The program was dissolved in May of 2003 after struggling through a 12-34 season with a 3-17 record in the CAA, their second year in the league. The players at the time were told they were cut due to financial problems.

“They were definitely a little salty,” former Drexel player Sean Joyce said. “You put so much of your time into a program, you have so many friends that come out of it, including the coaches. You just take it hard, and you just feel bad for the players who have time left and didn’t fulfill their opportunity to play Division-I baseball.”

Joyce played two seasons for the Dragons, graduating in 1998, and he currently works in the athletic department as the Corporate Sales Manager. He had stayed involved with the team until it was dissolved.

Josh Yocum was a star in the Dragon outfield. He hit .320 in his time at Drexel, and he would have been a senior for the 2004 season.

“To us it seemed like a lot of BS,” Yocum said. “It wasn’t all that clear. We were told that it would improve the quality of other programs by dropping some. For us it was tough to buy because you don’t see many other schools in our conference or even smaller schools have these issues.”

Not only did Drexel lose the national pastime, the players were put into quite a bind.

“We played baseball for all our lives, and we still wanted to play,” Yocum said. “We felt like we had gotten the ultimate Drexel shaft by having baseball taken from us.”

They had to choose between continuing their playing careers elsewhere or give up the game they grew up with to finish school at Drexel.

“I know a couple kids that transferred and actually did pretty well,” Joyce said. “There’s a pitcher that transferred to Delaware, and he ended up throwing a no-hitter, getting National Pitcher of the Week honors. One guy went to Temple. Also, some kids did take advantage of keeping their scholarships until they graduated and still ended up getting their degree from Drexel. They did honor everybody’s scholarship if they wanted to stay. That much they did do for the players after the team was cut.”

Dr. Zillmer defends his decision

Very few actually know the true reasons why the program was disbanded. It is difficult to truly understand how a school with record endowment and tuition revenue could claim that financial reasons forced Drexel baseball to extinction.

“If you look at the mission of any Division-I program, it’s athletic excellence,” Athletic Director Dr. Eric Zillmer said. “It’s not participatory. So you have to find sports you can compete in. While baseball can be argued over, I thought baseball had several problems in college.”

Dr. Zillmer went on to explain the problems that baseball had. The first problem was the conference change.

“It was tough decision for baseball to move to the CAA because we were going south,” he said. “When we were in the America East, all the teams there were burdened by the same issues that we have.”

The vast majority of the teams in the CAA are below the Mason-Dixon line and can play outdoors virtually year round. The snow and ice that hits Philadelphia in the wintertime forces the team either to play indoors or to travel south to find a warmer climate. This left the Dragons at a competitive disadvantage.

The quarter system at Drexel provides students with a unique academic experience. Unfortunately, it wreaks havoc on baseball scheduling.

“The team has to play 56 games a season now,” Zillmer said. “The CAA has rules in place where the teams cannot schedule doubleheaders.”

Because of the marathon schedule, the team would be gone for weeks on end in the south, creating intense pressure on the academic support staff to keep the student-athletes from falling behind in their studies.

Facilities were also an issue. The team played where the softball stadium currently sits. The field had to be renovated and altered for the sport change. A lot of money went into turning the old baseball diamond around as it was not comparable to other facilities in the CAA. Here is a video showing the current softball diamond and how it relates to the baseball team.

In the end, Dr. Zillmer explained that it all came down to economics.

“With baseball, you need three coaches. You need 15 scholarships. You need to feed and bus 40 guys. You need millions of dollars of improvements. You need to find more academic infrastructure support because these guys are gone all the time. Then you have to compete with teams like VCU, ODU, and Wilmington.”

He added, “That decision was a calculated decision from a university perspective. I understand it may not be best for an individual team”

The money saved by not fielding a baseball team went into all the other athletic programs, by helping to provide better facilities and equipment, and that helps in making Drexel more appealing for recruits.

“When I became athletic director 10 years ago, we had 24 teams,” Zillmer said. “When I came on, people felt they had to be everything for everybody. So we had a lot of teams that were very poorly funded. They were floundering without a purpose.”

