Cruising the Lions’ den

Tony Altobelli

The smell of leather, grass, hot dogs and pine tar have whiffed

through the air like a blessing from above. It’s baseball season!

If during the season, you happen to attend a Vanguard University

baseball game and suddenly see the admission price increase, there’s a

very good reason the Lions are doing it.

They’re raising cash for more baseballs!

In their first six games, the Lions (4-2) are putting monster numbers

up on the scoreboard. Their team batting average is .347, including two

starters hitting over .500 (Samuel Baeder, .565 and Anthony Walker, .526)

and another hitting over .400 (Jeremy Isherwood, .429).

With 48 games on Vanguard’s schedule, here’s some pretty startling

projections.

The Lions are on track to hit 64 home runs (they hit 21 last year),

score 480 runs (they scored 182 last year) and hit .343 as a team (they

hit .247 last year.)

The Lions biggest weapon thus far has been Baeder. The junior

outfielder leads the team with three home runs, already surpassing last

year’s total of two. His 11 RBIs in six games is only six off last year’s

mark of 17.

Walker, a senior, has 10 hits in 19 at bats with two doubles, eight

runs scored and five RBIs, while Isherwood, also a senior, has nine hits,

four runs scored and eight RBIs.

Oh yeah, Nos. 4-6 in the statistics aren’t doing so bad either.

Sophomore leadoff hitter Matt Tisthammer leads the Lions with 10 runs

scored, while hitting a modest .381 with two home runs.

Junior infielder Andy Riddell has been strong at first base for the

Lions while hitting .364 with one dinger and five RBIs. His .364 average

is the same as teammate Chad Chop, who leads the Lions with four doubles

and is second on the team with nine runs scored.

Granted, the Lions’ pitching isn’t exactly, Maddox, Glavine and

Smoltz, but it’s rapidly improving.

Leading the Lions’ hurlers is lefty reliever Garold Shaffer. In

eight-plus innings, the junior has compiled a 2-0 record with a 5.84 ERA.

Perhaps the most perplexing puzzle over in Lion Country is the

Vanguard women’s basketball team.

With strong play from senior point guard Becki Huddle (11.5 points,

4.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game), snipers Beth Weidler and Laura

Lee (each in the Golden State Athletic Conference’s top-10 in three-point

shooting) and center Kelly Boeke (GSAC top-10 with 8.3 rebounds per game

and 53% shooting), it’s hard to understand why the Lions are 7-6 in

conference and 14-8 overall.

The Lions have the No. 3 rated offense (72.3 PPG) and No. 2 defense

(57.2 PPG), so what’s the deal?

The most amazing thing about the Lions’ eight losses, five have come

at The Pit. Vanguard had won 46 in row the past couple of seasons.

Perhaps a tougher schedule is to blame? Perhaps the conference is just

getting stronger and more even? Probably a little bit of both.