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Photo by: Eric Espada
Birdball Fall 2016 - Back To Work
October 28, 2016 | Baseball, #ForBoston Files
Development remains top priority as team begins march to 2017
Five months removed from arguably the most successful season in its program's history, the Boston College baseball team was back at work, finishing up the fall practice schedule with a series of intrasquad scrimmages. As Maroon defeated Gold, two games to one with one tie in the Sonny Nictakis Fall World Series, it was the first glimpse into what's next for a team coming off a year it qualified for both the conference and national tournaments, swept a Regional and finished within a game of winning a Super Regional.
The Eagles have a couple of pieces already in place, the product of the development system that helped build what happened in the spring of 2016. Though they lost Justin Dunn, Mike King, Jesse Adams and Nick Sciortino from their battery, they return players already in the pipeline.
"No one person can replace what Justin (Dunn) was, just like no one person last year could replace what Chris (Shaw) was," head coach Mike Gambino said following Maroon's victory. "We don't want one person to replace them, though. We want to have a staff that can do what we did last year and we believe we can."
"Last year was great, and it's no secret that losing guys like Justin Dunn and Mike King is a big blow," junior Bobby Skogsbergh said. "But at the same time, it's also an opportunity for new guys to step up. We can't wait to see who those guys can be. We have some young, talented freshmen and some guys have already made that jump this fall. It's always interesting to see what happens in the spring, but we're feeling pretty confident (in our staff)."
Jacob Stevens, a Freshman All-American from a season ago, did not allow a run in 4.1 innings thrown during the fall world series, striking out six. While he provides the centerpiece for the rotation, the remainder of the spots will be up for grabs behind the developing arms of junior Brian Rapp, sophomores Thomas Lane and Zach Stromberg and emerging freshman Matt Gill.
Skogsbergh started Game One and threw four innings, striking out one, but looks to remain in the bullpen as part of a lockdown to close out games for BC. Freshman Jack Cunningham recorded the only save of the SNWS, while junior lefty Carmen Giampetruzzi threw 6.2 innings.
"We believe we're going to have three quality ACC starters," Gambino said. "(Along with) a quality midweek starter, and a really good bullpen that's going to give us a chance to win games."
That's a good sign for BC, a team looking to retain an - in some ways - enhance its identity from a year ago.
"There's going to be length in our lineup," Gambino said. "We don't have the one guy in the middle of the lineup. We do have guys who can hit home runs and I think the middle of our order and the length in our lineup will be better. But that's who we are: tough at bats, go from first to third on base hits, steal bags, run the bases. What people saw last year was what we want to be as Birdball."
Despite the losses of players like Sciortino, Joe Cronin and Gabriel Hernandez, the Eagles will once again look into their system of development to create the next set of players. Sophomore Jake Alu hit .400 during the fall ball series, swatting three of his six hits for extra bases. Classmate Dominic Hardaway hit two triples, as did freshman Dante Baldelli. Hardaway also tallied five RBIs in the four games, tied for the team lead with freshman Joe Suozzi.
"It's kind of hard sometimes to look away from last year, just because of the success that we had," senior Johnny Adams said. "But you have to remember that we're turning a new page. We have to focus on what's ahead of us, and we're doing that so far. We have a good group of guys, and we're all committed to that plan. We're still a bunch of grinders, and we still have that team chemistry, but those are things that we still want to work on because that develops more over time."
It was the completion of a crucial period of development for BC, a team built around its system of getting progressively better. College baseball's recruiting period operates on a very different schedule than some of its more well-known brethren simply because of its calendar. Because baseball is played parallel to graduation seasons, when high school students already make their college choices, evaluation and commitments come in the winter or fall, well before the start of a senior season.
That places an importance on being able to chart out player development over time. A coach has to wait longer to get "his players" into his program's pipeline, meaning Gambino didn't have his first full roster of players he recruited until last season. Not coincidentally, that's when Birdball, who nearly broke through the ACC Tournament barrier in 2015, shattered the glass ceiling separating them from the nation's best programs.
Along with recruiting, the fall then serves as baseball's proving grounds, where coaches can work with their teams so they can hit the ground running in the spring. It's the answer, in some ways, to football's spring practice, with the fall "World Series" serving as the answer to the annual Spring Game.
