Not only do major league baseball teams like the Red Sox trek to Florida to warm up for the season, but USM’s own Huskies recently returned from Clearwater, Florida after an intense eight-day spring training.
The team returned with a 7-4 record. They played at least one game per day with two double headers. Coach Ed Flaherty and junior captain Tip Fairchild (Monmouth, ME) both agreed that although Spring training is intense, it’s a great opportunity to assess the team for the season.
“The team is very young,” said Fairchild. “The great thing about that though is that they have a lot of energy, you just have to learn how to harness and direct that energy,” he said. The 23 member team is comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores with five juniors and two seniors rounding it out.
Flaherty is still learning about the players strengths and said everyone hit and pitched pretty well but “they’re not great in any particular area. It’ll just take games to play to get the practice in.” The biggest challenge he said would be developing those skills among the younger players. He commended senior Brandon Brewer (Cumberland, ME) for his hitting and running abilities and said that Fairchild did an exceptional job pitching and hitting.
Fairchild said the team needs to work on hitting in key spots in the game, but said that’s something that comes and goes. With up to 14 members that can play every day and nine positions to fill in a game, he said it’s definitely one of the advantages of the team.
As captain, Fairchild said he and the older players are there to support and teach the younger players when they ask for help but that “baseball is a game where you have to figure things out for yourself.”
For Fairchild, the highlight of the training was a 3-2 victory over the Trinity College Bantams who are one of the best teams in division three and who also had beat the Huskies twice.
Both Flaherty and Fairchild said the team’s ultimate goal is always to go on to the College World Series and then win the National Championship. The more realistic goal though would be to win the Little East conference Fairchild said.
“When you play 40 games in a six week period there are a lot of ups and downs. The team needs to be there for each other when they are down and encourage each other when they’re up,” Flaherty said. “This is a tight team, they’re very close and they’ll be able to do that.”