Baseball team stumbles to 1-5 conference record, remains confident they can turn things around

A free pass here and a free pass there have really been adding up for the Keene State College Baseball team.

As of April 11, the Owls’ pitching staff has walked 96 batters in 150 innings pitched. In addition, they have a staff Earned Run Average (ERA) of 5.40.  The Owls have allowed 135 runs over 19 games, which averages out to eight runs per game. As of April 14 the Owls have a 6-13 record overall. The team currently sits in the basement of the Little East Conference with an 1-5 record.

According to KSC Baseball Head Coach Ken Howe, the Owls are working to cut back the number of walks they are issuing. “We are trying to minimize the amount of walks. We try to preach, as we always have, throw to early contact,” Howe said.

One other issue that has plagued the pitching staff is not going deep into games. “When your starting pitchers are at 100 pitches in the fifth inning there are usually reasons for that,” Howe said. Howe added there are a variety of reasons why that happens. In some cases pitchers might not work ahead in the count, or give hitters a pitch they can put in play, Howe said.

Kyle Bailey / Equinox Staff:
Freshman pitcher Stephen Costello throws a pitch in a home game against Rhode Island College on Saturday, April 12. The Owls would split the day’s doubleheader.

“The walks hurt and the defense tends to fall asleep when guys are throwing balls,” Howe said.

Senior Pitcher Vinnie Mangiagli said during the team’s six-game losing streak, which dated from games played on March 22 until April 9, pitchers were in their own world. “We weren’t really combined as a staff. I think yesterday [Western New England] changed that. We got a chance to come together as a unit,” Mangiagli said.

Mangiagli said the Owls pitchers need to cut down on the walks. “It’s obvious you can’t have them. You need to minimize them as much as possible, it’s literally a free base,” Mangiagli said.

Owls sophomore pitcher Keith Simpson said he believes the pitching staff’s struggles have hampered other parts of the team’s game. “If our pitchers get outs, our hitters won’t feel the need to press at the plate and they’ll feel lose,” Simpson said.

Simpson also said the expectations for the pitching staff have not been met. “We are on our way, but we still have a long way to go to meet our expectations,” Simpson said.

Senior first baseman, catcher and Tri-Captain Andrew Gummow said the Owls have potential on the mound. “The pitchers have individual talent but they have to put it together in the strike zone. We have some good kids, but they just have to stop walking people,” Gummow said.

Gummow said he thinks the Owls can turn the season around. “I think we have to live up to our potential. We do have the talent to be there. We have to come together on all cylinders and then I think we’ll be good,” Gummow said.

Sophomore pitcher Kevin Guild said the walks are a serious problem. “Those [walks] are pretty much going to make or break our season. If the walks continue, I don’t see us competing with some of the better teams in the conference,” Guild said.

Guild, like Gummow, said he has faith in the team. In their game against Western New England on April 9, KSC issued nine free passes. The pitching staff walked six batters and hit three. “I think we can move in the right direction,” Guild said.

“We have to change our mentality as a [pitching] staff. We have to play to win as opposed to playing not to lose. I think we’ve tended to concede to hitters and concede to the other team,” Guild said.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

In the recent weeks, the Keene State College Owl Athletic Complex’s baseball and softball fields have seen snow, rain and puddles along the warning track. But now, as both baseball and softball teams return to action at home this weekend, field conditions must change. 

According to an AccuWeather.com article written by Michael Kuhne, this winter was one of the coldest on record. In the article, Senior AccuWeather Meteorologist Dave Dombek, said that this winter was probably the coldest winter since the 1993-1994.

In Keene, the average temperature in the month of March was below normal 25 out of 31 days according to historical averages on Accuweather.com.

According to KSC Assistant Director of Physical Plant-Grounds, Bud Winsor, the hope is for the teams to return to their grass playing surfaces on Monday, April 7. “Almost every field in New England is having the same issues of a late winter,” Winsor said.

KSC Softball Head Coach, Charlie Beach, said the field was supposed to be ready sooner. “The original estimate several days ago was April sixth.  We might be modifying that estimate,” Beach said.

The grounds crew is currently trying to get as much air to fields as possible to dry them out, Winsor said. “We are especially drying out the infield surfaces,” Winsor said. In addition, the crews are doing the little things to get the ball fields ready. “Right now, they [the grounds crew] are hanging the nets for the batting cages,” Winsor said.