Trimming the number of teams to 16 gave the department more flexibility with their funds, and every team has more of a chance to be competitive in the CAA.

Sports like men’s lacrosse have flourished in baseball’s absence. The lacrosse team has won a share of the regular season CAA Title for the second straight season. The success has brought record fan turnout, and four games were televised in the 2008 season.

“What you now see at lacrosse games with the alumni support, we’ve really never had that in any sport,” Zillmer said. “We never really had alumni support [in baseball] that would have said, ‘We’re not going to allow the university to do what it just did.’”

Hope for the future

The team may be gone, but the spirit and passion for baseball are still alive at Drexel. In 2006, a group of students began a grassroots effort to bring club baseball to the university. Despite being only two years old, the club has thrived.

“We have shown promise,” Baseball Club President Brad Ryals said. “We have 50 guys come out for the team every year. Just like the hockey team has become competitive at the club level, we are going to compete at a high level and hopefully achieve varsity in the future.”

This photo is of the club team before their inaugural season in 2007. At the time, the roster size was limited by the number of old varsity uniforms available. That shows how much Drexel students wanted to get on the baseball diamond.

Unfortunately, the club team is suffering from many of the same problems that the varsity squad did.

“Facilities-wise, it’s always a struggle because we do not have a home field,” Ryals said. “We have to fight for the fields around Philadelphia. They are not always of the best quality, though, and they are a hassle to get to.”

Just because the team is gone today does not mean varsity baseball at Drexel is lost forever.

“The question I hear most about the team is, ‘When are they going to bring the team back?’” Joyce said.

Despite cutting the program just five years ago, Dr. Zillmer does not rule out the sport’s return.

“Maybe one day when we are in a different situation financially and with our infrastructure, there may be a time where we bring back baseball.”

The demand for the baseball is there. Drexel University is becoming more like an actual college campus every year, and school spirit has grown with the school. A return of baseball would be met with incredible support because alumni and fans appreciate it more now that it’s gone.

Coach Chris Bates brought home his second CAA Coach of the Year award for guiding Drexel to a first-place finish in the CAA. His team was ranked as high as 10th in the nation.

Many Dragons walked away with All-Conference honors. Bickford, Andrew Chapman, Steve Grossi, Matt McCormick and Ryan West were all named First-Team All-CAA. Greg Casey and Colin Ambler made Second-Team, and Scott Perri was honored on the All-Rookie Team.

We had legitimate hope with this season’s lacrosse squad. Ranked 11th in the country after dominating Villanova in the CAA semifiinal, one would think the Dragons would have more than a fighting chance to make the 16-team NCAA field.

Nope, not to the fans that have been here five years.

How about when the Dragons were up 9-7 against Hofstra with possession under two minutes to go.

No, we would sooner hear the buzzer sound at the end of the game before even thinking about any kind of celebration.

So when the Dragons were shocked 10-9 in overtime, fans across the campus went dormant. Even the ever-present DAC Pack has gone completely silent. After Drexel’s fifth place finish in the Petite Final of the Dad Vail Regatta last Saturday, the 2007-08 Drexel Athletics season has come to an end. All the diehards anticipated it, but they never want to believe that every sports story ends in failure.

Even I went on a two-week hiatus. Part of that had to do with senior design bearing down on me, but I also did not want to have to think about the Hofstra loss.

We can’t say the entire athletic year has been disappointing for for the fans because it really never is. The games are exciting, and the players in all sports are personable enough that you can get a connection with them unlike anywhere in the professional sports world. It’s just disappointing for the players as many of them have come so close to achieving the ultimate goal only to come short.

This season’s lacrosse team epitomizes the spirit and desire that all sports teams should have. Unfortunately, Murphy displayed his omnipresence by enforcing his law at the worst time. It happens. It brings some kind of closure to me as a Drexel fan of five years. When I look back on my time here, I would sooner say that I was a part of the Philadelphia sports folklore and the curse of Billy Penn by never experiencing a championship here rather than winning just one.

