Baseball team prepares for season

The Lyndon State College baseball team has started rolling tryouts for the upcoming season.

Students have been turning up to try out for the LSC baseball team in regular numbers, according to LSC baseball coach and LSC alum Ryan Farley.  "We always get between 25 and 30 (students)," said Farley on the attendance in a telephone interview.  "It was good.  It was about average."

"Our pitchers are the biggest work-in-progress," said Farley who added that the focus for the Hornets right now is to get their pitchers throwing and building up pitch counts.   

"We got them throwing off the mound two days a week.  The goal is to be built up to 75-80 pitches by March 11 when we play our first game," said Farley when referring to building up the pitchers' arm strength.

Farley said the focal point for the rest of the team is "definitely conditioning."

The team trains in the Stannard Gym when the space is available.   "We have a retractable batting cage in the gym," said Farley.  "Because of basketball we sometimes have to use the (Fitness Center), but we break up into groups, use the weight room."

The students are, for the most part, underclassmen, but the coach is pleased with the results so far.  "We got a young group," said Farley.  "All the guys are really working hard and I couldn't be happier."

The team will be taking a trip to Diamond Nation in Flemington, N.J., for its first game on March 11 against State University New York at Cobleskill.  The Hornets will then play a double header at Widener University on March 12. The next day it's back to Diamond Nation for a match against Cazenovia on March 13.

The Hornets finished 11-25 last season with a 5-11 record in the North Eastern Athletic Conference.  The Hornets made the playoffs last year, but were knocked out after losses to Castleton and Husson.