1999 SEASON REVIEW

Extending the winning ways that normally characterizes Wesleyan baseball, the Cardinal diamondmen forged a fine 21-13 record during the 1999 season and qualified for the ECAC New England Division III tournament for the second year in a row and the 12th time in head coach Peter Kostacopoulos' 26-year tenure. It was the 22nd winning ledger for the team over those 26 seasons, including 20 of the last 22.

Individual Wesleyan players, as well as the team, established school records while two seniors added milestones to their solid careers. Those two seniors, outfielders Jon Epstein '99 and Brett Matthews '99, were two of the team's top hitters and attained post-season honors.

Among individual records set, Matthews collected 52 hits during the year, one better than Will Brandeburger '95's total during the 1994 season. Matthews also ended the year with 49 RBIs, six moe than any previous player. Dennis Marshall '00 lashed 15 doubles during the season, one of four players to reach double digits for two-baggers this season, and two more than teammate Christian Frattasio '00 as both eclipsed the mark of 12 held by Tom Giuliotti '87. As a team, the Cardinals finished with 93 doubles on the year, 16 more than the 1994 squad collected over a 38-game schedule. With 315 runs on the season (9.26 a game) and a lofty .352 team batting average, Wesleyan will be among the national team leaders in those departments when the final NCAA stats are produced.

Milestones for Matthews included his 100th career hit as he finished with 101, just the 23rd player in history to eclipse the century mark, and a .430 batting average this season, the third highest average on record. Epstein, who went over the 100-hit mark before the end of his junior year, closed out four years with 149 safeties, which ties him for fourth on the all-time list. His .376 career batting mark (including .392 this year) puts him fifth all-time while his 128 runs scored is a career record. The 47 runs Epstein scored in 1999 is the second-highest seasonal figure on record. With 59 stolen bases over four years, Epstein tied for third on the all-time list in that department.

Epstein was named a first-team NESCAC all-star as well as a CoSIDA District I academic all-star. Matthews, a second-team all-NESCAC choice, joined Epstein on the NESCAC academic all-star team. Also named a second-team NESCAC all-star were first baseman Brian Walker '00 and pitcher Jon Miller '99.

After going 8-2 during its swing through Florida, which included a victory over Division I Columbia, Wesleyan returned north to win its opening four games. Among those wins was a double-header sweep of Brandeis University, which helped propel Wesleyan to a #1 ranking among New England Division III colleges and a #16 ranking among NCAA Division III schools. Brandeis went on to win its next 19 games and continued its strong play by capturing a NCAA New England regional crown and a trip to the NCAA Division III World Series, a trip Wesleyan made in 1994. Also attending the NCAA regional playoffs in 1999 were Amherst, Trinity and Williams, teams against whom Wesleyan chalked up a victory during the 1999 season.

In its own playoff competition, Wesleyan came up short in the opening round of the ECAC tournament, falling to Springfield, 13-9. Springfield went on to win the championship. A year ago, Wesleyan fell to Babson in the first round of the ECAC tournament as the Beavers continued on to win the title.

While the Cardinals graduate the entire starting outfield in Epstein, Matthews and Charles Kaplan '99, and lose pitchers Epstein, Miller and Matt Feeney '99 as well, the Cardinals have the entire infield, the starting catcher, several quality hurlers and a number of other individuals who saw a good bit of action in the outfield, like Jhakeen Haltom '00 and Winsor Schmidt '02, returning to carry the load for the 2000 season.