First Edition Of Riley's Ramblings

Throughout the 2011 baseball season, sophomore Alex Riley (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) will be providing insights on this year's UB team from a player's point of view.  Below is the first installment of Riley's Ramblings, as Alex takes a look at the Purple Knights' six-game winning streak last week.

RILEY'S RAMBLINGS-EDITION ONE

For the first installment of this weekly blog from a player's perspective, it certainly comes at a great time to be a Purple Knight.  However, it did not begin on a positive note as we entered play in the midst of a four-game losing skid, three of which came against  conference foe Molloy.  With one game against Molloy yet to be played we knew that a statement win had to be made to give us some momentum for the rest of the week.

Then the good times came and they came fast as this week started off on a high note when we took down Molloy Monday 12-6.  This game was dominated by our hitters right from the get go when Gaetano Giunta promptly unloaded on a ball which led off the game with a triple.  However the star of the game was first basemen Eric Schlitter as he drove in five runs.  Another useful piece of information is that sophomore Chris Maull earned his eighth no decision in his college career (note this stat).

The following day the C.W Post series began.  This was a must win series as the whole squad knew we needed to rack up some more wins to jump to the top of the conference standings and make ourselves a presence.  Anthony Plomitallo took this mindset and put it to good use as he hurled 6 2/3 innings of shutout baseball.  The only big threat faced was in the seventh inning when the bases were loaded with two outs.  Head coach John Anquillare walked out to the mound and called the monstrous six foot six inch pitcher Tom Wiacek to the mound to prevent relinquishing a 2-0 lead.  Tom then proceeded to throw one of the best sliders I have ever seen to strike the batter out looking propelling the Knights to another win.  After a rain out, we traveled to C.W. Post to play in a doubleheader.  Junior pitchers Nick Vautrin and Matt Bartolomei combined to out duel the Pioneers, as a Matt Ranaudo two-RBI double took the lead for us in the top of the seventh.  The second game of the double header was dominated by Shaun Hancock as he pitched a complete game shutout.   We then returned home for yet another doubleheader as Chris Maull was called on to take on the Pioneers in game one.  We then broke out for two consecutive four-run innings.  During this span domo arigato said Mr. Matt Ranaudo (sorry for the Styx reference) as he hit a towering home run that landed on the train tracks over the right field fence.  Maull was taken out in the sixth after throwing a great game and the ball was handed over to Tom Wiacek who closed the door once again for our squad.  This was Maull's first collegiate win after racking up the aforementioned eight no decisions in the prior season and a half.  For game two, Matt Bartolomei hurled another great game as he went the whole seven innings and Peter Barrows doubled in a run, creating a lead we would not relinquish.

It goes without saying that it is always great to win games, but when they all come in a row against conference rivals the feelings of momentum and unity make the victories feel even sweeter.  Every player played a part in winning every game this week which brings me back to the statement made at the beginning of this post. IT FEELS GREAT TO BE A PURPLE KNIGHT.