However, the biggest problem has been the cold nights. “The cold nights set you back. Then you are back to square one when it freezes again,” Winsor said.

Beach, who is in his twenty-ninth season as the Owls Softball Coach, expressed that he has tried everything from shoveling the snow to blowing the snow off the field, or even stomping on the snow.

However, none of the techniques have worked, Beach said. “The best thing to do is to leave it alone,” Beach said.

KSC  Director of Athletics, John Ratliff, said the grounds crew has tried some different tactics. “We’ve put down some black reflective. It’s a black reflective sand that they put down. It speeds up the process [of melting],” Ratliff said.

Winsor said before break, the black sand had been put down to get the field to melt faster. So far, the crews working on the field have seen positive results. “It worked really well, but we still had extremely cold weather for that time of year,” Winsor said.

Winsor said the grounds crew is currently drying the fields out. “We’ve put material on the fields called Turface. It helps to dry it out [the fields],” Winsor said.

Members of the baseball and softball teams said they are hopeful to get on the fields this week. However, this is not the latest that the teams have played their first game at the Owl Athletic Complex.  “The latest we’ve probably got on the fields is probably ten or twelve years ago, and that was April sixteenth or April seventeenth. It was ten days before the start of the Little East Conference tournament for softball,” Ratliff said.

Currently, the weather outlook over the next ten days is calling for temperatures during the day to be from 50 degrees to 65 degrees according to The Weather Channel.

This creates hope that the field could be playable come time for Saturday’s scheduled baseball and softball Games at Owl Athletic Complex.

Ratliff  expressed optimism that the games will be played at home this week. “I was looking at the weather, and I think we will get out on the field. I feel pretty confident we’ll be able to play our first games, bearing any other new storm or more rain coming through.”

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

The Keene State College baseball team is looking to regroup back in New England after finishing below .500 on their trip to Florida over spring break. 

The team finished with a record of 4-6. Even with those results the team is looking more complete and staying positive.

According to KSC baseball Head Coach Ken Howe, the Owls had more of their starters in the lineup the final games of their trip.

“The last two games we probably had what we projected as seven out of eight starters in the lineup,” Howe said.

The Owls lost their final two games on the trip, but won most of their games with the exception of a 24-2 loss to Endicott College on March 18.

“I thought we competed and we had opportunities to win. We gave ourselves a chance to win and now it’s a matter of getting over the hump,” Howe said.

Bree Kraus / Equinox Staff:
Kevin Guild warms up in the Spaulding Gymnasium during a recent practice.

Howe said as the trip went on, the team’s strengths changed. “I think early on we played poor defense. Then as the week went on we got used to being outside on grass and dirt as opposed to wood and rubber,” Howe said.

Howe said the Owls struggled on the mound at times. “It really depended on the day and how guys threw,” Howe said.

Senior infielder and tri-captain Nick Vita said the Owls know what needs to be done to improve. “We just have to take care of business better. I feel like there were games where we hit very well. There were games where we pitched very well. We need to put in a good full nine innings of baseball,” Vita said.

Freshman pitcher and outfielder Stephen Costello said the Owls need to improve on the mound now that they are back in New England.

“We’ve got to pitch better. We have to get off to good counts and throw first pitch strikes and not walk people,” Costello said. On the trip the Owls pitching staff allowed 5.6 runs per game. In addition, pitchers walked 46 batters in 75 innings.

During the trip, the Owls hit for a .275 average as a team. “Our situational hitting clicked,” Costello said.

Junior catcher Matt Boulay, who missed almost all of last season with an injury, led the Owls offense. Boulay played in nine out of ten games for the Owls on the trip. Boulay swung a hot stick, recording 14 hits in 32 at-bats. Boulay currently leads the Owls regulars in hitting with a .438 average. As of March 31, Boulay has drove in 6 RBIs.

“I came out this year with something to prove to myself and my teammates,” Boulay said.

Sophomore outfielder Joe Libby said going forward, the Owls cannot fall behind early.

“We would always be down to start games. I think we need to really focus on coming out strong and staying ahead rather than playing catch up,” Libby said.

“We definitely know we can compete with them. We lost ball games we shouldn’t have. I think we are really going to gel as a team if we can minimize the errors and stay behind our pitching staff when we throw strikes,” Libby said.

