Southern trip puts spring in Braves’ baseball step

It was a productive spring trip to Florida for the Husson College baseball team.

The Braves went 4-6 but, more importantly, 15th-year head coach John Kolasinski had the opportunity to get a better feel for his team.

“I thought it went pretty well for us. We went down with a lot of questions. We had a very young pitching staff. The only guy with any college experience [as a starter] was Barrett Dionne. We found out that Craig Harvey and Jeremy York can pitch at the college level. And Paul Klink has come along. He had been a long reliever but he had a couple of very good starts in Florida,” said Kolasinski.

Bucksport sophomore Harvey was 1-1 with a 3.27 earned run average; Skowhegan freshman York was 2-0 with a 7.00 ERA and junior Klink of Acworth, N.H., was 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA.

Harvey, who is also the starting first baseman, said he feels good about returning to the mound. He pitched in just one game a year ago, but Kolasinski told him during the off-season he would like to use him in the starting rotation this season.

“We talked about it a lot. I came in focused that I needed to do a job [as a pitcher] this year. It felt good just to get out there again and be able to fire strikes. Throwing strikes is what helps our defense and our offense,” said lefty Harvey.

The Braves hit .307 as a team and that exceeded Kolasinski’s expectations.

“Normally, we struggle offensively on the spring trip. But we didn’t this time for a couple of reasons. First, I think our guys have matured as hitters. Last year, a lot of our guys were sophomores and freshmen. Now they’re juniors and sophomores and they’ve already been on a spring trip. And we’ve worked hard on hitting,” said Kolasinski. “Another thing was we had two hitting tunnels here [instead of one] so our guys faced live pitching every day.”

“We got in a lot more swings this winter. Seeing live pitching every day helped out,” agreed junior left fielder and tri-captain Tony Laprino, who missed last season after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Pacing the offense were Jason Folsom, who hit .406; Billy Kane (.391), Harvey (.364), Josh Ferguson (.324), Shawn Henderson (.304), Justin Spencer (.303) and Laprino (.294). Laprino had a team-high nine RBIs while Harvey and Folsom had eight apiece.

“We used a lot of guys at different positions in a lot of different situations. We found out what everybody can do and that will benefit us up here,” said Kolasinski.

Folsom played four different positions.

Kolasinski said Brewer freshman center fielder Spencer, who missed last season for “medical reasons”, was the biggest surprise on the trip. Bradford sophomore 1b-DH Kane was another.

The Braves have gained the services of slick-fielding freshman shortstop Jason Harvey, Craig’s brother who couldn’t make the spring trip because he was playing for the Husson basketball team in the NAIA National Tournament.

“He makes our defense more solid and he can help us offensively, too,” said big brother Craig.

Laprino said the team looks “pretty solid.”

Harvey added, “I knew we were a better team than last year and we showed it down there.”

Assistant coach John Winkin said the team “did a lot of good things but we weren’t consistent enough to be a championship team.”

Husson had this weekend’s games at Dominican College (N.Y.) cancelled due to unplayable fields and hopes to open at St. Joseph’s of Standish on March 30.

Bowdoin faces Valiants in semis

The 22-1-3 Bowdoin College women’s hockey team will take on the 27-3 Valiants from Manhattanville (N.Y.) in their 4 p.m. semifinal at the Division III Frozen Four in Elmira, N.Y.

Elmira and Wisconsin-River Falls will meet in the 7:30 semi.

Saturday’s consolation game will be at 4 with the championship game to follow at 7:30.

Bowdoin will enter the game with four 30-point scorers in Shelly Chessie (20 goals, 29 assists), Marissa O’Neil (16 & 22), Kirsti Anderson (10 & 21) and Beth Muir (17 & 13). Goalie Emily McKissock has a 17-1-3 record, a 1.18 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage.

Lacrosse being added at Thomas

Waterville’s Thomas College intends to add men’s and women’s lacrosse as varsity sports beginning in 2005. They will be club sports in 2004.

“Lacrosse is a popular sport across the northeast, and it is a sport that is growing in popularity throughout Maine, particularly in southern Maine,” said Thomas athletic director Chris Young. “With the growth of Thomas as a whole and a growing population of students from outside the state, men’s and women’s lacrosse represents a good opportunity to serve the needs of our student population.”