Baker baseball players and alumni reunited Saturday to celebrate the tradition of the program in an alumni game, where the ‘Cats won 5-3.
Head coach Phil Hannon said the game was not taken as seriously as the regular season but more as a fun game to get alumni back and involved in the program.
“The purpose was to get alumni down here to talk to the players about tradition, bring memories back to (alums) and just get them to meet with the players here to see how the program is going,” he said. “It’s also to see if there’s anything they can do for the program and for them to give some kind of guidance to current players.”
Senior Jerrod White said the game was not about winning or losing, but about having fun and giving the alumni a chance to be back in the environment again.
“It’s just a way for us to look at the tradition that we have as a baseball program, and it brings the old guys back to see where we’re at and give us advice,” White said.
Seven Baker pitchers saw action in the game, each pitching one inning. Hannon said the varsity pitchers threw against the varsity offense to give hitters a look at competitive pitching, and he pitched against the alumni team.
“I pitched so that the alumni could hit off me. It would probably be a little tougher for them to hit off of our pitchers,” he said.
For the alumni team, Hannon said a few players performed very well. Former Wildcat David Tappan, who is currently the athletic director at Louisburg High School, smashed a homerun over the fence and Curtis Murdock, Baker’s assistant baseball coach, hit one off the fence.
On the other side, Hannon said he was pleased with the pitching staff and the team’s overall performance.
Junior Joseph O’Donnell said he thought the team performed well and enjoyed the experience of the game.
“The most fun thing was watching the alumni as old men thinking they’re 20 again and hearing their stories from when they were here,” O’Donnell said. “It doesn’t sound like things have changed much.”
Hannon said he was very happy that all participants were able to have a good time and enjoy the game.