The trip also helped the chemistry for the Owls, both on the field and off of it. “It was really a trip that helped determine the identity of the team and who we are going to be. I think the whole team really gelled off the field in our rooms,” Libby said.

Sophomore pitcher Kevin Guild believes the Owls are heading in the right direction.

“I think result-wise everybody was a little disappointed. I think as we come home people will start putting it all together,” Guild said.

Guild said the Owls’ best strength is their ability to battle through adversity.

“I would say our resiliency and ability to stay together. We easily could have split apart with all of the losses,” Guild said.

The Owls are hopeful they will be able to play soon in New England. The Owls two mid-week games on March 25 and March 26 were cancelled.

In addition, the Owls first conference series against Western Connecticut State University was cancelled on Saturday, March 29.

According to Western Connecticut’s baseball schedule on their athletics’ website, both teams are hoping to make up the game this weekend. If that were the case, the Owls would then play Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday, April 5, and then go to Western Connecticut on Sunday, April 6.

In an interview on March 25, Howe said that he hopes the Owls could potentially play at home by this weekend if need be. However, the weather will determine what happens.

The National Weather Service’s long term data states that there is a 31 percent chance for the average temperature to be slightly above normal for the next three months.

However, there is a 34 percent chance for the forecast to have temperatures below normal. Finally, based on data from 1981-2010 the temperature has a chance to be right at normal, which is up to 55.7 degrees over April, May and June.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

On March 11, Student Assembly approved the constitution of Keene Cannabis Club. Club member Scott Dyer spoke in front of the assembly and said the club had support. Dyer said they have at least 17 members. In addition, the club already had an advisor in place, KSC Professor Rick Foley. 

Also, the assembly denied a budget appeal from the club Common Ground. The club was seeking more funds in order to go on a club-sponsored trip. The club was seeking $2,000 more than their current budget at $20,000. However, the assembly’s finance committees recommended budget was upheld, which cut the club’s funding to $10,000.

The Biology Club was also denied their request for more funds as they requested a budget of $7,350 for next school year. After a vote and testimony the club was awarded $3,150. The club was going to use the funds for a potential trip to Yellowstone National Park next school year.

The American Society of Safety Engineers Club testified before the assembly seeking $278 for a social event for alumni and current students. The event would give alumni and students a tour of the Technology, Design & Safety Center (TDS) on campus on March 28. All funds would be used towards a cash bar from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. that evening. Student Assembly approved the funding with a unanimous vote.

In other financial business, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club’s budget request was approved $4,600 for the 2014-2015 school year. The budget was $1,475 higher than the finance committee’s recommendation. After 15 minutes of club member Arian Deihim’s testimony, assembly voted 9-7 to approve the club’s budget request.

The Ski and Snowboard Club did not show up for their schedule session on the agenda. An announcement was made that all budgets for clubs and organizations were approved for the 2014-2015 school year and assembly members will be told at the next meeting.

In other business, Provost Search Committee Member, Elizabeth Pockl spoke about the most recent sessions to meet the provost candidates. She also said that the sessions were highly attended by faculty and not by students.  The sessions occurred on Tuesday, March 11.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

Everyone has their own bucket list. There is one thing that should be on the list: attending MLB spring training once.

There are many reasons why you should attend spring training.  The first reason is simple: you are going to be leaving the cold New England air behind.

It does not matter whether you journey to Florida to see the Grapefruit League or to Arizona to see the Cactus League in action.

The second reason why you should go is for the fan experience. Going to a spring training day game, you can still have the evenings for whatever you want. However, if you want to have the best experience, go to your favorite team’s complex in the early morning.

Kathy Willens / AP Photo:
Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Andres Blanco bobbles the throw as Braves’ Tyler Greene slides safely into second on a seventh-inning stolen base in a spring exhibition baseball game in Clearwater, Florida, Monday, March 10, 2014.

There is always something going on. If you arrive in the early morning, you can walk around at the practice fields at some locations. You also might catch the workouts of some of the players. In addition, you can catch the minor league workouts, or even the scrimmages between club’s minor league teams. Nothing is better than to soak up the sun and watch some good baseball in warm weather. Yes, it is watching minor leaguers; however, some of those players will be the guys you see in the future with the big club.

If you get really lucky and you catch an MLB practice or workout, you might even be able to mingle with the players and talk about baseball. It might even turn into just a casual conversation about life.

Spring training is also the perfect time for the autograph that you have always wanted from your favorite player. It is the perfect time to get a picture with your favorite player as most of the players will be willing to chat.

