Undefeated Bantams Look to Claim First NESCAC Title Since 2003

HADLEY, Mass. - Trinity College will look to earn its first NESCAC Baseball title since 2003 when the Bantams host the 2008 NESCAC Baseball Championship this weekend in Hartford, Conn. The three-day, double-elimination tournament begins Friday afternoon with Trinity taking on Amherst at 3:00 p.m. while Tufts will face defending champion Williams at Andrus Field on the campus of Wesleyan University beginning at 3:00 p.m. The 2008 NESCAC Baseball Championship concludes on Sunday, May 11 at 10:00 a.m.

It has been a record-setting season for Trinity (34-0, 12-0 NESCAC East), which returns to the NESCAC Baseball Championship after missing the tournament in each of the last two years. The Bantams, the only remaining undefeated team in the country, head into this year’s championship riding a program-best 34-game winning streak. Trinity became the first Division III team in the modern era to go undefeated during the regular season after earning a non-conference sweep at NESCAC rival Wesleyan Saturday afternoon, 14-1 and 11-1. The pair of victories also shattered the record for consecutive wins to start the season, as Johns Hopkins held the previous mark of 33-0. A strong pitching staff has been a big part of the Bantams’ dominance on the diamond this year. Trinity’s hurlers have combined for a 1.86 ERA - tops in the nation - along with holding opposing batters to a league-low .206 average and surrendering just 6.75 hits and 2.15 walks per game. It comes as no surprise that Bantam seniors Chandler Barnard (Lubbock, Texas), Tim Kiely (Swampscott, Mass.) and Michael Regan (West Roxbury, Mass.) along with sophomore Jeremiah Bayer (Greenfield, Mass.) all rank within the top five in the conference in ERA, with Bayer (6-0) leading the NESCAC with a 1.30 ERA and limiting opponents to a .167 average over 12 appearances. Kiely (8-0) has seen the most action of any pitcher in the league this season, tossing 62.0 innings from the mound over eight starts with four complete games and three shutouts to his credit. Kiely is first among all conference pitchers in strikeouts with 66 and is third in ERA at 1.45. Regan (7-0) is second in the NESCAC in ERA at 1.34, while Barnard (8-0) is fifth at 2.03. While the pitching may get most of the attention, the Trinity offense has been doing its part. The Bantams are second in the conference with a .338 average and a .450 on-base percentage, hitting a combined 31 home runs (1st NESCAC).

Amherst (22-10-1, 8-4 NESCAC West) came up short in its bid for the top seed in the West Division, as a 9-4 loss on Sunday to Williams dropped the Lord Jeffs to second in the division behind the rival Ephs. The setback snapped a brief five-game winning streak for Amherst, which heads into the weekend with a 13-5-1 record since the start of April. Two of the five losses, though, came at the hands of Trinity on April 26 in Amherst, Mass. The Lord Jeffs came close to ruining the Bantams regular season, falling 7-5 in 11 innings in game one of a doubleheader before dropping game two 6-4. There is plenty of history between Amherst and Trinity in the NESCAC championship. The Bantams won their lone conference crown over the Lord Jeffs during the 2003 series, winning both game six and game seven on the final day of the tournament. Amherst returned the favor when it won its second-straight title in 2005, rebounding from a game six loss to the Bantams by besting Trinity in 10 innings in game seven, 8-7. Friday’s meeting will be the ninth all-time in the playoffs with Amherst holding a 5-3 edge. Statistically this season, the Jeffs rank seventh in the conference with a .323 batting average and a .392 on-base percentage, while the pitching staff is third with a 4.12 ERA and an opponents’ average of .271. Leading Amherst at the dish this spring is senior Neal Allar (Floyds Knobs, Ind.). Allar, an All-Conference Second Team selection a year ago, is averaging .359 while starting all 33 games, collecting a team-high 47 hits, 12 doubles, and 37 RBIs. On the mound, freshman Jeff Keenan (West Hartford, Conn.) owns a 1.84 ERA over 11 appearances, good enough for fourth in the NESCAC.

