Columbia-Greene Baseball traveled to Florida for a week of spring training baseball! The Twins competed against many strong teams including nationally ranked Oakton Community College, ranked 3rd in the preseason rankings. Other colleges that the Twins competed against include Westchester Community College, Genesee Community College, and Prairie State College. Below is a recap from each of the Twins spring training games!

Westchester Community College:

Columbia-Greene quickly fell behind against the Vikings and later would go onto lose 22-7. Despite the loss the Twins hit the ball well, accumulating 13 hits matching the Vikings 13 hit game. Unfortunately, some costly errors would keep the Twins behind. Columbia-Greene jumped on the board in the third inning following a RBI single from Pitcher Matt Bowes and a 2 RBI double from second basemen Jake Siter! Cameron MacDonald would finish the game going 2 for 4 at the plate with 2 RBIs and a run. Kasey Moore would also finish 2 for 4 at the plate and was credited with a run. Joel Preusser and Alex Curtis would both also finish 2 for 4 at the plate with Alex also recording 2 runs. Pitcher-Only Richard Parks would be called upon to hit towards the end of the game and recorded a single in his only at bat which moved Ronald Rodriguez into scoring position and allowed him to later score.

Genesee Community College:

Columbia-Greene played hard against Genesee Community College, keeping Genesee to a 4-1 lead after three innings. The Twins would have a rough fourth inning with multiple errors allowing the Cougars to expand their lead. The Twins would go on to lose the game 18-9.  The Twins would collect 9 hits in the loss with both Cameron MacDonald and Jake Siter collecting multiple hits. Cameron MacDonald ended the game 3 for 5 with a double, 2 RBIs, and 2 runs. Jake Siter went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and a run. Matt Bowes would go 1 for 2 with a run. 

Oakton Community College:

Tuesday was an exciting day for the Twins as they got to compete against the third ranked team in the nation Oakton Community College. The Twins played their hearts out keeping the Owls to a 4-0 lead though seven innings! A rough 8th inning would cost the Twins the game, losing 12-0 to the Owls. Jake Siter started on the mound for the Twins and threw exceptionally well! Siter threw three innings allowing zero runs on zero hits while striking out three batters. Siter also had one of the Twins four hits, going 1 for 2 in the ball game! Left fielder Kasey Moore added two hits on four at bats while third basemen Cameron MacDonald would add one hit on three at bats. 

Prairie State College:

The Twins played a great close game against Prairie State College before falling to the Pioneers 15-8. The Pioneers extended their small lead in the fifth inning and ultimately pulled away with the win. Some notable Twins included:

Richard Parks: pitched 4 strong innings collecting 6 strikeouts

Jake Siter: 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs

Alex Curtis: 2 for 4 with 1 RBI and 1 run

Matt Bowes: 1 for 2 with 1 RBI, 2 walks, and 1 run

Matt Damon: 1 for 2 with 3 walks and 1 run

Jake Siter would end the trip batting .500 while teammate Cameron MacDonald would be close behind batting .400. Kasey Moore and Matt Bowes would also bat .353 and .300 respectively. We look forward to seeing what the regular season holds for the Twins this year!