Jordan Swerid
April 13, 2010
On April 11, 2010, the University of Maine Club Football Team played against the University of Maine Club Baseball Team in a “bragging rights” type of game. The game was played at 2:00 p.m. on Mahaney Diamond; however, most players were taking warm-ups and stretching out by 12:30 p.m. Since most of the football players hadn’t thrown a baseball since high school and many of the baseball players hadn’t thrown since the fall, both teams were trying to get the rust off before the game started. In what seemed would be an easy win for the University of Maine Club Baseball Team, the Maine Club Football Team decided early on that it was going to be no “walk in the park” for the Club Baseball Black Bears.
The game started with a very strong performance by the Club Black Bear’s pitcher John Frey. He was throwing heat and bending curve balls that kept the Club Football’s players guessing. Frey left the game after three innings on his own will, just giving up one hit, one walk, and two runs on errors. Those two runs on errors proved to be costly as Frey’s counterpart, Steve Siviski from the Club Football Team blew past the Club Baseball team’s lineup. Steve, and younger brother Scott (catcher), went seven strong innings of one hit baseball. Steve dominated the game with strikeout after strikeout behind solid defensive plays from his infield.
As the older Siviski began heating up, so did the Club Football Black Bear’s offense. They scored one run off pitcher Harry Austin, one run off Brandon Rexford, and two runs off pitcher Jeremy Levine. Brett Davison (nicknamed “Franchise“), the quarterback for the football team described the football team’s play as, “Error-free baseball. We just worked walks and did work on the mound. We pounded out a couple key hits by first baseman Matthew Finer, catcher Scott Siviski, and right fielder Eric Whitman (among others).” At the end of the day, the Club Football Team proved to be the stronger team on that specific Sunday, winning 5-1 on Mahaney Diamond.
Other strong performances were had by left fielder on the Club Baseball Team, Jaime Wallace. He “gunned” out Matthew Finer at home plate taking a run away from the Black Bear’s Club Football Team. Also, quite possibly the “ESPN Game Turning Moment” happened when Club Football’s Pitcher, Siviski, captured a ground ball, passed it to “Franchise” at 2nd base, and he turned the ball over to first to complete a beautifully handcrafted double play.
In conclusion, the game was a ton of fun for both teams on the diamond. Relief fielder, Eric Bezanson said, “Playing baseball was a great way to draw the two club programs closer together… and how much more cliché could it be for the football team to win on a Sunday afternoon.” Now both club programs will be looking forward into their “spring ball” continuing into the next few weeks. The Club Football team will continue practices and workouts while the Club Baseball team plays Harvard this weekend at Mahaney diamond. Good luck to both teams in their upcoming seasons and hopefully they will continue the new Club Football vs. Club Baseball annual baseball game in the future years.
I didn't say that
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