After spending the morning at the practice fields, there is nothing better than getting into the stadium early. Getting in early will allow you to watch batting practice and even try to catch a home run ball in batting practice. If you’re lucky, you could get some autographs before the game as well. In addition, it is good to give every stadium a walk- through since they are very small compared to an actual MLB stadium. Teams during spring training play at their Single A affiliates home. By walking through you can sometimes find activities to do. In some places, you might be able to win a prize, or even tickets for an upcoming game if your trip allows you to.

However, the best reason to attend spring training is because of the cost of the tickets. If you buy them at the right time and from the ball club you can get a good deal. For some teams you can sit behind home plate for a spring training game for $20 to $30, or even less.

At JetBlue Park, the home of Red Sox for spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., you can sit on the Green Monster for $37. The cost to sit behind home plate is $48. You cannot beat those prices.

If you wanted to attend a game in the regular season, you could be dropping over 60 bucks to sit in the bleachers at Fenway. If you wanted a really good seat it could cost you hundreds of dollars for a ticket on Stubhub for a seat behind home plate or the Monster Seats.

Spring training is an outstanding opportunity to see your favorite team and some good baseball. Also, you will get to see prospects and future stars of the game play. Many of the regular players do sit out during spring training. They might also have limited playing time during parts of the spring. From experience, spring training is an outstanding experience and it is something that you should attend once in your life—maybe even every year if you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

Baseball team’s first four games cancelled due to snow, focus shifts to Florida trip

The Keene State College Baseball team has been thrown a curveball to the start the season. The team had their first four games of the season in New York cancelled because of snow.

According to head coach Ken Howe, the Owls will not have an opportunity to play a game before the trip. The option of an exhibition game is also off the table. Howe said, “There isn’t really any place where we can scrimmage. Softball gets an opportunity to go over to Amherst and do that inside [in Amherst’s indoor facility].”

​Howe said the game cancellations make his team feel deflated. “Mentally, it may have a bit of a downer for the guys, but I think they are still working extremely hard right now [at practice],” Howe said. The Owls continue their intense practice schedule during the week.  “We are still practicing everyday hitting, and pitchers are throwing their bullpens. They are taking ground balls the best we can and depending on what space is available at this time,” Howe said.

​Senior second baseman and tri-captain, Nick Vita, said he looks at the extra practice time as more preparation for the season. “It is just going to give us an extra weekend to make sure we are ready for the season,” Vita said.

Bree Kraus / Equinox Staff:
Senior Vincent Mangiagli gets an out after tagging a Framingham State runner in a 15-1 home win on April 12, 2012. Mangiagli will pitch for the Owls this season.

​Freshman pitcher and outfielder, Stephen Costello, said the extra practice helps as well. “Extra practice time is just as valuable as playing a game,” Costello said.

​However, Costello said he is disappointed as those cancelled games would have been his first collegiate games. “You always look forward to your first college game. You’re preparing for March eighth—and it gets pushed back to the thirteenth. It’s a little disappointing,” Costello said.

​Sophomore infielder Drew Carter reiterated Costello’s feelings and said, “Obviously, it is disappointing that we won’t be playing our first games. It might benefit us by practicing more,” Carter said.

​The team expressed excitement for the flight to Florida on Thursday, March 13. “Everyone right now is looking forward to Thursday and getting on the flight and heading to hopefully where it is warmer,” Howe said.

​Vita said the team welcomes the trip with open arms as they head down to warmer weather. However, team members acknowledged they have work to do in Florida.  “Everyone is ready to get outside and get away from the snow a little bit and play a bunch of games in warm weather. It’s a major part of our season, and we need to be ready to go,” Vita said.

​Costello said the Owls are ready to perform on the trip. “I think we’ll be ready to play, we’ve been working hard all off season. We’re ready to make a statement,” Costello said, adding the team also has a positive vibe with one another. “The chemistry is great. We all have each other’s backs—whether it be in the weight room or in the cage. Even though we are competitive with one another and push each other, we still support one another,” Costello said.

​According to Howe, there is a potential for only half of the originally scheduled four games to be made up. The double header scheduled for March 8 against SUNY Old Westbury could happen on March 30. “That is the day after we play at Western Connecticut down in Danbury. If their field is ready [Western Connecticut] on Sunday [March 30], we’ll hopefully go over to Westbury on Sunday,” Howe said.

