Tuesday, April 23, 2013

A Tale of Two Springs



The master at work


As spring practice continues, the biggest sports story on campus continues to be the impressive play of the baseball team which continues to hold 1st place in the Gehrig Division and the overall lead in the Ivy League.

The final weekend of regular season play is just ahead of us and Columbia will play a four game series vs. Penn with two games at home and two in Philadelphia. If the Lions can hold their divisional and league leads, they will host the Ivy League Championship series at home the following weekend.

I’ve written about Head Coach Brett Boretti many times before. It’s clear he’s the best coach in the Columbia sports program , but now I think it’s become clear he’s the best coach of any sport Columbia has seen in decades.

Make no mistake, in Boretti we are dealing with a Jack Rohan-level genius. And he has the potential to be a Lou Little-like figure if he sticks around.

Almost everything the other major sports teams at Columbia have not been able to do since the 1950’s, Boretti and the baseball team have done over the last eight years. Baseball is a consistent contender, doesn’t collapse when top players graduate, and sticks to the fundamentals to win.

One can only hope that Boretti is being given the opportunity to pass on his knowledge to the other coaches in the Columbia program.


Spring Endings

We’re 11 days away from the final spring practice session on May 4th. Clearly, there will be no “spring game” this year, but I still hope the final session will be open to the fans and we’ll get to see some situational scrimmages. We may get an update on that later today.

It will be hard for non-coaches to really learn much from whatever we get to see that day, but I will be looking out for who is obviously injured and hoping I don’t see any.

And it also will be a good idea to check out the stands as some of the incoming freshmen and even transfer QB Brett Nottingham may be among the spectators.

The added bonus is that May 4th date could also be the day that Columbia hosts games 1 and 2 of the Ivy League Baseball Championship if the Lions hold their division and league leads.

That would make May 4th a very special day indeed.

Stay tuned.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why "clearly no spring game this year"? What have I missed? we are coming out to watch "the game", I thought.

Anonymous said...

No Tuesday Update?

Anonymous said...

The baseball team is great, but it is not the "biggest sports story on campus." The women's tennis team just won the Ivy title (at least guaranteed a tie) and they should be recognized as well for their incredible achievement

Anonymous said...

Lets not argue about wins, they are all huge and we don't have enough of them around here. Until we achieve a collective mentality, this " department" will never climb out of this rut. The story is the players, not the coaches. Success is contagious, we need as many winners as we can get walking around this campus. In the real world, everyone doesn't get a trophy. This isn't a REC league. It's all about winning. Women's tennis, GREAT JOB", baseball, finish it.

Anonymous said...

The fact that we think winning a title is "incredible" tells the whole story.

oldlion said...

Tuesday update was totally uninformative. Zilch on spring practice.

Anonymous said...

And furthermore, the first title in any sport in over two years. Hope the tide is turning.

ungvar said...

Coach M's most recent tweet:

Start time for Sat. the 4th will depend on Baseball schedule. We will go at 6:00 pm or 7:00 pm. 62 to 98 plays, open to all. More to come.

oldlion said...

So here is a question about the tyranny of sports: how can our excellent baseball team, which is rolling through the league, drop both ends of a doubleheader to an awful Fordham team?

LionEsq said...

The pitching is deep enough for two weekend doubleheaders, but not for that and a midweek doubleheader. Boretti keeps his "weekend pitchers" out of midweek games, and the hitting is not strong enough to overcome a poor pitching performance. So weekday games can be hit or miss.

Anonymous said...

Dartmouth lost to Slippery Rock. Teams have bad days.

Anonymous said...

Penn games Fri on SideLion.

Anonymous said...

League digital network starts in August.

oldlion said...

Jake, your man Falcone just hit a walk off HR to give us game 1. We were down 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh and got a man on base before Falcone hit it over the center field fence.

Anonymous said...

josh martin signed by the Kansas City chiefs ..how about that.