season, beginning with the demolition of the Towne Field House, which relegated our practices to Upper Lasell Gymnasium. We made the best out of a tough situation, working hard to maximize every square foot of space If there were awards for the most unorthodox venues for playing catch, we would have won by a landslide. Once live at-bats began inside temporary batting cages, catcher Tony Lods ’26 was still able to offer a dead-on impression of a NESCAC umpire’s liberal interpretation of the strike zone. Our facility situation, combined with a steady diet of subpar weather, afforded us only two practices on a baseball field until the fifth week of season.
Despite this fact, we were able to come up with a lopsided 22-1 win against a solid RPI (18-12) team to open up our season. Over spring break, we played 12 games over our 13 days in Florida. We were able to shake two early losses to Bowdoin (17-15, 6-6 NESCAC) to win three out of our next four games — two of those coming against Lawrence University (26-8), and SUNY Maritime (24-12), two strong teams. We hit our first stretch of adversity as a combination of the injury bug and in-game struggles contributed to a tough close to our spring break trip.
Upon returning north, we rebounded with a win against Vermont State Castleton (6- 28) before opening up our conference season against Wesleyan (21-10, 5-7 NESCAC). Heavy rain and snow forced a schedule change, with our two home games being played at Trinity on Saturday, and the third game being played at Wesleyan on Sunday. Two lopsided losses in the first two games of the series set us up for one of the high points of the season: In game three, we bounced back from an early deficit, winning 11-5. We were anchored by huge pitching performances by Jake Martin ’25, Teddy Massingham ’26, and Nick Skiera ’24 and offensive output by Henry Juan ’25 and co-captains Mike Giove ’24 and James O’Connor ’25. This was a huge win, both for our morale and for team’s standings.
The subsequent weekend series against Middlebury (24-9, 9-3 NESCAC), the best team in the NESCAC west division, was our best of the season. With a stellar start from Massingham against one of the best offenses in the conference, we held a 2-1 lead heading into the fifth inning. We ultimately dropped the game by a score of 3-2 as a last ditch seventh-inning rally came up just short. The second game was again close for the majority of the game — until Middlebury broke it open, scoring nine runs in the eighth inning. The third game of the series was fraught with massive playoff implications — a win would have kept us in the race for a spot. First-years Marcus Burrell ’27 and Ryan Nakajima ’27 and senior Kedar Veeraswamy ’24 powered the offense, with Martin offering up another strong start on the mound. JP Wong ’24 and Owen McHugh ’27 slammed the door with five scoreless innings of relief which culminated in a massive 6-4 win.
Though the next two weekends against Hamilton and Amherst ended in disappointment, there were still plenty of positive takeaways. Generations of College baseball players current and past were reunited, as alums spanning decades of the program attended our first home conference games of the season. A few of the games got away from us, but neither our hitters nor our pitchers gave up the battle, even at some of our season’s lowest points. Over the last two weeks, both McHugh and Nakajima hit their first collegiate home runs. Giove ended the season on an absolute tear, launching two home runs and netting five runs batted in on the week. Max Hart ’25 and Brendan Stannard ’25 once again delivered strong performances, Hart on the mound and Stannard at the plate and defending first base. Bullpen arms Wong, Skiera, Issey Gestel ’26, and co-captain Eric Gage ’24 each offered up strong relief outings.
But what the stat sheets and our record will never communicate is the way our team stuck together, even throughout the many difficulties this season posed. While our comparatively small roster size of ten poses depth challenges in games, it also serves as one of our greatest strengths. The bonds formed on and off the field among all class years is one of the truly unique aspects baseball at the College. None of this would be possible without the leadership of our five seniors: Gage, Giove, Wong, Skiera, and Veeraswamy. They’ve laid the foundation for a strong team culture, on and off the field. It’s now up to us younger players to build upon their groundwork and parlay it into future team success. If our two bounceback wins against Middlebury and Wesleyan’s strong teams have taught us anything, it’s that we have the talent and the capability to do so. The onus is on us, however, to maintain belief, and pick each other up off the mat so that we can prepare to take on whatever next season has to offer.