​The two games that potentially will not be played are the games against SUNY Purchase. “The other games with Purchase probably won’t be made up,” Howe said. As a result, Howe is looking at other options to make them up. “What I’ve done is, we’ve got a couple of Sunday single games at Salve Regina and at Daniel Webster. I’ve already contacted those guys and said if they’ve lost any games, I’d love to make those games into double headers so we can gain those two games back,” Howe said.

​The reason why the team scheduled the games early is to get 40 games in for the regular season, which spans from March to early May. “It’s always a crapshoot when you schedule games this early in the season,” Howe said.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

The Keene State College Men’s Basketball team has had its ups and downs this season. However, they have received a solid play from a much-welcomed newcomer.

Freshman forward Jaquel Edwards has burst on the scene this season for the Owls. The Manchester, Conn., native is averaging 8.9 points per game, as of Feb. 17,  and has averaged 7.1 rebounds per game. His increased level of play has earned him a spot in the starting lineup as the team’s power forward.

He was also named Little East Rookie of the Week for the week of February 3.

During that span of games, Edwards averaged 14.5 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. In addition, he shot a little over 72 percent from the field. His best performance of the week came against Southern Maine when he scored a career high 15 points and he grabbed 17 rebounds.

In the same week against Plymouth State, he scored 14 points and had ten rebounds.

In the beginning of the season in the first four games, Edwards only played 20 minutes combined. Currently, Edwards is averaging almost 22 minutes per game.

According to KSC Men’s Basketball Coach Rob Colbert, Edwards has been a great surprise for the team and he is so valuable.

“He has profound value in so many categories or areas. He’s been a very pleasant surprise in terms of his production,” Colbert said.

Brian Cantore / Photo Editor:
Freshman forward Jaquel Edwards goes up for a shot in a recent game against Southern Maine on Saturday, February 1, in the Spaulding Gymnasium.

Edwards took a year off last year after he graduated high school in 2012. Edwards said he worked last year at a movie theatre and took it off to get his grades up. “I just worked and played ball. I made sure I stayed in shape,” Edwards said.  According to associate head coach Kevin Justice, who recruited Edwards, a year off for an athlete can mean anything. “When an athlete takes a year off, even a student who comes here and gets injured and has to take a year off, you never know what is going to come back,” Justice said.

However, Justice has been pleased with the way things have worked out for Edwards. “I’ve been encouraged with his development as fast as it’s come. From day one, when he stepped into the gym until now, he has really come a long way. The best part is there is still a ceiling that is way higher than where he is right now,” Justice said.

Justice said Edwards was a recruit he had in mind for a few years and he had seen Edwards at a recruiting event. However, he could not get his name and therefore was left in the dark until he visited a Manchester High School game for the KSC Admissions Office. Justice said he talked with a school staff member who was able to direct him to Edwards. “One of the guidance counselors at the school who is a fan of all of the athletics goes, ‘I think I know who you are talking about,’” Justice said.  After that, Justice said he was able to get in contact with the Edwards’ high school coach and with Edwards himself.

“It was a shot in the dark, it was lucky he wasn’t somewhere else at that point. I wish I could say it was all me. I just took a shot in the dark at a kid I remembered that I really liked and it just worked out,” Justice said.

Edwards said Justice was very helpful during the whole process, “He was very supportive of me, he was the one who believed in me from the start that I could play—even though I took a year off—that I had the skills to do it at this level,” Edwards said.

Edwards commented on preparation for next year and said, “I didn’t know what to expect, honestly. I was kind of just going with the flow. I expected to work hard and work for my spot. I knew nothing was going to be easy.”

This year has been a little different for Edwards as he has had to learn a new position. “He’s more of a perimeter player due to unforeseen circumstances and because of what we needed, that’s where we put him,” Colbert said. The position change has not affected Edwards because he just does what he is told. “He never once had a problem with it. That’s a credit to him,” Colbert said. Edwards added, “I had to adjust. I didn’t even play in the beginning of the season because of it. They switched me over and I had to learn the new plays. I had to get used to it.”

