‘Rewarding’ baseball season comes to a close

Imagine climbing into a chilly Jacuzzi on a warm night. Figuratively, that’s what Havelock’s baseball team did this season.

First they were hot, then they were wet, then they were cold.

The Rams, who last Tuesday bowed out of the Big East 4-A Conference race with a 1-0 loss to Greenville Conley on the last day of the regular season, ended the year with five straight losses. But the team played well enough to set a school record, climb as high as No. 3 in Baseball America’s 4-A poll and put a scare into some baseball powerhouses along the way.

The Rams got off to the best start in school history at 15-1 before rain began to drown their chances.

A spell of bad weather for several weeks jammed all the team’s most important games — two against Greenville Rose and the finale against Conley — into a two-week span, which along with other league games depleted the pitching staff and necessitated frequent travel.

By the time Havelock got through the second half of the league schedule, the team was fighting for its playoff life.

“You can’t play Rose two times in, basically, four days,” Rams coach Charlie Smith said. “We just don’t have the depth to do that.”

But regardless of how the Rams finished the season, Smith said he is proud of his players for exceeding even his own expectations.

“It’s a credit to the guys that we had a chance to qualify going into the last game of the year,” he said. “That’s all you can ask, particularly when you’re in a league that’s as potent as ours.

“Third in the Big East is a very, very good year.”

Senior Chris Beck led the Rams with a .424 batting average, up exactly 100 points from last season. Sophomore Chris Watson hit an even .400.

Junior third baseman Dan Thomas paced Havelock with 15 RBIs, followed by Watson with 14, senior Barry Gohn with 12 and Beck with 11. Sophomore outfielder Derek Belcher had the team’s only two home runs. As a team, the Rams hit .262.

Beck, who hit .403 as a sophomore, struck out just once this season. In his three years on Havelock’s varsity squad, Beck struck out just 12 times.

On the mound, Beck was 6-2 with a 2.11 ERA in 53 innings, while Sean Noble went 6-2 with a 3.44 ERA in a team-high 61 1/3 innings. Watson was 2-2 while Richard Foley was 1-0.

Beyond the numbers, though, Smith said he relishes the time he spent with his players, particularly the upperclassmen.

“It was an interesting, real fun, rewarding year, and I’m going to miss those seniors,” he said. “It was a good class. They’re going to be hard to replace.”