STLCC Archers begin baseball season with 10-game winning streak
Brian Haenchen
-Staff Writer-
McHenry County College snapped the STLCC Archers’ 10-game win streak on Sunday, March 4, with a 5-3 victory at STLCC-Meramec. Heading into Sunday’s game, the Archers had not lost since mid-February, when they were swept by No. 6 Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) in their first series of the season.
After dropping game one 9-5, the Archers held a lead in both halves of the double-header on Feb. 19. They let a 4-3 seventh inning lead slip away in game one and watched an early 6-2 lead dissipate in game two.
Sophomore left fielder Mike Ehrhard led the way in the double header, driving in five runs on three hits.
A total of 10 different pitchers also saw action in Sunday’s double-header.
That series against DMACC was actually a late addition to STLCC’s schedule. Coach Tony Dattoli jumped at the opportunity to add the Bears to his schedule, after their series in Nebraska was snowed out.
“Early in the season, the more at-bats you get, the better off you’re going to be,” Dattoli said in a news release on NJCAA website. “The way our schedule plays out, these are games we kind of had to take advantage of between Feb. 28 and March 17 we play 15 out of 17 days. It was beneficial for us to be able to get quality at-bats, quality innings on the mound. Now that we’ve seen everything at game speed, we have nine days to get things figured out.”
Dattoli’s plan to get his team playing earlier in the season paid off, as the team has lost just twice since that series sweep.
“It felt great to get a feel for live pitching again,” Matt Weiss, freshman infielder, said. “Just getting outside and playing again [felt great].”
The unseasonably warm weather also allowed the Archers to start outdoor practices earlier in the season. The extra time allowed the team to hone their fielding abilities and re-adapt to playing outdoors before the season started.
“It was good to get some swings and feel comfortable before we started the regular season,” Dylan Rowe, outfielder, said. “If I had to choose [one area that we focused on during practice], it’d be defense. Our infielders took a lot of groundballs and outfielders worked on their footwork.”
Their early season games and outdoor practices helped the players fine-tune their skills; it was during the fall season that they started to bond as a team.
“The fall was huge,” Rowe said. “We had a few [road] trips and we came together on the bus rides. Also, it helped figure out who’s going to be in what role during the season, because in junior college you have two years of eligibility, meaning there are new starters every year.”
While STLCC’s ultimate goal is to win the NJCAA World Series, Rowe understands they must first take care of business in regionals.
“My expectation for the next year is to win the World Series. Every team has the same goal when the season starts and I hope we can put it together,” Rowe said. “But to start off, I’d really like to win regionals because we got knocked out after only three games last year.”
One of the teams STLCC could encounter in the playoffs is Louisiana State University-Eunice (LSU-Eunice). The Bengals (15-2) are ranked third in the nation and feature a starting rotation that features three pitchers with at least 20 strikeouts, including Brady Domangue, who leads the team with 28.
The Archers will have an opportunity to see how they stack up against LSU-Eunice over spring break, when they hit the road for a seven-game swing through Mississippi and Louisiana.
“[Our series against] top ranked LSU-Eunice will give us a great test to see how our team can play against one of the top ranked teams in the country,” Weiss said.
