By Nick DeLorenzo
After struggling through the 2009 season with a 1-15 record, the Bensalem baseball team is looking to find more success in the 2010 campaign, and if the preseason is any indication, they seem to be off on the right foot.
With a pair of wins over Notre Dame and a scrimmage victory over powerhouse Penn Charter, the Owls roll into their SOL schedule with sky-high confidence.
Rick Lee is heading into his second season as head coach after more than 20 years coaching at Bensalem as an assistant. Even with his team’s preseason success, he knows full well that it’s going to take a lot of hard work and execution to become a threat again in the SOL National Conference.
“Our division sent four teams to District One (playoffs) and three of them ended up making it to the states,” Lee said. “It’s not like we’re playing in a fly-by-night division. From what I understand, (Council Rock) North is loaded again, so is (CR) South, so is Truman, and Neshaminy will be tough.”
“I’ve still got so many question marks,” Lee continued. “We’ve got to find things out.”
One thing the Owls have going for them this season is experience, as the vast majority of the players were on the varsity team last year and were able to take their lumps and become better players because of it.
Lee looks to shortstop Brett Kohn, along with third baseman Emmitt Frisbey and left fielder Mark Cunliff, as the team’s leaders. Kohn views last season as a learning experience and expects much better things from the team this coming year.
“This year is definitely going to be a different year,” Kohn said. “We’ve got a lot of guys working hard, and we’ve definitely got the right attitude this year, so we expect big things.”
According to Lee, the most important thing for his team this season is to play small ball, and the little things - such as moving runners, sacrifice bunts, hitting the ball on the ground, making routine plays and throwing strikes -will be able to keep the Owls in almost any game.
The Owls were able to showcase their brand of small ball in their scrimmage victory over Penn Charter. In the fourth inning, leftfielder Ryan Hanf executed a successful squeeze play. All told, the Owls scored six runs in the fourth without any extra-base hits.
“I told the kids we’re going to have to manufacture runs,” Lee said. “That’s what this team is all about. Get a guy on, get him to third – we need a groundball or fly ball to score him. We don’t have guys who can consistently hit the ball deep.”
A big question mark for Lee’s squad going into league play next week is its pitching, but while the Owls don’t have one stopper they can rely on, Lee is confident in the balance he has in his rotation.
“I don’t have anybody that sticks out,” Lee said. “I don’t have anybody that can throw the ball 84, 85 (miles per hour), but I do have guys who can throw strikes.”
Frank Primavera, Jesse Dannin, Dalton Gilgore, and Kohn are some of the arms that Lee is going to need to rely on. Dannin, a sophomore, was able to showcase his stuff against Penn Charter Saturday, allowing no earned runs and just one hit while striking out two in three solid innings of work.
Lee hopes Harry Daut will also be able to contribute on the mound once he returns from an injury. While Daut is still in the lineup playing first base, a timetable for his return to the hill is unknown.
Kohn also thinks the eventual return of Brett Slobodinsky will be a big lift for the pitching staff as well.
“We’ve got a lot of arms that are decent and will get us through games,” Kohn added.
Bensalem is certainly in for a hard-fought, uphill climb this season, but Lee doesn’t want to set any sort of expectations for his team, but rather allow them to simply go out and play the best they can every time out.
“I keep telling the guys ‘Every day’s a new day,’ and if we keep doing what we do, we will succeed,” Lee said.
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