STLCC Archer baseball team hopes for a successful 2013 season.
By: Ashley Higginbotham
-Asst. News Editor-
After finishing the 2012 baseball season with a record of 31-30, the STLCC Archers began their 2013 campaign 297 miles south of St. Louis, Mo. in Millington, Tenn. The Feb. 15 season opener against the Ellsworth Community College Panthers at U.S.A. Stadium was a kick-off to what Head Coach Tony Dattoli hopes to be a successful season.
“We’re young and we’re going to go through growing pains as we did last year, but talent-wise, we’re right on par,” Dattoli said in ‘Baseball Team Primed for Rebound in 2013’ on http://stlcc.edu.
The Archers lost, 6-5, to the Panthers, but got their first win of the season on Feb. 16, shutting out the Falcons from Southeastern Illinois Community College, 5-0.
With their first six games being played in U.S.A. Stadium, the start of 2013 finds the Archers with a 1-3 record. The Archers have two more games remaining at the same facility that played host as the U.S.A Olympic baseball team’s training facility from 1986-1996 before returning on Feb. 26 for their home opener.
The Archers’ will face nationally ranked teams, such as the No. 18 Crowder College Roughriders from Neosho, Mo. The Roughriders, who finished 2012 with an overall record of 44-17, will be visiting the hometown Archers on Mar. 23 and Mar. 24 at Heine Meine Baseball Field.
“We play against nationally ranked teams, so that by regionals we will be playing our best,” Dattoli said.
Although the season is young, Dattoli said he can only push the team so far. The rest of the work is up to the players.
“A coach can only have control over so much,” Dattoli said. “[The rest] matters on the team.”
