Baseball coach warns opponents of possible postseason matchup

   After a recruiting violation that has resulted in a one-year ban on off-campus recruiting and contributed to a 6-29 start, the UAlbany men’s baseball team is headed down the stretch run of a rough season.

   The Great Danes are 8-6 in America East play, but have went 1-23 outside of the conference.

   The struggles start with the pitching staff. Only freshman Kevin Bartlett and junior David Kubiak have an ERA of below 5.00. The team ERA, at the conclusion of Wednesday’s loss to the Manhattan Jaspers, stood at 9.01, more than twice as high as their opponents. They also have a fielding percentage of .958, having made 49 errors on the year.

   In addition, the team has only four players with a batting average of over .250 with more than 10 at-bats. Despite not having been shut out yet this season, the Danes have had issues putting runs on the board, having scored enough runs to be fifth in the conference. With such a young team one would expect such growing pains. The team boasts only 7 players of junior or senior status.

   “We have a lot of young kids on the team, and freshmen are consistent at being inconsistent,” UAlbany Coach Jon Mueller said. “A lot of young guys struggle with concentrating continuously, but what’s the best thing about being a freshman? Becoming a sophomore.”

   Freshman pitcher Christian Garcia, who is 0-3 with a 10.03 ERA in his 13 appearances, four of which were starts, is just one of these many young players.

   “You’re just asked to perform out there, but sometimes your best isn’t good enough,” Garcia said.

   One would think that such a rough start would affect the attitudes of the players and coaching staff, but Mueller disagree wholeheartedly. He has the squad focusing on what’s important: finishing in the top four in the conference standings and qualifying for the America East Tournament.

   “Performance is all relative to what you want to accomplish, and that for us is to make the conference tournament,” he said. “That’s what counts. This year, 10-14 gets you in, so we’ve tried to prepare for conference play with a tough non-conference schedule.”

   That non-conference schedule has consisted of the Big East’s Pittsburgh and St. John’s, who are second and fourth in their conference, respectively. It has also pitted the Danes against UNC Greensboro of the Southern Conference, the second and third place teams in the Mid-American’s Western Division in Ball State and Toledo and Cal State Northridge from the powerful Big West.

   The tough schedule, along with the leadership of captains Brendan Rowland and Pete Eichner, has the team a lot more confident than a team with their record would be thought of being.

   “(Senior) Eichner and (junior) Rowland have been here since their freshman years, and they have established a winning attitude with these guys. I’ve seen their confidence grow,” Mueller said.

   The Great Danes currently sit in fourth place in the America East standings, with a two-game lead over fifth place UMBC heading into their weekend double header with those same UMBC Retrievers.

   If they can hold onto that fourth position, Mueller warns to watch out for an upset in the tournament, thanks in part to his confidence in number one starter Kubiak.

   “Mark my words: if we make the tournament and we roll Kubiak out there for game one, it’s going to be a war. I’ll tell you that much.”