"Looking back since my freshman year, every fall has gotten progressively better," Skogsbergh said. "Right now, we're just preparing for the (2017) season. So our goal is to limit distractions, not take any steps backwards, and just take steps forward. We preach it; we have a quote of the day for every practice to lock in and get our focus right. It's important for us to treat every practice like it's a game in the spring, and we had a really good, clean fall."
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The Eagles have a couple of pieces already in place, the product of the development system that helped build what happened in the spring of 2016. Though they lost Justin Dunn, Mike King, Jesse Adams and Nick Sciortino from their battery, they return players already in the pipeline.
"No one person can replace what Justin (Dunn) was, just like no one person last year could replace what Chris (Shaw) was," head coach Mike Gambino said following Maroon's victory. "We don't want one person to replace them, though. We want to have a staff that can do what we did last year and we believe we can."
"Last year was great, and it's no secret that losing guys like Justin Dunn and Mike King is a big blow," junior Bobby Skogsbergh said. "But at the same time, it's also an opportunity for new guys to step up. We can't wait to see who those guys can be. We have some young, talented freshmen and some guys have already made that jump this fall. It's always interesting to see what happens in the spring, but we're feeling pretty confident (in our staff)."
Jacob Stevens, a Freshman All-American from a season ago, did not allow a run in 4.1 innings thrown during the fall world series, striking out six. While he provides the centerpiece for the rotation, the remainder of the spots will be up for grabs behind the developing arms of junior Brian Rapp, sophomores Thomas Lane and Zach Stromberg and emerging freshman Matt Gill.
Skogsbergh started Game One and threw four innings, striking out one, but looks to remain in the bullpen as part of a lockdown to close out games for BC. Freshman Jack Cunningham recorded the only save of the SNWS, while junior lefty Carmen Giampetruzzi threw 6.2 innings.
"We believe we're going to have three quality ACC starters," Gambino said. "(Along with) a quality midweek starter, and a really good bullpen that's going to give us a chance to win games."
That's a good sign for BC, a team looking to retain an - in some ways - enhance its identity from a year ago.
"There's going to be length in our lineup," Gambino said. "We don't have the one guy in the middle of the lineup. We do have guys who can hit home runs and I think the middle of our order and the length in our lineup will be better. But that's who we are: tough at bats, go from first to third on base hits, steal bags, run the bases. What people saw last year was what we want to be as Birdball."
Despite the losses of players like Sciortino, Joe Cronin and Gabriel Hernandez, the Eagles will once again look into their system of development to create the next set of players. Sophomore Jake Alu hit .400 during the fall ball series, swatting three of his six hits for extra bases. Classmate Dominic Hardaway hit two triples, as did freshman Dante Baldelli. Hardaway also tallied five RBIs in the four games, tied for the team lead with freshman Joe Suozzi.
"It's kind of hard sometimes to look away from last year, just because of the success that we had," senior Johnny Adams said. "But you have to remember that we're turning a new page. We have to focus on what's ahead of us, and we're doing that so far. We have a good group of guys, and we're all committed to that plan. We're still a bunch of grinders, and we still have that team chemistry, but those are things that we still want to work on because that develops more over time."
It was the completion of a crucial period of development for BC, a team built around its system of getting progressively better. College baseball's recruiting period operates on a very different schedule than some of its more well-known brethren simply because of its calendar. Because baseball is played parallel to graduation seasons, when high school students already make their college choices, evaluation and commitments come in the winter or fall, well before the start of a senior season.
That places an importance on being able to chart out player development over time. A coach has to wait longer to get "his players" into his program's pipeline, meaning Gambino didn't have his first full roster of players he recruited until last season. Not coincidentally, that's when Birdball, who nearly broke through the ACC Tournament barrier in 2015, shattered the glass ceiling separating them from the nation's best programs.
Along with recruiting, the fall then serves as baseball's proving grounds, where coaches can work with their teams so they can hit the ground running in the spring. It's the answer, in some ways, to football's spring practice, with the fall "World Series" serving as the answer to the annual Spring Game.
"Looking back since my freshman year, every fall has gotten progressively better," Skogsbergh said. "Right now, we're just preparing for the (2017) season. So our goal is to limit distractions, not take any steps backwards, and just take steps forward. We preach it; we have a quote of the day for every practice to lock in and get our focus right. It's important for us to treat every practice like it's a game in the spring, and we had a really good, clean fall."
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