Bobby Martinez – Sports Writer
NEW HAVEN — Last season Southern Connecticut’s men’s baseball team finished the season on a sour note with a 20-21-1 record. With a new year and new players, Owls head coach Tim Shea selected Tyler Albrecht and T.K. Kiernan as captains for the 2014 season.
“Being named team captain is big,” said pitcher Albrecht. “This means a lot of players will be looking up to me to lead them.”
Before becoming a pitcher for the Owls, Albrecht attended Arlington High School in New York and was named Poughkeepsie Journal Pitcher of the Year. He helped his team win the 2009 League Championship and was an All-League Nominee as well.
In his years at Southern, Albrecht had seen majority of his playing time last season appearing in nine games out the bullpen. He recorded a 0-2 record with a 4.91 earn run average. Despite the Owls rough season last year, Albrecht said during the off season he spent a lot of time working out and bonding with his teammates.
“Me personally, I was working out every single day, been on the field with guys whenever they wanted extra help.,” said Albrecht. “This year a lot of guys are really working hard to get better. I know last year we had trouble because we lacked a little bit of team chemistry. This year our team chemistry is really high and were motivated to do our best and play really well.”
Kiernan, heading into his senior season, has been a key player for the Owls since coming in as a freshman in 2011. Kiernan attended Sheehan High School and resides in Wallingford, Conn. Prior to Southern, he was All-State and All-Conference honoree at Sheehan, won a state championship as a senior and was also a team captain.
As freshman at Southern, he played in all 55 games which tied the programs program single-season record. He was selected to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team and College World Series All-Tournament Team. In his sophomore season, he finished first on the team with 16 bunts and recorded a batting average of .218 with 12 runs batted in.
Last season, Kiernan finished third on the team with a .290 batting average and led the team with two home runs, 21 walks and a .379 on base percentage in all 41 games. He was also selected to the Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
Finishing the season with a 20-21-1 record last season, Albrecht said his teams focus is on winning it all when it’s all said and done.
“We all want to get to a College World Series,” said Albrecht. “We’re going to have to take one game at a time and work hard in each game that we play and hopefully we make a trip back to Cary North Carolina.”
The Owls hit the season off on Mar. 1 in a doubleheader in Flemington New Jersey against LIU Post. The Owls will then travel to Florida from Mar. 6 to the 19. Their home opener will be against Merrimack College Mar. 22 and 23 followed by Assumption College.
Albrecht said as a team captain this year he will be by his players every day in order to help his team win as much games as possible.
“I will definitely focus on moving forward and putting last season in the past,” said Albrecht. “We really are going to have to stay focus this season and like I said having good team chemistry is important because if we’re all working towards one goal as opposed to being focused individually. I think having a team focus this season will be beneficial.”
