Ravens Baseball Set to Start Strong

by AJ Berube
edited by Abbie Tumbleson and Casey Williams

The Raven’s Baseball Team will officially begin their regular season on February 27 as they travel to face Adelphi University.

Finishing last season as Northeast-10 Conference Regular Season Champions, they are coming off a previous 37-18 regular season record.  The team was recently picked to repeat as champions in the Conference pre-season Coaches poll.  Head Coach Jayson Kind is hopeful that the team can live up to their early hype, while also improving after a disappointing loss in the regional playoffs last year.

King said, “I think we needed to improve everything.  Improve our pitching staff, make improvements to our defense and offense, and we’re working towards that right now to try to cure some of the problems we had last season.”

The Franklin Pierce Baseball team is again the favorite to win the NE-10 Conference. Photo: Franklin Pierce Athletics

While King is confident that they are currently doing what is necessary to build up a better team, he knows he has the right players and right leaders to make that happen.

King said, “I think one of the big things this year that I’ve seen so far is we’re getting good leadership from the captains that we have.”

One of the captains that Coach King spoke so highly of was Cody Kauffman.  The senior outfielder hit for .264 last year while driving in 16 runs in 159 at-bats.  He also stole 7 bases and sported a .966 fielding percentage.

Kauffman said, “Everyone has been working hard, but most of all we have really come together as a team and the freshman and new guys have really stepped up and realize what the program is all about.  As a whole we look pretty sharp, but still have a long way to go to reach those aspirations.”

Both King and Kauffman were equally sure that leadership and experience would be a theme for this year’s ball team.

Kauffman said, in reference to veteran players, “With experience like Adams, Maloney, Nicholas, and guys stepping up into roles that they may not have had before like Wasylow, and Keeler.  The lineup is going to be strong from 1-9 and our bench is extremely deep this year compared to last.”

This offseason the team lost two prominent returners to the Major League Baseball draft as Keith Rivers and Kyle Vasquez were both signed to play.  The San Francisco Giants drafted Vasquez while Rivers signed with the Seattle Mariners during the summer.

King said, “That’s challenging in it’s own way because most of the better guys leave as juniors so we miss them for that last year and probably their most productive year, but at the same time it really helps with recruiting and getting new guys in here.”

The team will play the first month of the season away, before playing their home opener on March 25 against Saint Anselm at 3:00 p.m.