Jefferson takes aim at Division II baseball title, starting with the East Regional
The Rams, top-seeded in the East, defeated Goldey-Beacom on Thursday, with Franklin Pierce next.
After making program history for most wins in a season, Jefferson University baseball earned the top seed of the Division II NCAA East Region of the bracket, hosting Goldey-Beacom and Franklin Pierce in the three-team elimination.
Jefferson, the home team in the games held at DeSales University, beat Goldey-Beacom, 17-4, in its first game of the opening round on Thursday. They face Franklin Pierce on Friday at 11 a.m., and the Rams are treating it like any other game.
Junior Gabe Silva said he’s focusing on enjoying the moment.
“We’re still locked in on our goal and sticking to what we know, what our game plan is, but we’re also just having fun here, relaxing, enjoying the time,” Silva said. “You still want to be enjoying this moment, because not a lot of teams are in this position.”
For head coach Pat Horvath, who became the winningest coach in program history, the focus is also on making sure his team is playing for the program.
Currently the 58th team in program history, Horvath asks his players the question of what this team has done better than team 57 and what it can do to set the bar for team 59.
“It’s buying into a bigger picture than themselves,” Horvath said. “The bar gets set higher.”
Horvath said Jefferson’s Athletic Director, Corey Goff, emailed many local schools about hosting the game before DeSales responded.
» READ MORE: The world knows him as the ‘marker’ at the Masters. Before that, Michael McDermott was a standout golfer at St. Joe’s
Freshman Thomas Matuszewski said that even though they won’t be playing on Jefferson’s field, the top-seed distinction is still a big deal to the Rams.
“It’s like all of our hard work is being paid off,” Matuszewski said. “We put in a lot of work for this team and this program. We know who we are. We know the kind of team we are. It’s just the results. The results are showing.”
After losing in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference tournament final, fifth-year Javon Hernandez said Jefferson has a chip on its shoulder, and believes sticking with what they know will be the best approach for the Rams.
“I feel like we’re hungry for more,” Hernandez said. “I feel pretty confident that we’re gonna go in and clean up some things and actually play Jefferson baseball.”
Fifth-year Jay Kalieta said this extends to the team’s culture as well. He said there has been “a complete culture change” of teammates buying into their common goal of winning a championship for Jefferson.
“We talk about buying in, wearing the Ram with pride. In the past, sometimes that hasn’t been the case,” Kalieta said. “It’s not about the name in the back. It’s about the name on the front.”
» READ MORE: He gave four years to the St. Joe’s men’s track team but felt a ‘duty’ to return. It’s worked out for the Hawks.
This comes back to Horvath’s message for his team: What mark do you want to leave on the program?
“It’s just constantly reinforcing that message that you’re not playing for yourself. You’re playing for the guys from the 1990 World Series team. You’re playing for the 1986 team that went to regionals for the first time,” Horvath said. “I always say once you’re a Ram, you’re always a Ram. It doesn’t matter that our [university’s] name changed three times here. It’s still a Rams across the jersey, and we’re still playing on the same field that those guys played on.”