2007 NESCAC Baseball Champion Williams (24-10, 9-3 NESCAC West) hopes to become the first team in championship history to win three league crowns, as both Amherst and Williams enter the weekend tied for the most tournament titles at two. The Ephs are the only NESCAC team to have 20 victories in each of the previous four seasons and head into Friday’s game against Tufts with 11 wins in their last 12 outings. Against this year’s tournament field, Williams is 1-4, as the Ephs dropped a doubleheader to Tufts on April 6 by identical 2-1 scores and also lost the first two games of the three-game season series with Amherst, 4-3 and 6-5 on April 13. Among conference teams this year, Williams is fourth offensively with a .331 average and a .415 on-base percentage, recording a league-high 25 triples this season, while the Ephs pitchers hold a collective ERA of 3.70 and have limited opponents to a .260 average, second only to Trinity. Sophomore Al Mathews (North Hampton, N.H.) currently paces Williams in the batter’s box with a .407 average, and he is closely followed by senior James DiCosmo (Fair Lawn, N.J.) as the second baseman is hitting .394 with a team-best 50 hits. Sophomore Robin Allemand (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), the 2007 NESCAC Co-Rookie of the Year with Trinity’s Kent Graham, is first in the NESCAC in both triples (7) and walks (29) with a .363 average that is fourth on the Ephs squad. Junior pitcher Dan Benz (Cicero, N.Y.), the 2006 NESCAC Rookie of the Year, ranks among the league leaders in multiple statistical categories, with an ERA of 3.06 (7th), 50 strikeouts (5th), and holding opponents to a .182 average (2nd).

Tufts (18-13, 6-6 NESCAC East) edged Bowdoin for the final slot in this year’s championship. The Jumbos finished the regular season tied with the Polar Bears at 6-6 in the East Division, however Tufts took 2-of-3 games in the season series to earn the head-to-head tie-breaker. The 2002 NESCAC Baseball Champions have reached the championship game in each of the last two years but have come up short in their quest for a second conference title, falling to Middlebury in 2006 and Williams last year. Against this year’s tournament field, the Jumbos are 2-3, earning the two aforementioned wins over Williams and falling in all three games of an East Division series against Trinity on April 18-19. During the 2007 championship, Tufts faltered against Amherst on day one (8-7) but bounced back on day two with a win over Bowdoin (11-6) and a victory in the rematch with the Lord Jeffs (9-4). The Jumbos are just ahead of the Bantams in batting average heading into this year’s tournament with a team mark of .339 and an on-base percentage of .451, while the pitching staff is fourth in the conference with a 5.61 ERA. Heading up the offense this year has been senior outfielder Steve Ragonese (Upper Saddle River, N.J.), an All-NESCAC First Team selection in 2007. Ragonese is third among all NESCAC players with a .426 batting average and boasts a league-leading .779 slugging percentage with 13 doubles, three triples and eight home runs. Classmate Adam Telian (Stoughton, Mass.), also an All-Conference First Team member in 2007, holds a 5-4 record with a 5.30 ERA and a team-leading 43 strikeouts entering the weekend.

2008 NESCAC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 1 - Friday, May 9
Game 1 - W2 Amherst at E1 Trinity - 3:00 p.m. - at Trinity, Hartford, Conn.
Game 2 - E2 Tufts vs. W1 Williams - 3:00 p.m. - at Wesleyan, Middletown, Conn.

Day 2 - Saturday, May 10
Game 3 - Loser of GM 1 vs. Loser of GM 2 - 10:30 a.m. - at Wesleyan, Middletown, Conn.
Game 4 - Winner of GM 1 vs. Winner of GM 2 - 10:30 a.m. - at Trinity, Hartford, Conn.
Game 5 - Winner of GM 3 vs. Loser of GM 4 - 2:30 p.m. - at Trinity, Hartford, Conn.

Day 3 - Sunday, May 11 at Trinity
Game 6 - Winner of GM 4 vs. Winner of GM 5 - 10:00 a.m.
Game 7 - If Necessary - Immediately Following