Baseball takes conference title and heads to NCAA Tournament
The Earlham College baseball team finished its 2022 season with a record of 26-13. The Quakers finished in second place in the HCAC regular-season standings after being picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll. Earlham went on to win the conference tournament without dropping a single game and earn the program’s second berth into the NCAA Tournament since 2017, where the Quakers were eliminated in the regional round. The HCAC Champion Earlham College Quakers placed five players on the all-conference teams and had one honorable mention.
After the Quakers bowed out of the national tournament, coach Steve Sakosits was proud and hopeful.
“As a head coach, all you want to do is make sure your kids are bringing effort and energy every single day. And our kids did that,” he said. “The seniors who are leaving our program this year have set the tone for the younger guys coming back. This is the expectation of where we should be and now we’ve got to take the next step next year.”
“THE SENIORS WHO ARE LEAVING OUR PROGRAM THIS YEAR HAVE SET THE TONE FOR THE YOUNGER GUYS COMING BACK.”
HEAD BASEBALL COACH STEVE SAKOSITS
Standout Quakers
Baseball
Andrew Bradley ’23 placed on the All-HCAC first team as a designated hitter after a record-breaking season. The junior from Stow, Ohio, hit a program-record 16 home runs in the season and posted a .388 batting average. Bradley also hit 14 doubles and had 48 RBI on the season. In a conference doubleheader with Defiance, Bradley hit five home runs in one evening and had 12 RBI.
Christian Lancianese ’24 earned a spot on the second team as a second baseman. The sophomore batted lead-off this season for the Quakers and posted a batting average of .317 with seven home runs, eight doubles, two triples and 28 RBI. Lancianese also turned 13 double plays on the season. Christian was named HCAC Tournament MVP after leading the Quakers in the conference tournament.
Nathan Lancianese ’24 made the second team HCAC as an outfielder. He batted right be-hind his brother in the lineup with a .354 average and 16 dou-bles. On defense, Lancianese had a fielding percentage of .991 with only one error committed in 36 starts from center field. Nathan was also named to the all-tournament team during the Lynchburg NCAA Regional.
Aidan Talarek ’23 earned sec-ond team honors as a starting pitcher this season. Talarek had an ERA of 3.80 in 71 innings pitched and two complete games. He struck out 59 batters and led the conference in wins with an 8-3 record.
Devin Basley ’23 landed on the second team as a third baseman with a .278 average. The junior turned four double plays on the season and hit his first collegiate home run at Mount St. Joseph on April 2.
Cameron McCabe ’23 was named an honorable mention outfielder for the season with a .355 batting average and a .941 fielding percentage. McCabe was also named to the HCAC all-tournament team for his performance for the Quakers while in Kokomo.
Golf
First-year Mychal McKelvey led the Quakers with an individual score of 234 and a best round of 77 at the HCAC tournament. McKelvey earned all-conference honors with a sixth-place individual finish and was named Newcomer of the Year for posting the lowest score of all first-years in the field.
The best round of the HCAC Tournament week-end for Earlham was scored by Will Schade ’24 who shot a 75 on day two. Schade finished with a combined tally of 243 and finished in 20th place overall. Hudson Roebken ’24 and Adam Strecker ’24 followed close behind with combined scores of 244 and 245 respectively.
Lacrosse
Women’s
Serena Piscano ’22 was also on the conference’s first team list. Pisacano led the offense with 21 goals and 14 assists for 35 points on the season. She also scored four goals in three different games this season.
Jillian Schlieper ’24, Josie Whorton ’25, and Johnette Williams ’23 earned a spot on the conference second team. Schlieper scored 12 goals on the season and collected 28 ground balls from the mid-field. Whorton had a spectacular first season with the Quakers, scoring 18 goals and dishing out two assists. She tallied seven goals in a victory over Mount St. Joseph, and finished with goals in four of the final five games of the season. Williams started in all 14 games for the Quakers and caused 16 turnovers and 13 ground balls from the defense.
Maya Claggett ’22
Defensive Player of the Year
10 GAMES STARTED
20 CAUSED TURNOVERS
35 GROUND BALLS
Men’s
Sam Sargent ’24 earned a spot on the all-HCAC second team at attack after leading the Quakers with 30 goals and 14 assists. Sargent tallied seven goals and two assists in a 16-0 win over Concordia Chicago and had four goals and six assists in a 13-8 win over Heidelberg in Darrell Beane Stadium. Sargent was also named HCLC Offensive Player of the Week after the two wins.
Benjamin Adkins ’24 earned a defensive spot on the all-conference list. The sophomore anchored the Quaker defense with 31 caused turnovers and 39 ground balls throughout the season.
Track & Field
Connor Del Carmen ’25
Earned a pair of all-conference honors after placing in the two longest events of the meet.
SECOND PLACE
HCAC 10,000-METER RUN: 31:35.91
5K: 15:18.39
Senior thrower John Mahaney won the men’s javelin throw on his first throw with a heave of 49.94 meters. Mahaney cleared the second-place mark by almost two feet to take the win. He also competed in the hammer throw where he recorded a mark of 33.10 meters.
Elena Stirn ’24 raced to a third-place 800-meter finish in a tightly-packed lead group at the HCAC meet and had a finishing time of 2:26.94. Stirn also finished in seventh place in the 1500-meter run with a competitive time of 5:22.24.
Blessed Shumba ’24 scored in a pair of jumping events. He earned all-conference honors in the triple jump with a third-place finish and a mark of 13.17 meters. He also scored a fifth-place finish in the long jump with a jump of 5.90 meters.
Coach hired for revival of softball program
Earlham Athletics has announced that softball will be added to the Quakers’ lineup of sponsored teams. As a first step in reviving softball on campus, Stacey Goyette has been hired as its head coach. Goyette will spend 2022-23 recruiting the first team, which will see the field of play in the spring of 2024. Earlham last fielded a softball team on campus in 1992. Earlham is currently the only team in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference without softball.
“We’re excited to welcome back softball to Earlham,” said Adam Hutchinson. “Softball is a growing sport in the U.S. and has a tremendous number of players at the high school level. We are looking forward providing this opportunity for women at Earlham, and we have a great coach in Stacey Goyette to lead the program.
Goyette brings experience ranging from NCAA Division I through high school and travel softball. She most recently served as an assistant coach with Butler University as the pitching coach. With the Bulldogs, Goyette was a part of three Big East Conference tournament teams. Butler was 31-17 in 2022 and finished in second place in the conference regular season standings.
A graduate of Butler, Goyette earned numerous awards as a softball player. In 1993, Goyette was named first team All-MCC and placed on the MCC tournament team after leading the conference in batting average and doubles for the season. She was named to the conference second team in 1992 and had the highest batting average for Butler that season.
Before rejoining her alma mater in 2016, Goyette was the head softball coach of Shenandoah High School in Middletown, Indiana, where she served for six years. In 2014, her squad won the IHSSA sectionals.
Stories by Adam Knaub.