Eastern Connecticut State University - Sustinet Yearbook (Willimantic, CT)

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42 vb 2 Ll lik BJ -43- ill Sitting L-R- Bob Cressotti, Ray Sullivan, Bud Silva, Bob Del-ucia, Mark Reimer, Mike Stevens, Bob Nicoletti. Second Row- Ken LaFrancois, Mike Griffin, Mike Armonaitis, Ray Royce, Lou LaVecchia, Jim Broadwell, Tom Bongo, Brian Murphy. Standing- John Risleyg Ass't Coach, Bob Wojickg Ass't Coach, Rick Hunter, Scott Budner, Mike Turgeon, Tom Powers, Don Fusari, Ken Hewitt, Steve Krajewski, Bill Holowatyg Head Coach

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BA EB LL '77 ECSC 1977 W For ninth year Head Coach Bill Holowaty and the entire ECSC baseball squad, 1977 proved to be, indeed, another vintage year. With a standout veteran pitching corpse, awesome hitting, and a solid bench, the Warriors again took the New England area by storm - winning 28 and losing just three over the entire Northern schedule and wrapped up the spring campaign with a remarkable 35-9 slate. The Warriors may have fallen short in their relentless pursuit of yet another National tourney berth, but their elimination in the NCAA regionals, which ECSC had the distinc- tion of hosting, does little to dampen another milestone season for the diamondmen. For the fifth consecutive year, Holowaty guided his charges over the 30 win mark - a feat un- matched in New England collegiate baseball circles. The Warriors, however, don't rely upon rabbit's feet or other such good luck charms to insure their reputation as one of the most respected schools in the nation. The mystery behind their continued success is quite simpleg ECSC, under the dedicated guidance of coaches Holowaty, Bob Wojick, John Risley, and Pete Fappiano, gives more of themselves than most other teams would even dream of giving. lt takes a year round devotion to the game in order to maintain the excellence which Eastern Connecticut State College has, over the years, come to enjoy. Throughout the past decade, such ECSC legandary greats as John Caneira, Lenny Reed, Tom Somers, Tom Lynn, and Steve Thomas have etched their names into school, New England, and national recordbooks, and, in keeping with this tradition, the crew of '77 produced their share of recordbreakers. Both individually and as a team, the Warriors smashed past records with a fury. The most notable among the broken discs included junior southpaw Scott Budner's no-hit, no-run ballgame against the University of Lowell, Budner's goose-egg performance, the first ever in ECSC history, came about despite frigid tempera- tures and a constant snowfall. Steve Krajewski, a four-year starter and last year's captaih, slammed l0 homeruns to take over the all-time record for round-trippers, with 23 Shortstop Mike Turgeon, who along with Budner was drafted last summer in the major league free agent draft, broke the single season basehit record, formerly held by Bill Hickey, with 63 safeties. - Though the Warriors cruised into the regional tournament fresh off a 15 game winning fcontinued on page 166, column 1.1 University of 2- Roger 3 University of Western John Risley Pete Eappiafno

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Maw- streak the season nonetheless opened on something less than an optimistic note. The Warriors hobbled home from their I0 game southern barnstorming tour looking more like the survivors from the battle of Wound- ed Knee than like the healthy limbed unit which had begun nine days earlier. Feet, arm, and shoulder injuries to hurlers Rob Nicoletti, Mike Stevens, and Tom Bongo respectively, desimated the pitching corpse, speedster Buddy Silva gathered more splin- ters than basehits after injuring an ankle in the early going, and catcher John Castodio was finished even before he started. with a fractured finger in a pre-season exhibition contest against the Naval Academy. Alibis have never played an essential role in the ECSC game-plan, however, so rather than hang their heads, the Warriors hung together. The pitching staff, led by Budner's unblemished 9-0 mark, rounded into one of the very finest ever. Redheaded Ray Royce, after a year's absence, forked his way to an important 8-2 record, fireballer Nicolctti, after shaking off his injury, hurled peas past baffled batters and finished with a nifty 6-l slate, and strapping southpaw Don Fusari strung together an amazing 33 and one third consecutive inning scoreless streak enroute to a team leading .26 ERA and perfect 4-0 mark. Not to be outdone by their pitching counter- parts, the Warrior batters rarely showed up on game day without their heavy lumber. After the timber had fallen, new records in 'I I,- , ,. 'Q-sl fr ,ff R