The Lions hosted the Tangi Tourism Baseball Classic which Hofstra , Murray State and UL Lafayette participated.
Jonathan Rhodes/ The Lion's Roar
Lions baseball started the season off with a win against Hofstra University 11-1 and a loss to Murray State University 3-1. The first three games of the season were part of the Tangi Tourism Baseball Classic that the Lions are hosting at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
The game against UL Lafayette was postponed Monday due to rain.
The Lions only had five hits out of 27 at bats and only one run batted in against Murray State. Head Coach Matt Riser saw a difference in the pace and attitude in the first two games.
“It’s real simple, I mean you watch how fast and aggressive we played Saturday compared to how bad we played today (Sunday), just passive on our heels,” said Riser. “It’s not about getting up there and getting hits, it’s about getting up there and competing, putting pressure on defense and we just did not do that today. If we want to have success, we better get back aggressive.”
The Lions had one home run batting the ball against Hofstra and eight runs batted in.
Junior pitcher Mac Sceroler pitched for five innings against Hofstra. Sceroler had 11 strikeouts out of the 15 batters he faced.
“It was fun, those games are fun obviously,” said Sceroler. “Being opening night, I was just locked in and just wanted to give these fans something to cheer about.”
Riser does not believe the rescheduled UL Lafayette game had any effect in the team’s play this weekend.
“If we are that mentally weak, if that throws off anything, then we are gonna have a long year,” said Riser. “Obviously, we have been waiting a long time to get back on the field kind of felt like we picked up right where we left off with all of the rain. Mother Nature is going to win every time and we talked about how any time, anywhere, anybody, it doesn’t matter who it is, we have to be ready to play. We did that Saturday night and we didn’t do a good job of bouncing back Sunday. But, the good thing about this game is it’s day to day. From here on out, it doesn’t get any easier.”
The Lions are used to playing a fast paced game on offense and defense. Hitting the ball and getting runs constantly on offense, while striking batters out quickly on defense.
Sceroler believes this is the key to victory for the Lions in every game for the rest of this season.
“I think it’s all about tempo,” said Sceroler. “It’s all about the pitcher setting the tone early because if the pitcher sets the tone early then the position players and hitters feed off of that tempo.”
The ultimate goal for the Lions is to return to the College World Series. However, in order for it to happen the Lions must be consistent on how they play each opponent.
“I think the best thing someone said the other day, ‘Man, if you want to be the best you got to play the best’ and I said ‘No, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. It’s not about playing somebody,” said Riser. “It’s going over there and competing and winning no matter who it is. If we lull ourselves to sleep and end up losing a game to a team like Murray State and then show up against Lafayette, we can’t just do that when we feel like it. We have to make sure that we come out every single game with the right energy because we don’t know which game is going to be the one that gets us in or keeps us out.”
Junior pitcher Kade Granier at the mound. Attendance at each of the games were over 1000 for the Lions as they won the first game against Hofstra 11-1, but lost to Murray State 3-1.
Jonathan Rhodes/ The Lion's Roar