April has been kind to the Tartan Pride so far, as they have moved up the NJCAA ranks and are 10-2 in Conference play.
Overall, head coach Steve Dintaman is happy with how the season has been so far and the progress his team has made.
“Sitting at 29-7 after our third weekend of conference with all the injuries that we had to overcome on the pitching side, I’ll take it,” Dintaman said.
The Pride won their first series in conference play against Mercyhurst North East on the first weekend of April. They blew out the Saints, winning their series 4-0 at the Athletes in Action field.
The Pride then traveled to Edison Community College on April 8 and 9 for a four game series against the Chargers.
After a close first encounter where the Tartans won 7 to 6, the next three games had Sinclair remaining dominant. Game four had the Pride win 19-1 and the game called at the end of the fifth inning due to the run rule.
The Pride then played another four game series against Lakeland Community College on April 14 and 15, going 2-2. This series brings their record to 29-7, 10-2 in the conference.
“After two strong sweeps over Mercyhurst North East and Edison, splitting the series on the road with Lakeland was a disappointment,” Dintaman said. “We struggled to find our offense in game 1 and game 3 and game 3 was the one that we needed to have.”
“Kyle Ruehlman gave us a great start only allowing 2 runs and neither were earned. We just couldn’t score and we weren’t facing an unhittable pitcher by all means. It’s hard to waste a start like that, but we rebounded well though scoring 26 runs in the next game.”
Despite that setback, in the NJCAA Division II polls, the Pride have moved up the ranks from number 11 at the start of the season all the way to seven.
The team has been led in pitching by starter John Shutrump, who is currently 7-1 for the season. Dintaman explains who the impact players are on this young team.
“I would say besides Nick Massey who was our only returning starter, we have been led by a core group of four freshmen that have played in nearly every game,” Dintaman said. “Brandon Henson CF, Sean Darmafall LF, Trevor Hafner SS and Blaze Glenn 3B have been mainstays in our lineup and done a great job. They have combined for 20 home runs, 15 triples, 36 doubles and 157 RBI’s.”
As the season is getting closer to the end, Dintaman has faith in his players and believes the best performances are yet to come.
“At this point of the spring your freshmen, and we have a lot of them, aren’t freshmen anymore,” Dintaman said. “They have experience and have played in 30 plus collegiate games. I would like to think they will be playing our best baseball here in the next couple weeks.”
However, the biggest priority for the players are to keep up with their academic work as finals week approaches.
“We have missed a few classes for baseball during the last couple weeks,” Dintaman said. “Guys need to finish these last two to three weeks in the classroom strong and stay above the required 2.5 [GPA]. If they don’t make it, they might not be around to finish the season.”
The Pride will host Cuyahoga Community College on May 5 and 6 in a series that will determine the NJCAA Division II conference champion.
Henry Wolski
Reporter