FLCC 2013 Baseball Season in Review
May 14, 2013
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. – The Finger Lakes Community College Lakers finished the 2013 season with a record of 23-28. Overall, the team took away several positives from the field this year.
The 23 wins notched by the Lakers were the most victories they have accrued in any individual season since 2006. The season had its ups and downs, but when it came to crunch time, Finger Lakes delivered in the clutch in the wins column.
Entering their 34th contest of the season, the Lakers, who stood at 11-22 at the time, kept its eyes set on making postseason play despite their record. With a solid roster and quality coaching staff in place, Finger Lakes had the talent in store for making a late season push to turn things around. Well, it would do just that as it would turn in a 12-4 record over its remaining 16 regular season games.
The turnaround to the season for the Lakers would all begin on Apr. 27 at conference foe Broome Community College. On that day, they would pick up a sweep of the Hornets and a day later, the Lakers would pick up their second consecutive sweep of Broome in as many days as they would take down the Hornets on their own field.
After taking four straight games from Broome, Finger Lakes would split four games with Alfred State College. It would take two from the Pioneers at home on Apr. 30 before dropping a pair of games to them on the road on May 2.
After dropping a pair to the Pioneers on May 2, Finger Lakes would bounce back as it would take two games from conference member Tompkins Cortland Community College on May 4.
After traveling to Tompkins Cortland, the Lakers, before its pivotal final series of the season at Corning Community College, would split a pair of doubleheaders against the likes of Jamestown Community College and Onondaga Community College on May 5 and May 7, respectively.
Entering the final day of regular season play on May 9, the Lakers eyes still remained set on reaching the postseason. With the help of a Jamestown win over Alfred State combined with Finger Lakes sweeping Corning, the Lakers late season hot play would put them in the regionals.
The two victories over the Red Barons of Corning supplanted Finger Lakes into the fourth and final playoff spot in Region III's Western Division. The Lakers, at season's end, completed regional play with a record of 17-12.
After reaching sub-regional postseason play, the Lakers traveled to play at No. 10 Herkimer County Community College on May 11 for a best-of-three-series. Unfortunately, Finger Lakes season would come to an end as it dropped a pair to the Generals.
Much can be said about the positive aspects that centered around the Lakers clubhouse in 2013. They donned not only a winning record in regional action; however they also supported a winning record in conference play as they went 13-5 in the Mid-State Athletic Conference.
In terms of individual achievements, second-year head coach Sean Marren was named Co-MSAC Coach of the Year while infielder Nate Eastman was named MSAC Player of the Year.
In the regular season, the Lakers offense produced a .299 batting average while their pitching staff put together a 4.96 Earned Run Average. Defensively, Finger Lakes held a .926 fielding percentage.
Offensively, the Lakers were led by Joey Simmons in numerous statistical categories. The freshman paced the team in batting average (.387), hits (70), runs (41), triples (7), stolen bases (28), and slugging percentage (.508). Simmons 70 hits set the record for most hits in an individual season in Finger Lakes Community College program history. At season's end, the Victor, N.Y. native was selected First Team All-Conference and was named team Most Valuable Player.
Joining Simmons in the .300 hit club were Eastman (.370), Branden Rhodes (.336), Dylan Catlin (.333), Hunter Hey (.317), Kyle Consolie (.303), and Troy Loparco (.301).
Eastman capped off his solid hitting with a team-best 31 RBIs. Rhodes, in addition to his hitting, produced the second most RBIs (25) on the team.
Hey's freshman year consisted of him registering 20 hits and 15 walks in 63 at bats. The infielder, to go along with his hitting, led the Lakers in on base percentage (.456). His outstanding play earned him team Most Improved Player.
Loparco and Consolie each joined Eastman, Simmons, and Catlin in the 20-plus RBI column with 22 RBIs and 21 RBIs, respectively.
In the pitching department, Finger Lakes was paced in the wins (6) and strikeout (45) columns by Dakota Stackhouse. The sophomore concluded his final season in a Lakers uniform by going 6-3 on the hill with a 4.20 ERA. Appearing in 15 games, Stackhouse accumulated his numbers over 55 2/3 innings. After finishing up a strong career at Finger Lakes, the right handed pitcher was named team Most Valuable Pitcher in 2013.
Following Stackhouse with four and three wins respectively were Derick Fera and Kevin Carpentier. Fera, out of all FLCC starting pitchers, produced the lowest ERA (3.58) in the rotation. He accumulated his ERA over 37 2/3 innings. Overall, Fera finished his first season as a Laker with a 4-2 record on the mound.
Relief pitcher Zachariah Lyman posted the Lakers lowest earned run average. The righty, over 13 1/3 innings, finished his freshman campaign with a 1.35 ERA.
In the back end of the bullpen, sophomore Danny Baker led the team with his three saves.
In the fielding department, Eastman, who held down first base for Finger Lakes, recorded the most put outs (263) on the roster. Loparco, who saw a majority of his playing time on the left side of the infield, handed out the most assists (91) on the team. Centerfielder Simmons patrolled the middle part of the outfield for 50 games. While roaming centerfield, he totaled 98 put outs while committing just one error. Simmons ended the season with a .990 fielding percentage.
Behind the plate, Catlin and Rhodes tallied 115 and 98 put outs, respectively. In addition, both of these individual's did an excellent job of calling signals behind the backstop.
Next to Loparco in the assists column was Corey Galletta. The sophomore infielder accrued 86 assists in the 45 games he played in.
Failing to commit a single error this season for the Lakers were pitchers Fera, Stackhouse, Baker, Stephen Lewis, Nicholas Dolbear, Max Fleig, Timothy Jones, Corey Lendel, and Alan Rombkowski. In addition, catcher Michael LiPani also failed to commit a single error in 2013.
Overall, the Lakers combination of talent and great coaching produced a quality product on the field throughout the spring. This year's roster was made up of 17 freshmen and 12 sophomores. Finger Lakes will see the departure of its strong sophomore class, but will look forward to retaining its superb freshmen class from this past season in 2014.
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