Edwards said he puts in on average around six to eight hours a week of extra practice along with the team’s regular practices. Edwards spoke of a normal day, “Yesterday before practice, I got to the gym two hours before to shoot around and lifted. You need to put in extra time as a basketball player,” Edwards said. In addition, Edwards is a very coachable player, according to Colbert. Colbert said, “He is ‘yes sir, no sir’, asks questions when he doesn’t understand something. He is always in the gym.” At the time of the interview Edwards was in the gym. “We practice at six tonight, he is in the gym right now. That says a lot about him,” Colbert said.

Edwards’ hard work and improved play is being noticed by his teammates. Junior guard Tom Doyle said, “He’s obviously shown improvement. He is stepping up in big games and scoring points,” Doyle said. Doyle said Edwards’ best ability is getting rebounds, something that the coaching staff loves. “There are two different types of rebounders. There are guys who get the balls that come to them and there are guys who go get the rebound. He’s one of those guys who gets the rebound,” Colbert said.

Edwards knows he has set the bar high this season, and the pressure to perform at the same high level does not faze him. “The only pressure that I have is letting myself down. I’m just going to continue to do what I have to do on the court. Just playing hard. If you play hard and work hard good things will happen,” Edwards said.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

The Keene State College Women’s Basketball team has found themselves in many close games this season. However, they are still looking for that consistency overall as the season winds down.

​According to women’s basketball coach Keith Boucher, the team’s inconsistency this season is the main reason the team’s play has been up and down. In addition, because of it they have lost many close games. “If you want to go on a long winning streak you have to be consistent. We haven’t been,” Boucher said. The coach noted many factors have hurt the team’s consistency. “It’s consistent practice habits, it’s focus,” Boucher said.

Brian Cantore / Photo Editor:
Sophomore guard Kelsey Cognetta said the team can’t feel bad for itself now. “We cannot hang our heads,” Cognetta told The Equinox.

​This season, the Owls are a younger team and at some points the team has lost focus. “It’s not high school season. You’re asked to do a lot more as far as the X’s and O’s part of it [the game]. There’s a lot more practices and there’s a lot more games,” Boucher said.

​Junior guard Christan Wojtas said the Owls do sometimes lose their focus on the court. “I think it is definitely the lack of focus. We need to be tougher. We are just not tough sometimes,” Wojtas said.

​Also, the team has been thinking way too much lately. “I think we definitely over-think. I think we get down on ourselves a lot and it has to do with a lot of our play. We just have to try not to over-think things,” Wojtas said.

​Sophomore guard Laurie Allien agreed with Wojtas about the team’s tendency to think too much. “We over-think a lot because we think, ‘if we did this or that,’ but it shouldn’t happen like that,” Allien said.

​Allien calls the up and down streak frustrating. “It has been frustrating because we know we’re good. We are good enough to play with any team in our conference, so it kind of sucks how we lose games,” Allien said.

In addition, Allien said the team needs to play with everybody on the court. “We need to play with all five of us. We sometimes play individually and that should not happen. We should play as one team,” Allien said.

​Sophomore forward Ryanne Williams also agrees that the team is sometimes too individual-based and said it needs to change. “We need to play together as a team and stop playing individually, Williams said.

​Boucher said for any team, its ability to focus is critical. “Your ability to focus either saves you or it destroys you. At times, we have done a very good job of focusing and other times we haven’t,” Boucher said.

Brian Cantore / Photo Editor: Senior wing Carly Kiernan evades a double team in a home game against Southern Maine on Saturday, Feb. 1.

​The Owls remaining games are made up only of conference games. At the time of the interview, the Owls had five conference games remaining. Boucher is coaching the Owls final regular season games as if it were a tournament. “Conference games are so much more. Familiarity breeds content and there is so much more emphasis on conference games because you play each other twice,” Boucher said.

​To come away with victories in the next conference games the Owls will need to work hard and be focused, Boucher said. “If you are not focused, if you don’t play with great intensity and energy, you know what?  You’re not going to win. Conference games are a war and if you don’t have a warrior’s mentality then you’re going to end up on the short end of the stick,” Boucher said.

​One thing that the Owls have benefited from this season is their depth.

“We’re deep which has resulted in better competition in practice. I mean, there is more competition for playing time at every position,” Boucher said.

He said, “Last year we weren’t deep at all. This year depending on the time and score, you can see different people out there from game to game. So I guess that is a major strength.”

​As of Feb. 10, the Owls are 11-10 overall and 3-7 in the Little Eastern Conference, which ties them for sixth place with the University of Massachusetts Boston. For the Owls to finish higher in the standings, Boucher said the Owls need to be mentally tougher. “You win close games because you are mentally tougher than the other team,” Boucher said.

