Gettysburg Baseball is Back
The 2019 baseball team (Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)
By Kyle Miller, Staff Writer
It is nearly March and that means it is time for Bullets baseball! Gettysburg is set to open their season on the road on March 1st against Marymount. The Bullets are looking to bounce back after a below-average season last year finishing 17-20 overall, and 5-13 in the tough Centennial Conference.
The pre-season polls have not given the Bullets very much respect as they are ranked second to last in the Centennial Conference, which includes powerhouses such as Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore, who are both regularly nationally ranked and make it to play in the NCAA tournament.
The Bullets have a lot of seniors this year and they will be key to leading this team. Among the seniors are infielder Joe Giovinco ‘20, pitcher Jack Havard ‘20, pitcher John Braun ‘20, outfielder Ryan Lacoe ‘20, outfielder Dom Gasparro ‘20, and outfielder Ryan Augustus ‘20.
The Bullets also have a plethora of underclassmen talent to help these seniors achieve their goal of winning the Centennial Conference. As Coach Campo says regularly to the team, “We have enough talent to win the conference, but there are nine other coaches saying the same thing.”
When asked how this Bullets team could improve from last year, senior John Braun said that talent by itself does not take home games at the collegiate level, especially in a tough conference like the Centennial.
“It’s not all about talent in this conference. Everyone in the Centennial Conference has the level of talent to be a championship team. What it is really going to take is the chemistry inside of the team. We need to keep the team mentality mindset over the individual mindset. If we play behind each other this year, we will have no problem reaching the playoffs. We’re already off to a great start in pre-season and we need to carry our intensity into conference play.”
The Bullets are looking to improve the pitching numbers from last year by limiting the free bases, walks and hit by pitches. Offensively, the Bullets look to cut down the strikeout numbers, for which they set a school record last season.
The Bullets will take this week very seriously as they prepare for their opener and also for their spring break trip to Florida, where the team plays ten games in a short span of time. Gettysburg hopes to gain some momentum going into conference play against Haverford and then top 25 opponent John Hopkins.
The Bullets have more than enough talent for a great bounce-back season; it all comes down to the team’s leadership and execution. The college season is packed with a lot of games over a short period of time, and this Bullets team has to ride the highs and grind through the lows in order to be the team they want and know they can be.
