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Contributed Photo
Livingston Manor graduate Mike Mills is off to a promising start with the SUNY Sullivan Generals, sporting a 2.31 ERA with 12 strikeouts through his first 11 innings.
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Story by Jon Dinan
LOCH SHELDRAKE — April 2, 2013 — The SUNY Sullivan baseball team just finished a 13-game road swing through Baltimore, Myrtle Beach and Greenville, SC that coach Ryan Snair called a “very tough spring trip.”
“We played some really good southern schools and we had to play all 13 games in just seven days,” said Snair.
The Generals came out of the trip with six victories and seven losses, but two of the wins came against Maryland’s Frederick Community College, ranked No. 10 in the latest NJCAA Division 2 poll.
In conference games they have played since coming home the Generals are 1-3 – all games played against Rockland CC this past weekend in Suffern.
Despite the 8-10 start, Snair has high hopes for this year’s team.
“We may be 1-3 now [in the region], but I expect to contend for the title this season, said Snair, who is in his fourth season as Generals head coach. The Generals won the Regional title in 2008 and 2011 and lost in the finals in 2012.
“We have a good offense this year and our pitching is deeper than ever,” Snair continued. “We need to clean up the defense though. We’ve already had a few defensive miscues that cost us some runs, and four or five of our losses have been by only one run. So it’s important that we improve defensively.”
Snair is still tweaking his batting order and positioning of players on the field. At this point in the season, the lineup is a work in progress.
“I am still trying to figure out what our starting lineup is going to look like,” Snair said. “Right now we have battles (for positions) going on between players at second base, right field, and catcher,” he added.
Freshman outfielder Mike Trefil is the Generals’ leading hitter through the first 18 games with a .391 batting average and 21 RBIs. Sophomore Jake Schilling is also swinging a hot bat with a .365 average and 13 RBIs.
Freshman pitcher Mike Mills of Livinsgton Manor has shown some early season promise, boasting a 2.31 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 11 innings.
The Generals travel to West Windsor, New Jersey Wednesday to Mercer CC and then Poughkeepsie on Thursday to face Dutchess CC.
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