​In addition, unlike other teams, the Owls do not have that ‘go-to’ scorer. As of Feb. 10, Wojtas is leading the Owls in scoring with 12 points per game. “We don’t have that go-to player like some of the other teams in our conference have. So it has to be that player playing well at that particular time and game who has to seize the moment and we’ve done that a little bit and times we haven’t. Somebody has to step up,” Boucher said.

​According to sophomore point guard Kelsey Cognetta, running an offense without a pure scorer means that she has to find whoever is open.

“I just want to get everyone open looks and I want it to be a team effort and everyone contributes to how much we score,” Cognetta said. Cognetta said the team needs to stay positive. “I think we cannot hang our heads,” she said.

​As the season winds down, Boucher explained the Owls are going to continue to work at it. “Adversity will either make you or break you, and it is how you respond to adversity that shows whether you’re a true competitor or not,” Boucher said.

​Finally, the team’s focus is also very critical, and it is on Boucher whether or not the focus is there. “The bottom line is, that falls on me. I have to find a way as coach to get the players to focus better at the critical junctures of the game,” Boucher said.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

Many athletes never have the opportunity to decide between playing for their father or for Keene State College. However, for one KSC basketball player, freshman point guard Lucas Hammel, it was about where he was going to get the chance to play right away.

Hammel would have loved to be playing this season for Merrimack College, where for the last 34 years his father, Bert Hammel, has been the head basketball coach.

It would have also marked the third time he would have been playing for his father, Lucas said.

“He coached my AAU [Amateur Athletic Union] team, I always like playing for my dad. Those two years were a great experience for me,” Lucas said. When growing up, Merrimack College was Lucas’ second home. “I knew every nook and cranny of it,” Lucas said.  However, when weighing his options, Hammel decided on KSC because he had the chance to play right away.

Brian Cantore / Photo Editor:
Men’s basketball guard Lucas Hammel draws contact during a home game against UMass Boston on Jan. 25.

According to Bert, Lucas said to him he needed to go to Division III. “He was the one who came to me and he said I want to play right away. I want to be a starting point guard. There’s not a lot of kids nowadays that understand the level that they have to play at,” Bert said.

“Obviously playing for my father was a lifetime goal of mine. But the only time I wanted to go to Merrimack was if I knew I would have had a chance to play right away as a freshman,” Lucas said.

Bert said the talk about colleges began when he and Lucas sat down at the end of Lucas’s junior year of high school. Hammel said he wanted to be there as a father and only as a coach in the beginning of the recruiting process.

“I made it very plain to him that I would be there absolutely one hundred percent as a father and as a parent. But as a coach I would give him some guidance in the beginning,” Bert said.

However, the elder Hammel didn’t want to give Lucas too much feedback about a coach or a program. “I was not going to tell him, ‘Jeez I know that guy and I don’t think he’s a good coach. That program is going down hill.’ That’s something he needed to grow as an individual and find out for himself,” he said.

Lucas said his father really helped him find his way during the process. “He did a great job of just letting me feel my way through it. He really just wanted me to find the school that would be the best fit for me,” Lucas said.

As the season has progressed this year the elder Hammel has continued to be there as a father for Lucas, but not as a coach.  As  Bert said, he never interferes with Owls’ head coach Rob Colbert’s ways. “I might say I think you should do this or that, but absolutely nothing to interfere with defensive or offensive philosophies of coach Colbert,” he said.

According to the father, KSC fell in love with Lucas when Owls assistant coach, Steve Boudreau, found Lucas at a fall ball league. “He’s the one who really believed in Lucas from the beginning, even when he had a couple of bad fall games. Steve saw something in him and stayed with him.”

Boudreau said the Owls stuck with Lucas because of his work ethic on the basketball court. “We stuck with Lucas because of the way he competed,” Boudreau said. In addition, Boudreau loved three things about Lucas, “his effort, energy and attitude.”

Colbert said the Owls coaching staff believes in Lucas because of his incredible passion and energy. “You know, that is something that you can’t teach. You can correct mistakes but you can’t create passion,” Colbert said.

Brian Cantore / Photo Editor: Freshman Lucas Hammel drives to the rim in a home game against UMass Boston Jan. 25.

