 The Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team will kick off the 2009 season with an eight-day spring break trip to Central Florida. The Leopards, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Steve Studley, are coming off of the best season in the program's 24-year history, finishing 30-14 which included the team's first trip to the conference championship game since 1996 and an appearance in the ECAC Division III New England Tournament for the first time since the 1995 season.
This season Wentworth will be moving out of the Port Charlotte area and participating in the Russmatt Central Florida Invitational. All games will take place at either Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven - the former Spring Training home to the Cleveland Indians (and at one time the Boston Red Sox) - or Lake Myrtle Community Park, which is a brand new facility in Auburndale.
During the Leopards' trip, the team will play 10 games against six opponents, with five of the six coming from the New England Region. After arriving in Florida on Saturday, March 7, Wentworth will open the season on Sunday, March 8, with a doubleheader against Elms College and follow the next day day with a twinbill against Newbury College. This doubleheader will be played at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee. The Leopards have never faced Elms before and are 1-0 against Newbury, a 10-0 win last season. On Tuesday, March 10, Wentworth faces WPI for the first time since 1999 in a single game. The Engineers won the ECAC Division III New England Tournament in 2007.
After an off day on Wednesday, March 11, the Leopards close out the trip with five games against teams they have never faced before. Thursday, March 12, Wentworth faces Rensselaer - a team that fell one game shy of going to the 2008 Division III World Series and was ranked 22nd in the D3Baseball.com Preseason Poll - before closing out the trip with doubleheaders against Bowdoin and Westfield State on Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14, respectively. The last two teams have made recent appearances in the NCAA Tournament, with Bowdoin appearing in 2006 and Westfield State in 2007. The Leopards will return to Boston on Sunday, March 15, and hope to open the Northern part of their schedule at MIT on Wednesday, March 18.
Last season Wentworth went a program-best 7-3 on its trip including winning seven games in a row.
The pages contained in this section should give you the most up-to-date information of the Leopards’ trip. Associate Director of Athletics Bill Gorman will be accompanying the team on the trip and will be providing fans with game stories, box scores, photos, as well as daily updates. Additionally, if there is internet access at any of the fields, “Live Statistics” will be available as well as the possibility of audio broadcasts. Be sure to check the Wentworth Athletics home page to see if the live stats function will be available. If live statistics are not available, every effort will be made to post the box score as soon as the game ends, with a game summary to follow shortly thereafter.
Please check back often for schedule and itinerary updates and after Wentworth begins practicing on January 30 for updated team information. |
