KIT THOLEN ’08, BASEBALL, PITCHER and LOU GABEL ’08, BASEBALL, PITCHER
Cardinals men baseball returns nine pitchers from the 2007 season, accounting for 80 percent of the total innings pitched. Leading the way are Kit Tholen ’08 and Lou Gabel ’08, who tied for the team lead with nine games started apiece. Tholen’s 4.64 ERA was the best among starters, slightly ahead of Gabel’s 4.92. They also held the two highest innings pitched totals during the 2007 season, Gabel with 56 2/3, and Tholen with 54 1/3.
The success of the team will rely a lot on how those two pitch, as the anchors of an experienced staff. After four years of pitching together, the two have developed somewhat of a competition as they each push each other to become better pitchers.
“It’s not that we necessarily want to do better than one another, and we certainly don’t want the other one to do badly, rather that we feed off of each other,” Tholen said. “If he sets the bar high, I want to set it even higher.”
Coming off a 12-23 season, it will be crucial to develop consistency and a confidence that has been lacking since the Cardinals’ last playoff appearance in 2005.
“Last year we were successful in having a low ERA in NESCAC games, but this year what we need is consistency.” Tholen said. “This means keeping the ball down and not walking guys if we want to have a winning record. We need to believe that we are just as talented as other teams. We need to stay in the present and not focus on things that have happened in the past. If we start off bad or have a setback, we need to remember we have the talent to compete and that we can beat these teams.
RUSS FOLLANSBEE ’09, LACROSSE, ATTACKMAN
Last season, the men’s lacrosse team had the third-most prolific offense in the NESCAC, averaging 9.86 goals per game and reaching 18 twice. Attackman Russ Follansbee ’09 was a key part of that offense, as he tallied 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 points, leading the team in assists. Follansbee finished seventh overall in the NESCAC in assists per game, with 1.12. He recorded the game-winning goal in three straight one-goal games at one point last season, notching the game-winner in a 10-9 double-overtime win at Amherst, an 8-7 win at Colby, and a crucial 5-4 overtime win at Middlebury, the University’s second straight regular-season triumph over the Panthers.
Follansbee, along with defenseman Spike Malangone ’09 and goalkeeper Charlie Congleton ’07, garnered First-Team All-NESCAC laurels; only Tufts (four) had more representatives than the Cardinals. He was also named Honorable Mention All-American in 2007. Follansbee was the only Cardinal to be named NESCAC Player of the Week during the 2007 season; he received the honor for the week of April 23. This season, he was named preseason All-NESCAC and preseason Honorable Mention All-American by “Inside Lacrosse” magazine.
Follansbee was injured during Wesleyan’s shutout of Williams during the NESCAC semifinals and was unable to finish out the season. Prior to the injury, Follansbee had scored in 14 of 17 games; only Jason Ben-Eliyahu ’09 had scored in more games (16 of 17) during that span. Follansbee, Ben-Eliyahu, quint-captain Grayson Connors ’08, and Jon Killeen ’10“four of the University’s top five scorers from 2007”return this season and look to be the top quartet in the NESCAC. One thing is for sure: Follansbee will be back with a vengeance this season, looking to make up for lost time from the last four games of 2007.
MARCIA WHITEHEAD ’08, SOFTBALL, THIRD BASEWOMAN
Marcia Whitehead ’08 went out with a bang last year. The then-junior went 4-4 with two doubles against Trinity College while setting the all-time Wesleyan record for career hits. However, despite Whitehead’s efforts, the loss to Trinity knocked the Cards out of the NESCAC tournament.
Nine months later, and with a whole season ahead of her, Wesleyan’s co-captain stands to make the record untouchable. Whitehead has batted well over .300 since her arrival in Middletown and finished last year’s campaign with an impressive .398 average.
There is no reason to believe that 2008 will be any less productive. She will see plenty of pitches to hit with the talented Meaghan Dendy ’10 getting on base from the lead-off spot for the Cards.
While she gets more credit for her offense, Whitehead also holds down third base, putting in a solid .928 fielding percentage in 2007. Her combination of offensive and defensive skills earned her second-team all-NESCAC honors last year. Whitehead is a good bet to repeat as an all-conference selection as she and co-captain Becca Feiden ’08 will try to lead the Cardinals deeper into the NESCAC playoffs than last year’s early exit.
PARKER COOK ’10, CREW, ROWER
Parker Cook ’10 is one of many key returnees for the men’s crew team. The team is currently back to preseason mode after a very successful fall which saw the Cardinals place extraordinary well in all of their competitions.
Cook, from New York, N.Y. has been on the team since freshman year, helping the team to reach new heights as they strive to be one of the best in the country. Moving up since his arrival at Wesleyan, Cook in now on the First Varsity Boat, and has been steadily improving in a sport in which every member of the boat must work flawlessly in sync to be successful.
The crew team set a blistering pace for itself in the fall, where their best mark came at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, where Cook and the First Boat finished second among 42 others competing. However, the team has only used this success to work harder in the off season, where it has been training extensively for its run in the spring.
“It is a big time for us, and we have been training extremely hard in the off season to get us ready for the spring,” Cook said.
With the hard work and dedication the team has shown, look for the men’s crew team to be making waves this spring.
DAVE VELARDO ’08, GOLF
In his two and a half seasons of golf at Wesleyan, Dave Velardo ’08 has established himself as one of the best varsity golfers in the school’s history. After transferring from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Velardo made a splash in his very first event, when he fired a second-round 69 at the Skidmore College Invitational for what was, at the time, the lowest score by a Cardinal golfer in over 30 years.
In the Spring 2007 season, Velardo dropped one stroke lower for a 68 in Florida, which provided him medalist honors at the Indian Springs Golf Classic. That season, he also swept all of his matches at the Little Three event, which was played in match-play format. Velardo has not slowed since and enters his final spring season after the Fall 2007 semester, in which he sported a career-best scoring average of 75.5.
After opening the fall season with individual medalist honors at the Trinity Invitational, Velardo continued to impress with a second in his next event and a 15th-place finish at the Williams College Invitational. Velardo’s play the Cards to a dual match record of 2-1. With solid play this spring, Velardo should eclipse his previous scoring averages of 77.1 and 78.2.
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