One thing that both Lucas and his father attribute to helping Lucas get to the college level were practices back when Lucas was in high school with the ‘big boys’ at Merrimack. “His sophomore year he started playing with my guys in the summer and getting his ass kicked,” Hammel’s dad said.

His son’s shots would be blocked and he would turn the ball over as well when playing with and against the Division II scholarship players, according to Bert. However, Bert said he kept saying to his son, “That’s how you get better. You’ve got to play against better players.”

Lucas also attributes his success to one of his dad’s former point guards, Darren Duncan. “A lot of players hated me playing because I really wasn’t that good. He was the kid who would pull me aside and make me shoot and I was always on his team. He kind of took me under his wing which I really appreciated,” Hammel said. According to Hammel, Duncan is currently playing basketball out of the country in Canada and is unavailable for comment.

The Owl’s point guard said those practices helped him along the way and they better prepared him for KSC. He said it helped himself toughen up mentally and physically. “I was a little high school kid going against these Division two full scholarship athletes. Obviously I was getting my butt kicked day in and day out. It just really helped me develop my edge,” Lucas Hammel said.

As for his experience at KSC, so far Lucas said it’s been a positive one. He highly praises Colbert and the coaching staff. “I really respect coach Colbert and the coaching staff too much to transfer on them. I’m definitely here at Keene [State College] for four years,” Hammel said.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com

The Patriot’s last game at Foxboro Stadium was already going to be memorable—but it became even more memorable after one play late in the fourth quarter.

On January 19, 2002, in one of the AFC divisional games, the “Tuck Rule” was enforced. Many football fans know the play that occurred in the game dubbed, “The Snow Bowl” when Oakland Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson stripped the ball with 1:50 left in the game from New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, causing what was initially ruled a fumble. The Raiders recovered the ball and would have been able to run the clock out to win and advance to the AFC championship game.

But that never happened as Walt Coleman overturned the call after reviewing the play. The Patriots were able to keep the ball, kick a field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime. New England went on to kick another field goal in overtime to win the game 16-13.

Coleman was the head referee for the “Tuck Rule Game.” Interestingly, Coleman to this day has not done another Raiders game. The call is still questioned by many, and fans can see the play on the Internet, including a clip with commentary from the Raiders play-by-play announcer and color commentator on the radio. In a video on Youtube, Greg Papa, the Raiders play-by-play announcer, loses it on the air after the call is overturned.

AP Photo / Julie Jacobson: Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady was understandably upset after losing the AFC Championship in Denver, but relative to the Oakland Raiders, 2014 was another successful season.

The Patriots went on to win Super Bowl XXXVI against the St. Louis Rams. The “Tuck Rule Game” arguably started the dynasty for the Patriots. Since the 2002 season, the Patriots have won 147 games in the regular season and lost only 45 games.

In the 2002 season, the Raiders went 11-5 in the regular season and later lost Super Bowl XXXVII. But since that 2002 Super Bowl appearance, the Raiders have yet to win a playoff game. The Raiders record since the “Tuck Rule Game” in the regular season is 64-128. According to Pro Football Reference, the Raiders also have had seven different head coaches since the “Tuck Rule Game.”

In my opinion, unlike the Patriots, the Raiders did not find their franchise quarterback after that game. The Raiders quarterback, then 37-year-old Rich Gannon, started 16 games in the 2002 season.

However, the following season he only started seven games due to injury. The Raiders then turned to Kerry Collins for a majority of the starts in 2004 and 2005.

Since then, they have had band-aids trying over the wound: JaMarcus Russell was a bust, Jason Campbell and Carson Palmer were short-term fixes and now Terrelle Pryor and Matt McGloin appear to be failures. For the most loyal fans sitting in the Black Hole section at the Oakland Coliseum, the end of the misery seems like it will never come, as the Raiders seem to be in now a permanent Black Hole.

Since their Super Bowl appearance, the Raiders have been looking for two things: consistency at the quarterback position and finding the right head coach since Jon Gruden left the organization for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Patriots’ consistency has been the envy of the league, having the combination of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Since that game, the Patriots have won three Super Bowls and five AFC Conference Championships. The Patriots have only missed the playoffs twice in 2002 and in 2008—both seasons where they scored a winning record. With the loss to the Broncos in this season’s AFC Championship Game still fresh, fans must realize Tom Brady is beginning to near the light at the end of the tunnel.

The question is: when will Oakland finally get past the game that started their downfall?

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com