(ALBANY, NY)-- Anthony Paskell (Rider) has been named the Week #6 Spotlight Player of the Week presented by Bellini’s Counter.
For the week of July 3rd through July 9th, Paskell went 5-for-16 (.313) with four runs and four stolen bases to go with a pair of walks and a run batted in the five Dutchmen games. He has hit for a .353 average in the month of July and has become a mainstay atop the Dutchmen batting order.
“I think a lot of my success is credit to pregame preparation,” Paskell said. “I’ve been working on some things with my swing which has helped with getting acclimated to the leadoff spot, and on the bases it’s all about getting good reads off pitchers and doing things right.”
The highlight of Paskell’s week, and possibly the Dutchmen’s season, was his straight steal of home in the sixth inning of game two of the doubleheader against Saugerties on Saturday.
“I recognized the pitcher was coming out of the windup, and with (Tyler) Kipp to bat down to two strikes against a new pitcher, I wanted to try and steal a run,” he recalled. “The pitcher wasn’t really paying attention and I got pretty far down the line and I just took off.”
Paskell was a delayed arrival to Albany, coming to the Capital District off a MAAC championship with the Rider Broncs. After Rider defeated the MAAC regular season champion Fairfield in the tournament championship game, they arrived to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and defeated the regional host- and #10 team in the country- Coastal Carolina in one of the most thrilling games of the tournament.
Although the Solon, Ohio, native had a limited playing role in his freshman year (playing in 29 of Rider’s 57 games with eight starts) he used his freshman campaign as a learning experience for his summer in Albany and beyond.
“The biggest thing I learned was being relentless and fighting with every pitch, every at bat, knowing you always have a chance to win no matter what,” he said. “We saw some good competition but relying on our ‘just don’t back down’ mentality, we picked up some big wins against some very good teams, including some of the top teams in the country. It just shows us that anybody at any level can compete with the best in the country.”
“I brought that mentality into Albany knowing we’d be facing some good pitching, and some good hitting, and I just feel that I can compete with anybody.”
Paskell and the Dutchmen have Sunday off before returning to limited action this week, having just four games scheduled this calendar week. That action is set to kick off on Monday, when the Dutchmen will host the Oneonta Outlaws for a 6:35 first pitch at Dutchmen Field.
