Reliance on Pitching Costs Baseball Late in Season

This past week was a difficult one for the Columbia baseball team. After playing quality baseball two weekends ago en route to winning three of four against Cornell, the Lions had a change of fortune this week. Columbia ended its season on a sour note, losing five out of six this past week.

On Sunday, Stony Brook took both games of the doubleheader. Without their aces, junior pitchers John Baumann and Bill Purdy on Sunday, the Lions were vulnerable. In the first game of the twin bill, Columbia started senior pitcher Daniel Bajger. Despite Bajger seniority, he has been used primarily as a relief pitcher this season and has only started sporadically. His inexperience as a starter was evident on Sunday as he gave up four runs-two of them earned-in 3.1 innings of work. In the second game of the day, senior pitcher and co-captain Andrew Walther struggled in his start. In just under six innings of play, Walther surrendered five runs, four earned, on nine hits. While Walther pitched moderately deep into the game, he was also relatively ineffective and he pitched the Lions into a deficit that they had trouble overcoming.

Next season it is imperative that Columbia develops a deeper pitching rotation, since the nature of their schedule necessitates a plethora of capable starting pitchers. When a team plays four games a weekend for eight consecutive weeks, the pitching staff will inevitably get tired and possibly injured. Having reliable number three, four, and five starters could make the difference between a winning record and a losing record.

While Columbia's pitching was mediocre, it is unfair to expect the pitching staff to carry the team to victory by themselves especially considering that the Lions' bats were dormant on Sunday. Senior co-captain Andrew Ward is possibly the player most integral to Columbia's success offensively, but down the stretch this season he has disappeared. Yesterday his offensive troubles continued, as he was 0-5 at the plate with a strikeout. On the other hand, first baseman Ron Williams continued his consistent play, batting .428 on the weekend, including 3-6 yesterday. Nevertheless, the Lions need a team effort to manufacture runs, and they didn't get it. For a team whose pitch staff has a collective ERA of 6.57 on the season, an average of 2.5 runs per game on the day simply isn't sufficient.

For Columbia to continue the growth it made against Ivy competition this season, a strong pitching staff will be necessary.