Sinclair Community College’s men’s baseball team finished up a challenging road trip during the break between quarters.
The Tartan Pride traveled down to play the defending national champion Louisiana State University-Eunice Bengals for a four-game series. The Pride, who came into the series on a one-game losing streak, lost three of the first four.
“First off, LSU-Eunice is one of the most talented junior college teams in the country,” coach Steve Dintaman said via email. “They have so much talent that they could win a lot of games in any Division-1 conference in the north.”
The first game, on March 24, saw Sinclair lose 6-7, in part because of six errors, a performance that Dintaman called “uncharacteristic.”
“It’s nearly impossible to beat anyone with six errors, let alone the defending national champions,” Dintaman said.
March 25 was a doubleheader. The Pride dropped the first game 3-9 and the second 0-5. In the opener, the Pride managed 10 hits and two walks but couldn’t score enough runs.
“In [that] game, our pitching staff didn’t throw enough strikes, we walked 10 batters,” Dintaman said. “Not only do they have dangerous hitters, they also all run like the wind. They stole [more than] 15 bases in one day against us and it wasn’t all on our pitchers.”
The issues with stolen bases continued into the second game. Not only that, the Pride only had three hits.
“Both pitchers threw well. McElroy for us, pitched 5 innings and left trailing 4-0, he pitched well but walked the leadoff hitter twice,” Dintaman said. “Once [that batter] gets on base, you’re looking at two stolen bases every time.”
In the fourth and final game on March 26, the Pride won 7-4 behind a strong effort from starting pitcher Alex Kimsey. He threw seven innings, allowed three hits, three runs (all earned) and walked and struck out four. Dintaman called the effort “the game of Kimsey’s life.”
Stephen Buglione lead the hitters with four total bases and a double.
“Our guys battled at the plate, had great at-bat’s and put pressure on their defense,” Dintaman said.
“It was Eunice’s first home loss and one of the biggest regular season wins in our program’s history.”
Dintaman said if the team does what they are supposed to and stays healthy, “then I love our chances.”