The Bears baseball team is off to a hot start. On their spring break/ Spring Training trip down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the team went 8-0, the best win streak of any Centennial Conference team this season.
The team’s stellar pitching staff has been led so far by righty Dan Bass ‘26, who is tied for the most wins among the staff, and left-hander Kieran Hollander ‘25, who owns a 1.59 ERA to date. Asked about the team’s blistering hot start, Bass, who threw a complete game against Wilmington College on March 14th, said “I think the team is in a unique spot because of the collective buy-in we’ve had so far. Attention to detail and doing the little things right are things we’ve lacked in the past, so doing those has really helped us build momentum this early. The chemistry is also much better this year due to the buy-in. Our energy in the weight room or during practice is always awesome because we all truly want to get better and push each other to be the best individually, which has translated to great energy and friendships on the field.”
Hollander praised the senior leadership on the team, saying, “The upperclassmen truly care about winning and being successful on the field, and it stems down to the underclassmen. We also have a ton of experience as a team, with most of this current senior class getting substantial playing time over their 4 years.”
Hollander also gave credit to the coaching staff, saying, “The team is off to its best start in years, largely because of the support and knowledge from the coaching staff. Every practice has a purpose behind it and works on our weaknesses as a team so that in the game we can go out and execute.”
Left fielder Brandon Sullivan ‘26 echoed that statement, saying, “Our experienced coaching staff has [given] us this identity of who we should be as a team. Throughout the fall and early spring the expectation has been held high for everyone so living up to this is one of the reasons why we have been able to compete the way we have been.”
The Bears’ offense as a whole has also come up clutch when needed, highlighted by a thrilling walk off win against Hobart College. With the game tied in the 9th, Peter Balos ‘25 opened the inning with a leadoff walk and would exit the contest as Tyler Dinan ‘26 came on to pinch run. The Ursinus offense put the pressure on the Herons’ defense as back-to-back runners reached on sacrifice bunts to load the bases with no outs. First, junior Shane Beaver reached base and advanced Dinan into scoring position on a throwing error by Hobart’s pitcher. Next, Barrett Ross ‘27 tallied his second base hit on a bunt towards third base to load the bases. Facing a 3-2 count, Devin Fogg ‘28 was the hero, slapping a single into right field to score Dinan and give Ursinus the 2-1 victory.
Sullivan said, “I think in comparison to last year we are finishing games strong. It seemed last year we always had close games that got away from us, so trusting our process as position players and pitchers to compete until the end has played a huge part this year.”
“As for a team leader, I think we have more than one guy who embraces this role from our upperclassmen. Everyone brings in their own contributions to the team that help lead,” said Sullivan.