It really feels like a curse here, and it’s actually kind of cool. It’s something to take pride in because other teams’ fans look at the lack of success as a character builder and the losing fans have a sense of humor about sports. Winning a championship would take away from that. Just look at Red Sox Nation. Before the 2004 World Series, they were generally looked upon as a success-starved bunch that could be respected because they were not spoiled with power like the Yankees’ fans. Two World Championships later, they seem like they are too chic to be cool, and everyone who claims to root for the Sox is a fair-weather fan.

I’m proud to be a Drexel fan. I’m proud of our players. We can always look forward to another year of talking about the Virginia bias in the CAA, the absense of baseball and football teams, and various sports bringing us on the brink of a CAA Championship.

We’re going to win it one of these days…

They share the title with Hofstra, but Drexel has the tie-breaker because the Pride lost to the Dragons earlier in the season. Drexel takes the one seed, and the pairings were laid out about as well as they could. The Dragons will battle fourth-seed Villanova again as the Wildcats are the worst team in the field by far.

If Drexel takes care of business there, they’ll get the winner of the Hofstra/Delaware semifinal at home. Both Hofstra and Delaware are incredible teams, and whoever the Dragons would face in the final will surely provide a worthy battle for the CAA title.

In my eyes, the pairings and seedings were laid out about as well as they could have for the Dragons. Now all they need to do is take care of business. Two wins and they’re in.

Both semifinal games will be played Apr. 30 at 7 p.m.

The Dragons currently hold down the top spot in the conference with a 4-1 mark, and can clinch the No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament with a win over Villanova on Saturday. The team has had an outstanding season as their 11-3 mark overall is one win shy of the Drexel record for wins in a season. Beating Villanova would give the Dragons their first CAA regular season lacrosse title in school history.

“It’s what we’ve set out to do,” Drexel coach Chris Bates said. “To have the opportunity to do it against Villanova is nice because they are clearly a rival. The best part is we control our destiny.”

Senior goalie Bruce Bickford added, “It means a lot for us. We’ve never earned a regular season CAA title. The game next Saturday is our goal first and foremost to get the regular season title. It definitely will help our confidence going into the tournament.”

If the Dragons win the CAA Tournament, they receive the auto-bid into the NCAAs, but they are going to have a tough time making the NCAA Tournament if they falter. For the second consecutive year, the Dragons find themselves squarely on the bubble. The Dragons were ranked 15^th in the country heading into the CAA Tourney last season, and they should be in a very similar spot this year as they are currently ranked 16^th.

They played Delaware in the first round last year in what seemed to be an NCAA elimination game. The Blue Hens prevailed 11-7, and the Dragons were one of the last teams kept out of the 16-team NCAA field.

“I think last year’s experience is something we all learned from, from top to bottom,” Bates said. “We haven’t gotten too high or too low this year, and we really want to peak and play our best lacrosse now.”

Even though the Dragons have a better record now than this time last year, they are in an even worse situation this time around when it comes to making the big dance. In 2007, they had a marquee win against then No. 1 Virginia. Here you can see the a highlight reel of the upset victory.

This year, the Dragons do not have that signature win as they dropped decisions against highly-ranked Notre Dame and Virginia, and the rest of Drexel’s non-conference schedule is suspect because they play Division-I bottom-feeders like Saint Joseph’s and Saint John’s. Their best non-conference win was against Albany, and the Great Danes were 0-4 when the Dragons played them.

To build on that, the rest of the CAA is weaker when compared to last season. Sacred Heart is the only team in the conference to improve their record by more than a game, and I completely trashed their non-conference schedule in my last post.

All those factors combined spell trouble for the Dragons as that 11-3 mark now looks tarnished. If they take care of business against Villanova, they will likely face the Wildcats again in the first round of the CAA Tournament. Nova is 5-8 overall, but they shocked last year’s regular season champion Towson, and they potentially knocked the Tigers out of postseason play.

“It is going to be a tough game, and they’re a good team,” Bickford said.

