The baseball team is burglarizing the diamond this season.
The team leads all of Division III baseball with 107 stolen bases and 92 hit by pitches. Senior outfielder Jack Regenye has 30 stolen bases, which leads the NCAA, and he is eyeing former Misericordia star Garret Mcllhenny’s school record for stolen bases in a single season.
“The goal in the beginning of the year was to beat Garrett Mcllhenney. He had 46 in a single season. I just want to beat his record,” said Regenye.
He said the best advice he can give to someone who’s looking to get better at stealing is picking up on all the pitchers’ tendencies by considering their speed and what kind of pitches they’re throwing. Also take into account the catcher’s pop-time and what inning it is because taking chances in the first is much less risky than the sixth or later, he said.
Sophomore infielder Brian Korchok said it’s often easy to tell early on if it’s going to be more or less difficult to steal on certain pitchers.
While stealing a base might take more effort, getting hit by a pitch also gets the player a base, and players say the dugout gets riled up.
Even though the team is awarded a free base and everyone is cheering, getting hit isn’t always glorious, players say. Regenye said last year when the team faced Stevens University, he was hit in the left forearm and it swelled immediately, becoming extremely painful.
“You can tell there’s a different kind of tunneling of pitches, and when he releases out of his hand your kind of like, ‘Oh crap, that’s definitely going to hit me,’” said Regenye. He also said it gets harder when the pitcher is throwing speed or a curveball that looks like it’s going to hit the player, but the ball actually right down the middle.
Korchok says being hit by pitches helps the team, and the dugout goes crazy when it happens.
“They just scream, but if you move and get out of the way of a pitch, they hit you with cat noises and stuff,” said Regenye.