Baseball looks to regain Ivy title in 2010

Even though Morningside Heights is still blanketed with snow, the Columbia baseball team is ready for action. And though many of us are worried more about midterms or our March Madness brackets, spring sports are prepping for the upcoming season. For the Lions, this means the start of a grueling 46-game season commencing with a road trip to Las Vegas.

Upperclassmen may recall that just two years ago the Columbia baseball team captured the Ivy Baseball Championship with a 15-5 Ivy record. However, the defending champions were unable to repeat the win last season, as the Lions dropped to third place in the Gehrig Division with a 7-13 conference record (11-32 overall). Bats were hot at the wrong time and cold when the pitching staff needed run support. The team would jump to early leads, but surrender late-inning runs to drop winnable contests. The Lions struggled for the latter half of the season, and dropping three out of four games to Penn closed the books on the Light Blue’s chance for winning back-to-back Ivy titles.

The Lions suffered the loss of a half-dozen seniors to graduation at the end of the 2008-2009 season. Included in the bunch was first baseman Ron Williams, Columbia’s all-time hits leader, co-captain, and starting pitcher Joe Scarlata, co-captain and reliever Joey Mizzoni, and co-captain third baseman/shortstop Mike Roberts. The Light Blue also bid adieu to second baseman Kyle Roberts and designated hitter/first baseman Jon Tasman.
Despite losing the seniors, eight promising freshmen have earned roster spots to try and fill the void of the departed graduates. The versatile bunch includes right-handed pitchers, infielders, and outfielders.

“I think the freshmen are going to have a big impact and a number of them have performed well in the preseason,” said Lions Head Coach Brett Boretti. “It is definitely a talented group in terms of the guys on the mound as well as positional players. It is going to be interesting to see how things shake out as things go forward.”

Shortstop and right-handed pitcher Alex Black from The Woodlands, Texas, served as his team’s captain in high school, where he hit .379 with eight home runs and 33 runs batted in. Nick Crucet will backup Jon Eisen at second base. Crucet was named to the all-county second team by the Miami Herald after his phenomenal senior year in which he accumulated a .393 batting average with 40 runs scored and 18 stolen bases.

Righty outfielder Nick Ferraresi joins the squad fresh out of serving as team captain at his high school in Wellington, Florida. Ferraresi was a three-year letterwinner and hit a scorching .420 during his sophomore season. Starting pitcher Tim Giel has Joe Scarlata’s big shoes to fill in the pitching rotation. Giel, who played football and wrestled in addition to baseball in high school, was a two-time MVP and racked up a 10-2 record with a dangerously low 1.08 earned run average and 128 strikeouts. Third baseman and starting pitcher Eric Williams proved himself during high school as a four-year letterwinner with a 6-3 record and 2.30 ERA, while batting .438.

Ricky Kleban, a pitcher and outfielder can hopefully add some pop to the Lions lineup. The Georgia native slugged nine home runs with 32 RBI and a .426 batting average as a senior. Starting pitcher Stefan Olson joins the Lions after hurling a 3.55 ERA in his senior year and twice being named a letterwinner. Finally, outfielder Dario Pizzano, a four-time letterwinner and two-time captain in high school, joins the Light Blue after batting an eye-popping .520 during his senior year.

In addition to the freshmen, much of the weight of 2010 will rest upon the shoulders of upperclassmen, including team captains Dean Forthun and Jason Banos. Forthun, a senior, has established himself as both a stalwart catcher and powerful offensive force. In 141 at bats last season, Forthun hit .298 with a home run and 20 runs knocked in while preserving a .976 fielding percentage.

“Dean Forthun had a breakout year offensively last year, he has been a great catcher for us but he also stepped up last year offensively and picked up the slack,” explained Boretti.

Banos, a junior, was sidelined in 2009 with an injury sustained in preseason. However, as a freshman he served as the Lions starting left fielder in all 44 games. In addition to cranking out six home runs and 31 RBI, Banos ranked third on the squad with a .316 batting average, and led the team in walks with 20. Banos and Forthun will need to lead by example, but they are accompanied by a deep roster of veterans and rising stars.

Junior outfielder Bobby O’Brien will also need to step up in 2010. O’Brien was a hit machine last season as he led the Light Blue with a .337 batting average, though he only stepped to the plate 89 times. Second baseman Jon Eisen broke onto the field as a rookie in 2009 with a bang, hitting .331 over 145 at bats. Eisen finished 2009 leading the team in base hits (48) and on-base percentage (.426), as well as hitting .400 in conference games with a .506 on-base percentage. Other star batters Nick Cox, Billy Rumpke, Alex Ferrera, and Anthony Potter will need to fill bigger shoes this season.

“I think it’s a collective job, stepping up,” said Brett Boretti. “Guys like Nick Cox, Billy Rumpe, Dear Forthun, Jon Eisen, Al Ferrera are just a few of the guys who have a lot of time as far as experience goes.“

While scoring runs caused the Lions some difficulty down the stretch last year, the pitching staff will need to work on consistency as well. The Lions proclivity to surrender late-inning leads last season was a large factor in their downfall. While the pitching rotation has yet to be set in stone, there is a safe bet that some of the usual suspects will take to the mound frequently. Geoff Whitaker, Pat Lowery, Dan Bracey, and Roger Aquino will likely see a lot of hitters.

“I think Pat Lowry, Dan Bracey, and Geoff Whitaker are guys who will backbone the staff and we will start looking for those three guys to lead it and go from there,” Boretti explained. “I definitely think we are deeper on the hill than we have been in past seasons.”

In terms of the rest of the Gehrig Division and Ivy League, the competition will be tight as usual. Cornell clinched the top spot in the Gehrig Division last season after edging out Princeton. Columbia finished a few games above Penn, who suffered a 5-15 conference season last year. In the Rolfe Division Dartmouth snatched first place with a 16-4 conference record, finishing just one game in front of Brown while Harvard and Yale earned third and fourth place, respectively.

“I think the competition is wide open this season, and I don’t think anybody is head and shoulders above anyone else,” Boretti explained. “It is about who can get off to a good start when the conference begins and who can stay healthy.”

In terms of the upcoming schedule, Columbia will spend most of March battling nonconference foes on the road until its home opener against Bucknell on March 27. The Lions will kick off the Ivy season against Yale on April 3 at home. This weekend the Light Blue will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada for a four-game series against UNLV. And while UNLV is already eight games deep into its season with a 6-2 record, the Lions goal remains the same.

“Our nonconference games are very important, we want to go out and be as successful as we can,” said Boretti. “UNLV is a team that has put some major runs on the board so we are going to have to be very efficient with our pitching, and have to do some things offensively to stay in the game and put ourselves in a position to win games.”

The first pitch of Columbia’s 2009-2010 season will be hurled on Friday, March 5 at 10 p.m. in Las Vegas.

“We want to be in a position late in April that it’s in our hands in the last weekend,” Boretti said. “And we want to do some things to create a postseason situation for ourselves.”