Even if the Dragons beat the Wildcats in the regular season finale and the first round of the postseason, it may not be enough to earn an at-large berth.

Coach Bates was asked after the Dragons most recent win against Sacred Heart whether or not his team has done enough to make the NCAA Tournament. He said, “No. Given the landscape, I’m at halftime checking the scores. Outcomes like Loyola beating Georgetown don’t help us because then Georgetown is going to steal an at-large bid. There’s really only three at-large bids left, but we control our destiny. We’re trying for that automatic qualifier so we don’t have to worry about it.”

Drexel would be 13-3 if they beat Villanova twice, but they’ll have no more quality wins than they do today. With so few at-large spots available for bubble teams, the Dragons would likely not get one if they lost in the championship game. That means the only way to get in would be to win the conference tournament.

It’s going to be tight, but [the NCAA Tournament] is not really on our mind,” Senior attacker Andrew Chapman said. “Our goal is to win the CAA Championship because we are in the driver’s seat right now. We’re not really looking at the bubble. We want to win the championship so we don’t leave it up to a bunch of people in a room.”

Drexel fans have reason to believe that this could be the year they break through. The team’s only conference loss was a 12-11 road defeat at conference power Delaware. Clinching home field throughout the tournament is key as their only home loss was to Virginia to open the season.

The Dragons have the experience to know what it takes to compete in the postseason. The core group is back from last season. Bickford, Chapman and Steve Grossi all provide senior leadership, and each has been honored with First Team All-CAA selections in the past. With it being the last chance for that group of guys, the team ought to be playing with urgency and determination.

Chapman is particularly good at putting the ball in the back of the net, and Bickford is excellent at keeping the ball out of the cage. Chapman leads the team and is seventh in the nation in scoring with 36 goals, including four game winners. Bickford’s 6.94 GAA and 64.0% save percentage ranks seventh and third respectively in the country. Grossi is an excellent long stick midfielder, leading the team with 40 ground balls.

The Dragons are playing some of their best lacrosse now. Drexel pounded Sacred Heart 15-4 this past Saturday. The Pioneers were just overmatched as the Dragons jumped out to an 8-0 halftime lead, and the game was never in question.

“We really wanted to have another game on this field for them, and this game assures that we’ll have a home game in the conference tournament,” Bates said. “I love those guys. They’ve done everything for this program. Our seniors really played well today, and it was a good game for us. I’m excited that on senior day we could take care of business and get the win.”

Chapman added, “We came here, and we took care of business. It’s a conference win, and we’re one step closer to winning a CAA regular season championship.” Chapman led the team with five goals, including three in the first quarter.

The team played with great energy in that first quarter. The Dragons outshot Sacred Heart 21-3 over the first 15 minutes, and subsequently led 6-0. Drexel controlled the game on the ground and really looked like a team ready to take their game to the next level.

“We were a little bit tight [in practice] all week,” Bates said. “There are some great expectations here with the playoffs looming. So we needed to get off to as fast of a start as we did.”

Drexel will surely have to sweat it out if they do not win the CAA title, but they do have some factors working their favor. Never has a No. 1 seed from the CAA ever missed the NCAA Tournament. Every time the top seed failed to win the conference tourney, they still got an at-large selection. Also, the conference has represented itself well in recent years. Hofstra won an NCAA game two years ago, and Delaware made the Final Four last season.

The team is far more tournament ready than they were last season. While an at-large bid may not be too viable, the Dragons have the best chance out of any team to win the CAA. The Dragons really do control their own destiny for the school’s first CAA Championship to earn that coveted NCAA bid.

Interview with Coach Bates (coming soon)

Five of their six wins are against the bottom 13 teams in Division-I in Quinnipiac, Hartford, Manhattan, Wagner and Robert Morris. In addition, they lost their last two games to Hofstra and Towson by a combined score of 37-8.

What do all those numbers mean? Well, on Saturday expect the Dragon offense to finally have a big day, and the Dragons should match their win total from last season by easily nabbing their 11th win over the Pioneers.

