In mid-October, the Syracuse club baseball team traveled to Penn State for the State College Classic Invitational.

It was a 12-team tournament that consisted of club teams from universities with Division-I programs, so their rosters were made up of both cut and developing players. But not Syracuse — their roster has a different complexion.

“At one point during the Penn State tournament I had all underclassmen on the field,” said club baseball head coach Adam Olinski. “No one picks Syracuse to play club baseball; these are guys who just came to this school and tried out.”

The Syracuse club baseball team has had its fair share of troubles in years past. Its field is a 20-minute drive from campus, the cold weather makes both practice and game conditions uncomfortable, and few players want to commit with those two things in mind.

This season, they had 79 players try out and took 11 of them, and thus far the team’s underclassmen have provided a boost.

The team finished the tournament at Penn State with a 2-2 record, but the performance by freshman pitcher Casey Kerr showed the distinct differences between the SU club and its opponents.

Against Penn State, Kerr tossed six innings, struck out five and only gave up one run on 80 pitches en route to a 7-2 Syracuse win. The victory set up a game with Pittsburgh later that day, which was ranked third in the College Baseball Association at the time.

But Syracuse had one problem. It had no pitchers left.

“Coach asked me to warm up,” said Kerr. “I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

When Olinski recalled the day, he couldn’t do much but shake his head and smile.

“He told me he wanted the ball,” Olinski said. “It was a huge lift for us, he took his rubber arm and started again against Pitt, threw somewhere around 170 pitches on the day.”

Syracuse would lose to Pittsburgh 7-3, but when Kerr exited, he had his team in position to pull off the upset. He is one of 18 underclassmen on the team’s 31-man roster that have transformed the program in the last two seasons.

As a group, they have done so with heart, pride and determination — three team traits that President Perry Russom, Vice President Nick Dellefave and Olinski didn’t see in years prior.

“This is the year,” Olinski said. “The year that has really turned us around, and it has all come from the top. The captains have had such a good influence on these younger guys.”

As upperclassmen captains, Russom and Dellefave vividly remember the program’s shortcomings of years past and have used them as groundwork this season.

Russom remembers his freshman year, when the club baseball roster consisted of a group of guys who gave minimal commitment to the team.

“Sometimes we’d be worried that we wouldn’t be able to field a team,” Russom said. “It would be the morning of a game and we’d be calling guys to get out of bed just to have 12 players.”

Because of the inclement Syracuse weather, the club baseball season is split up between the fall and spring. Syracuse finished the fall season with a 6-7-1 record, and while that may not be eye-popping, it’s a step in the right direction.

The team had a winless season in 2010-11, but with dedicated players leading the club this year, it’s working to gain recognition around campus.

Olinski said this is the closest team he has been around since joining Syracuse’s club program before the 2008-09 season. The players joke together off the field and support each other on it, living up to the team’s motto of “Let’s go do some baseball things,” started by Dellefave.

“Even though I don’t get to play anymore, I get just as excited as they do,” Olinski said. “Baseball’s fun, but it wasn’t fun before. It’s fun now.”

Published on November 7, 2012 at 1:27 am

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse