By Chris McCree

Writer

The baseball team posted a 4-3 record during its seven-day spring training trip in Florida this past week. Facing off against the likes of Air Force, North Dakota State, Butler, Indiana, Massachusetts and Jacksonville State, the Bison  were able to go up against a wide variety of teams with differing playing styles and gain valuable on-field experience in preparation for their rapidly approaching regular season.

All around, the Bison played good baseball, recording 36 runs over the seven-game stretch and averaging just one error per game. The key to the Bison’s success came from their pitching game, in which they limited their opposition to five runs or less in five of the seven games and posted a team ERA of 2.81.

Trey Frahler ’11 started out the trip by pitching seven shutout innings during the Bison’s 5-1 win over Air Force. He was followed by three consecutive dominant performances by Dylan Seeley ’11, Jack Boehm’12 and Ryan Ebner ’12, who combined to go 2-0, allowing just two runs over 30.2 innings.

The two most exciting Bison wins came back-to-back against Butler and Indiana. During their matchup against Butler, the Orange and Blue offense exploded for nine runs in the first inning and dominated the entire game. A trio of Ebner , Taylor Runge ’13 and Jack McLinden ’14 put together the Bison’s first shutout performance since May of last year, leading the team to a 14-0 blowout over the Bulldogs.

The following day’s matchup against Indiana proved to be just as exciting, as Gerry Runyan ’12 launched a 10th inning home run to seal a 5-4 victory for the Bison. Going into the ninth inning, the Bison trailed 3-0, but they were able to put together a last-minute comeback to get the team in position for Runyan’s winning blow.

The Orange and Blue had more trouble during their final two games, losing 6-4 to UMass and 9-1 to Jacksonville State. Against UMass, the Orange and Blue entered the ninth trailing 6-0 and were able to score four runs, but couldn’t complete their second consecutive comeback of the series. Runyan recorded three hits in the contest and raised his batting average above .370, the only Bison to eclipse that mark this year.

Now, the Bison look ahead to their home season opener against Longwood this weekend. After playing all of their previous games on the road, the Bison will be home for 11 out of their next 13 games, including their Patriot League season opener against Lafayette on April 2.