As is the annual tradition, the John Carroll University baseball team headed south over Spring Break to get out of the cold and play some ball.
The Blue Streaks went to Port Charlotte, Fla. to participate in the second Snowbird Baseball Classic and returned north with a record of 5-3.
JCU opened the season with a 23-0 beatdown of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
The three and four hitters for the Blue Streaks, junior third baseman Brian Benander and sophomore first baseman Tom Hickey, combined to go six for 10 with four runs scored, all while driving in 12 runs.
Both of the Blue Streaks corner infielders, each selected to Buckeye State Baseball’s preseason watch list, will be counted on to make opponent’s pay in the middle of the JCU lineup.
Junior Tony Evanko, who earned second team All-Ohio Athletic Conference accolades in his freshman year and had last year’s season cut short due to injury, got the Opening Day start.
He scattered three hits in five innings and struckout four Bloodhounds to earn his, and the Blue Streaks, first victory of the new campaign.
While those types of games are certainly welcome, the reality is 23-run games are going to be few and far-between.
JCU got a good taste of some better competition in the next four games, all of which were decided by two runs or less.
The Blue Streaks swept a pair from North Carolina Wesleyan College, winning the first game 4-3 and the second by a count of 6-5.
The following day they came up on the short end for the first time of the season, falling to Cedarville University, 10-9.
The Blue Streaks responded by beating OAC foe Capital University, 15-13 in a slugfest to earn their fourth victory in six days.
Back-to-back losses to Cedarville and Juniata College had JCU at 4-3, but a victory over Juinate in game two of the doubleheader allowed the Blue Streaks to return home two games over .500.
Overall, Hickey and Benander, as well as senior Tim O’Brien, stole the show offensively.
Hickey finished with 12 RBI in eight games, while Benander drove in 10 runs in the seven games he appeared in.
O’Brien finished with a team-best 13 hits, earning him a rock-solid .448 batting average clip in the early going this season.
Aside from Evanko, sophomore Joe Bossard and junior Tom Schaberl each came away the winning pitcher to earn their first victory of the season.
Junior John Moonan allowed just one run in his 12 innings of work and left Florida with a 0.75 ERA and team-best record of 2-0.
Senior Chris Koller, who saved a pair of games last season, picked up two saves in Florida. He struckout eight in seven innings and did not allow a run to score.
Luckily all these games were in Florida, because once the team returned to Ohio they had both of their scheduled games postponed due to inclement weather.
