From Omaha to the Valley: Blue Sox reap rewards from spring’s hottest college baseball teams

HOLYOKE — Two of the best stories in college baseball this past spring came from two programs about 1,000 miles apart in Murray State and Northeastern.

The Huskies won 27 straight games en route to a Coastal Athletic Association championship and an NCAA Regional berth, while the Racers qualified for their first ever College World Series by shocking ACC powerhouse and Durham Super Regional host, Duke, winning the best-of-three series and punching their ticket to Omaha, Nebraska.

Now with summer baseball in full swing, the Valley Blue Sox are benefiting from select players from each of those squads. Pitchers Andrew Basel and Carson Walsh made the cross-state trip from Boston to suit up for Valley, while Jack Wajda and Harper McLendon are Blue Sox arms who arrived from Murray State.

Specifically, Basel and Wajda are each getting their first taste of what the New England College Baseball League is all about as newcomers to this summer’s Blue Sox roster.

“It was definitely a really good experience to have because it taught me what winning is like,” Basel said on taking the momentum from his time at Northeastern into the summer. “It taught me that winning isn’t easy, it’s not for everybody and having that mentality and having that experience under my belt, saying ‘hey, this is what it’s like,’ now I get to go do it, is a great thing.”

Basel recently wrapped up his freshman season with the Huskies, but the Mineola, New York native only appeared in five games. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder dealt with an illness that kept him out of the lineup for most of the campaign, but still posted a 2-3 record with a 6.14 earned-run average. The Huskies’ run came to an end at the hands of Mississippi State, which beat Northeastern twice in the double elimination Tallahassee Regional.

“My goal is definitely to just get better and face the high-level guys that the NECBL has,” Basel said. “We’re blessed to have a Trackman, we have all this stuff that we can look at our data, we have a great group of interns that help us out with everything, so it’s a really great place to be. I can look at my numbers, dive deeper into the smaller details and then take it back to my coaches from back home and my coach at school and see what everyone thinks and it makes it super easy. They can see what every ball did and every single pitch I threw so I know what to work on. Building that confidence, obviously being on the mound [is crucial].”

Basel appears to be showing signs of progress as the hurler has racked up 11 strikeouts in 5.2 innings across six games entering the weekend. Basel’s earned-run average is on the higher side at 6.35, but because he’s been coming in from the bullpen, the numbers look worse than what has actually transpired. Basel has only given up four earned runs in six appearances.

Having a teammate from college in Walsh join him in Western Massachusetts has helped Basel settle into a new environment even more.

“It’s a really awesome thing to have,” Basel said. “It makes everything a lot easier, it feels like you’re [still] on the same team. We have the same chemistry going throughout the entire time so it’s really nice to have.”

Wajda grew up in Mokena, Illinois and played the past two summers in the Northwoods League, where most of its teams are based out of Michigan or Wisconsin. With the Racers, Wajda — a redshirt sophomore — appeared in 13 games and compiled a record of 5-8 with a 5.56 ERA.

The Midwesterner described his favorite memory from Murray State’s Cinderella stretch, which came during the Racers’ first of three battles with No. 15 Ole Miss within the Oxford Regional.

“Twelve-thousand people on their feet to start the game, we always talked about, ‘we’re going to come out, we’re going to be the aggressor, we’re going to take the fight to them,’ and our leadoff hitter, Jonathan Hogart, first pitch of the game goes dead center and that set the tone for the rest of the weekend,” Wajda said.

Murray State beat Ole Miss twice and No. 18 Georgia Tech once, to move on to the Super Regional against the Blue Devils. The Racers’ magic continued after overcoming a Game 1 loss to Duke, before they eventually took the best of three series in the deciding game with a 5-4 victory.

Its storybook season came to an end once it reached Omaha though as Murray State fell to both UCLA and Arkansas by a combined score of 9-4. That didn’t diminish any of Wajda’s feelings about being part of the Racer’s incredible journey however.

“That was the greatest run of my life that I’ve ever experienced,” Wajda said. “We showed up and we knew we had a shot to win. Get us into a close game and we really liked our chances. we said it all year, we’re a tough team. You put us into any situation, we thought we were going to succeed.”

Wajda has brought that positive mindset over with the Blue Sox as the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder recently grabbed his first save with Valley. Wajda tossed the final three innings of Valley’s 4-2 win over the Sanford Mainers, giving up one run on three hits while setting down three batters on strikes, on July 1.

That strong outing lowered Wajda’s ERA to 4.26 and early returns suggest the Blue Sox reliever is happy with his decision to head east for the summer.

“I talked to my pitching coach, Steve Adkins, in the fall and said I’ve been to the Northwoods League the past two summers and so I wanted to go try something [else] out,” Wajda said. “He said the NECBL is a really good league and he knew [Valley’s director of baseball operations] John Raiola here and he thought it would be a good fit.”

The Blue Sox were in fourth place in the NECBL South Division at 11-10 entering the weekend, however things can change quickly. Just ask Andrew Basel and Jack Wajda. They know a thing or two about baseball teams flipping the switch.