On April 11, the Ithaca College Club Baseball team drove over two hours to matchup against SUNY Geneseo at Geneseo high school, and with no cancellation concerns, avenged their only loss from last fall with a two game sweep. 

Ithaca Club Baseball has a short regular season, playing just seven scheduled games for the spring season, and has one major difference from the varsity team: they don’t have a home field. 

Field Troubles

The varsity baseball team has been struggling to get on Freeman Field this season, something that has been a persistent problem over the past four seasons. This year marked the longest the team had not played at home in those four seasons, only playing their first home game on April 15 after starting their season February 28. 

Starting league play on April 11th and always playing away from the college, the club team has avoided this problem, but they still would like a place to call home. 

Senior treasurer and shortstop Andrew Silverman said using Freeman Field is not an option. 

“We don’t have a home field,” Silverman said. “If we did call something a homefield it would probably be Gutchess in Cortland. We can’t use the field here.” 

The Club baseball team has not been able to play at Freeman Field for over four years, although the team played at Freeman for the first time in 2019. Since then the club has not been able to work with varsity for time on the field and have chosen to go elsewhere. Silverman said that not playing at home is somewhat intentional even though it isn’t the best to have to travel so much.

“Not having a home field isn’t great, but Gutchess is turf, so there’s a little leeway there,” Silverman said. “We’re playing Rochester this Saturday, which is also turf. It’s mostly just praying that there’s good weather on the weekends.”

Travel and Funding

Along with not being able to play in Ithaca, the team has to arrange travel to get the squad back and forth on the weekends. Senior first baseman Zach Todd said coordinating the travel has not been a very difficult challenge. 

“If it’s under 90 miles, we get to use our own personal vehicles, but if it’s over 90 miles, we have to use a rented vehicle by the school,” Todd said. “It’s really set up by all of us together. So I especially do the travel forms. We all meet, we lock in, get a win, and then we just go back and do the same thing over again.”

Club funding has also been a problem for nearly all club sports this year, but baseball has taken it in stride, charging dues of $50 in the fall and $75 in the spring to make travel, uniforms, and games possible. 

American Club Baseball Championship

On April 26, the team will be having their most important away game ever, playing Providence College at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The game isn’t just important because of the location, but because of the stakes.

“It’s kind of like the World Series of the ACBL actually,” Todd said. “Providence won the other league and we won the West. We’re coming together to have a nice nine-inning game under the lights in Cooperstown. I’m very excited about it. We’re happy that we have the opportunity to do that and showcase what we can do against a much bigger school than us.”

Ithaca plays in the Colonial Club Baseball Association, a league that plays in both the fall and spring. Since Ithaca won the fall championship with just one loss on their record, the team earned a shot at the champion of New England Club Baseball Association, Providence. 

Senior president and pitcher Colin Mott joined the team after transferring from the University of Buffalo his sophomore year. Mott said that not only was that Ithaca’s first championship in his tenure but the first time they had more wins than losses. The team is currently 18-1 over both the fall and spring. 

“It was our first championship and it was actually our first time over .500,” Mott said. “It was a lot of fun and I just loved it.”

One of the reasons the club team has been so prolific this year goes to the fact that it’s not uncommon for players from varsity to step into the club when they feel a step down is needed. 

In fact senior catcher James Braxmeier has stepped up from the club this season to fill in on varsity due to injuries with the team. Despite this, Braxmeier still plays in all of the club games. 

When looking forward to one of the biggest games of his college career, Todd said the team is going to keep being itself and focus on the community they have built.

“We didn’t win the championship for no reason,” Todd said. “We didn’t really pressure ourselves into thinking that we were one thing that we weren’t. So we know what we’re capable of. I don’t think playing another team, a bigger school like Providence, will hinder our performance at all. Go in there, have fun, and win the game.”