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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 4, 2004

2004 BASEBALL SEASON RECAP

Baseball team finishes season with a flourish

     LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA. – Second year Lincoln baseball coach Paul K. Johnson wants everybody to know “baseball is back at Lincoln University.”

    After years of lopsided losses and low campus morale, Johnson has the baseball program moving in the right direction following a successful 2004 campaign that saw the Lions complete one of the biggest improvements in Division III from a year ago.

   Lincoln completed a remarkable turnaround season by walloping SUNY-Purchase, 12-0, to earn a split of its doubleheader last week. The Lions dropped the first game, 6-5 to SUNY-Purchase.

    After going winless in 2003, Lincoln rebounded to post its best record in 18 years. With victories in two of its final five games, Lincoln finished with a 7-16 record, the most victories since a five-win campaign in 1986. Things were different this year because of a stronger work ethic and an attitude adjustment.

   “I expected us to be more competitive this season since we had some experienced and dedicated players,” Lincoln coach Paul K. Johnson said. “During our fall and winter workouts, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. As far as our team record, I just wanted us to become more competitive because I knew our success wouldn’t come overnight.”

    Against SUNY-Purchase, Matthew Sample (Lincoln University/Avon Grove) registered 10 strikeouts in the opening game of the twin bill, but was the hard-luck loser. Vince Curtis (Philadelphia/Overbrook) smacked a three-run home run in the third inning to stake Lincoln to a 3-0 lead. Hurting the Lions chances at victory was their defense, which committed four costly errors. The miscues led to four unearned runs.    Joshua DeBeary (Philadelphia/Overbrook) stole four bases in the game.

    The Lions quickly forgot about the heartache of losing the first game, by bouncing back with a dominating performance. Lincoln scored 10 runs in the third inning to put the game out of reach. Pitcher Kelvin Rawlinson (Philadelphia/Bartram), who had three hits, was the beneficiary of the offensive outburst. Rawlinson had an easy afternoon on the mound by allowing one hit and striking out nine batters. Overall, the Lions pounded out 15 hits. Marcus Bradford (Towson, MD./Carver Center A&T), Timothy O’Rear (Baltimore, MD./Archbishop Curley), and Raylan Rodriguez (Manhattan, N.Y./Health Professionals) all had two hits each for Lincoln during the romp. DeBeary and Anthony Cianferano (Baltimore, MD./Archbishop Curley) had the only extra base hits for the Lions in the victory. They each had RBI doubles during the 10-run third inning.

     Prior to the doubleheader split against SUNY-Purchase, Lincoln sandwiched a pair of losses to Manhantanville (13-3) and FDU-Florham (15-3) around an 11-1 victory over Community College of Philadelphia. In the win over CCP, the Lions scored eight runs in the second inning. Cianferano’s two doubles highlighted a 10-hit attack. Sample, who was the winning pitcher, struck out eight batters and had three hits at the plate. Corey Holbrook (Philadelphia/Martin Luther King) also knocked in a pair of runs for the Lions.

    Without any seniors, good things appear to be on the horizon for the Lincoln baseball team.

    “Considering we had some challenges this season with me releasing some people and finishing with a (thin) roster, I am very proud of our accomplishments,” Johnson said. “I would’ve liked to get to .500 or have a winning record, but this is a start.”

     Lincoln’s record could have easily been better. The Lions saw several leads dissipate in the late innings. Lincoln also lost five games by three or fewer runs this season. That was a far cry from last season when Lincoln was usually out of the game by the second or third inning.

    “I’ve been in coaching for 14 years and I knew what it took (to improve),” Johnson said. “I knew we’d do better this year. Now I believe we’re poised to get to that next level and reach 14 or 15 wins in 2005.”

   Offensively, Lincoln swung the bats with more force, consistency and purpose this season. Lincoln raised its batting average from .200 to .320 this season thanks to seven batters hitting over .300. Bradford (.410), Cianferano (.386), Curtis (.359), DeBeary (.354), Sample (.329), Rawlinson (.308) and Alvarez (.305) helped the Lions consistently keep pressure on opposing pitchers by getting on base and putting the ball in play. Curtis led the Lions with 21 runs batted in, nine doubles, two home runs and an amazing .641 slugging percentage. Rawlinson (17 RBIs), Cianferano (16) and DeBeary (16) were also key run producers. Bradford’s 25 hits were a team-high.

    “What really impressed me was our hitting,” Johnson said. “I never imagined that we’d raise our batting average from .200 to .320. Marcus was our most consistent hitter, Vincent added pop and got on base for us and I didn’t expect Anthony to hit as well as he did. Josh was the most improved hitter during the second half of the season.”

    For the Lions to take the next step and make an appearance in the NCAA tournament, Johnson believes his team needs to improve their fielding percentage (.847) and lower their earned run average (10.01). Sample was the Lions most consistent pitcher, finishing with a 4-4 record and a team-high 71 strikeouts in 521/3 innings.

    Among the highlights this season was a doubleheader sweep of Galludet University and a victory over Williamson Trade School, a team with a winning record at the time, which Johnson said “kind of validated us as a team on the brink of being competitive.”

    “I am anticipating an aggressive recruiting season, Johnson said. “With a detailed fall baseball program including competitive games and workouts that will enable us to enter 2005 season poised to be a very a competitive team that other teams don‘t take for granted.”

 

 

 

 

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