Rams Baseball: Starting to change their pace

Logan Phillips
Senor Editor

In 2006, the Rams reached the pinnacle of the sports world in a phenomenal 17-8,  FCIAC Championship run. Since then, the Rams have suffered disappointing season after disappointing season, with a record of 30-54 and only one season over 500, a far cry from the Peter Krieger and Curt Casali era where they ached the pinnacle of the sports world in 2006 by winning the FCIAC Championship.

The Rams are clearly tired of losing. Under second year coach Mitch Hoffman, the Rams have transformed from the punch-line of the league to a bonafide contender.  Going into May, the Rams are 10-5, particularly remarkable considering that in 2009 by this time, the Rams didn’t even have a win. The highlight of their season so far was an upset against one of the best teams in the state, the Staples Wreckers who were perfect going into the game between the three run homer of Andrew Casali and a game winning 2-RBI hit by Cameron Armstrong in the sixth inning.

The biggest change comes from strong fundamentals. In prior years, the Rams might have a lot of talent, but they would make mental mistakes and fail to make routine fielding plays (while at the same time making some incredible and difficult plays). Mitch Hoffman has a fundamentals first mantra, and in his second year he has clearly transformed the team to ensure that they play mistake-free baseball.

Another significant difference between this years squads and years prior is the new mentality. When a team starts to expect to lose and looks for ways that they’re going to give up the lead, they’re almost always going to lose. While it’s not fair to say that the Rams had expected to lose in previous years, this year they clearly expect to compete and have a strong chance to beat any team in the game, even the giants of the league like Staples.

Most important however is that the Rams have a timely combination talented youth and experienced veterans. Freshman Willie Burger and sophmores Andrew Casali bring a fresh infusion of youth, energy and talent, along with second year starter sophomore Casey Oulette who received All-FCIAC Honorable Mention as a freshman. Combining the talented

youth with veterans reaching their high school prime like Cameron Armstrong and Alex Farina creates the perfect mesh that is on track to be the best team since the Rams 2006 FCIAC Championship.