Baseball returns to play with 15-game road trip

Upper West Side NY

25 February, 2022

3:40 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY MILES SCHACHNER FEBRUARY 24, 2022 The Lions are traveling to Florida to kick off a 15-game road trip where Columbia will take on some of the country's toughest competition. While Columbia dominated Ivy League baseball throughout the 2010s, the two-year break has presented unique challenges for the team, as the Lions enter the year with a greater degree of uncertainty than normal. Still, Columbia was selected for second place in the Ivy League preseason poll, trailing Yale by just five points. A number of notable departures leave holes to fill on Columbia's roster this season. For one, Liam McGill, CC '20, who was drafted in the ninth round by the Atlanta Braves, left a significant void in the middle of Columbia's batting order with his exit. The graduation of dynamic hitters Julian Bury, CC '20, and Josh Nicoloff, CC '21, who occupied the first and second spots in the Light Blue lineup, also presents a challenge for Columbia. Nicoloff and Bury headlined the team's offensive attack in 2020's shortened season, leading the group with 13 and 11 hits, respectively. However, returning Lions demonstrate promising depth on a team expected to compete for the Ivy League title. Senior first baseman Tyler MacGregor, who hit .364 with a .846 OPS in 2020, returns as a co-captain alongside senior outfielder Joshua Solomon, who hit three home runs and slugged .615 in just eight games played last season. The Lions will rely on three hurlers to start games this coming weekend. Senior right-hander Sean Higgins, sophomore lefty JD Ogden, and senior righty Billy Black are lined up to start the season against the Stetson University Hatters (2-2). Columbia will be trusting relatively unproven arms to spearhead its pitching attack—Black led the team in 2020 with only 10.2 innings pitched, and Higgins threw just one inning in the pandemic-shortened year. Consistent with previous seasons led head coach Brett Boretti, the Light Blue will start the year by taking on nationally-renowned programs in an effort to ready the squad for Ivy League play. The season kicks off with a three-game series against Stetson, which has already played two nationally-ranked teams this season, University of Notre Dame and University of Florida. Following the three-game set in DeLand, Florida, the Lions will take on a bevy of prominent teams, including Davidson University, Baylor University, and the University of Houston. Friday's game begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be livestreamed on Stetson's YouTube channel. Sports Editor Miles Schachner can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @milesschachner. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.