Unfortunately, the other top teams in the conference will have to be creative if they want to find ways to lose. Delaware has Robert Morris which lost to Sacred Heart earlier this season. Towson entertains Villanova, and the Wildcats needed two overtimes to squeak past Robert Morris. Conference-leader Hofstra is off. The Dragons can slide into a first place tie with a win on Saturday.

The 10th-ranked Dragons (9-3, 2-1 CAA) fell behind early but managed to tie the game in the fourth quarter on a Colin Ambler goal. The offense then stalled, and Delaware scored two late goals to pull ahead 11-9 with 1:42 to go. Greg Casey scored within 30 seconds to give the Dragons some hope, but the defense could not stop Curtis Dickson.

Dickson scored six times for the Blue Hens (8-4, 2-1), including once in the final minute, to put Drexel away for good.

“They’re a good team,” Drexel head coach Chris Bates said. “I expected them to come out with a lot of energy. That’s who they are. We didn’t want to get ourselves in a position where we have to claw back. We wanted to try to handle the tempo early and not give them that momentum.”

The Blue Hen defense prevented Drexel from setting that tempo. The Dragons managed only one first-half goal, and Delaware goalie Tom Scherr stopped all nine shots on goal in the second quarter.

The Blue Hens are traditionally a physical team and always apply intense defensive pressure.

“I don’t think we handled it well,” Bates said. “Did we expect it? Yes. Did we handle it early? No. We dug ourselves a hole based on not being able to handle it. We had 10 turnovers in the first half, and we didn’t shoot the ball well.”

When Bates was asked about the message he gave to his players after being down 4-1 at half, he said, “I challenged them at halftime. We knew they were going to push us out, and I challenged the offense at halftime to handle it and not back down.”

The Dragons responded with three quick goals in the first five minutes of the half to tie the game, but the Hens answered back with three goals of their own, including two by Dickson to keep the momentum with the home team.

“Unfortunately, we’ve waited until the second half for some of these runs,” Bates said. “I didn’t think we handled their pressure and their athleticism early. I think we’re better than that.”

Once the game ended, some players felt they had some unfinished business on the field as a scrum broke out between the two squads.

“It’s Delaware-Drexel, and the rivalry end of it is fun,” Bates said. “It’s exciting. It’s competitive. It’s a conference game, but that’s too much though, on both sides.”

The Dragons’ schedule does not get any lighter, as they play conference leader Towson April 12.

“I wish we could play them tomorrow. We kind of want to get back out there right away,” Bates said.

Colin Ambler actually leads the team in points, 29 to 28 over Chapman, and he’s done so by setting up Chapman for his goals. Ambler is quite a scorer himself as he has 13 goals to go along with his team-leading 16 assists. Neither player would have as solid of numbers without each other, but Chapman’s production is directly related to how Ambler is playing.

Ambler was a force last season, but he’s nowhere near as strong as he is this year. The Abington native is already within six points of last year’s total, and he’s already beaten his career-best mark in assists. If I got some of those feeds that Ambler gives to Chapman, I could even score my share of goals. What makes fans of the Drexel Lacrosse program really excited is that the kid is just a sophomore.

Coach Bates cells Ambler his quarterback, and as with any field general, as long as he plays well, the team will keep on winning.

The Colonials (4-7, 0-3) were not going to go quietly, however. Andrew Watt led a surge for Robert Morris as the team scored three goals in the final three minutes of the first half to pull within one, 4-3.

Garling wasted no time scoring in the second half as he connected just eight seconds into the period to expand the Dragons’ lead. Drexel scored three more times in the period to build an insurmountable 8-3 advantage. The Dragons outscored Robert Morris 4-0 in both the first and third quarters.

Bruce Bickford has another spectacular game in net. The Robert Morris offense was potent, but Bickford, an All-American candidate, made sure the game was never in question. Bickford stopped 15 of 22 shots on goal.

Corbin TaoBrambleby and Watt led the colonials in scoring with two goals a piece.

The Dragons travel to Newark to take on the Delaware Blue Hens this Wednesday, and they return home Apr. 19 to square off against Sacred Heart.

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