Even though it took the Simpson Baseball team over 30 hours to get to their destination of Ft. Myers, Fla. to open their season, it was well worth the extra effort.

On the drive to Florida the bus the team was taking was delayed in Ottumwa for a number of hours.

Once the Storm arrived they were able to pull off a 7-3 record along with giving John Sirianni, Storm head coach, his 400th career win.

“We played well down in Florida,” senior Steve Lamberti said. “We lost two games we shouldn’t have but overall it was a great effort for the beginning of the season.”

The Storm started out their Spring Break by sweeping Illinois College in a double-header 9-3 in the first match-up and 20-8 in the second game. The Storm was also victorious against Muskingum and Wilmington before falling to Baldwin-Wallace 13-7.

Simpson recuperated and beat Baldwin-Wallace in the second game 7-4. The Storm also had victories over Wittenberg and lost a double-header to Marion College out of Wisconsin.

“We hit really well at times but we just need to work on our consistency overall with our fielding, pitching and hitting,” Lamberti said.

In the first ten games of the season senior Andy Walker is hitting an amazing .588 at the plate getting 20 hits with 34 at bats. Fellow senior Tony Coppola is right behind batting .576 with 19 hits with 33 at bats.

Coppola, junior Scott Sibbel, and senior Nick Sinn all hit three homeruns while Walker has two long balls already this season. Sibbel and Sinn are both hitting close to .400 going into yesterday’s match-up against Truman State.

“Our hitting was the highlight of the trip,” junior Brandon Gravett said.

In the final game for the Storm in Florida Sirianni won his 400th career baseball game.

“Before the game our student coach Josh Beinke told us if we won that it would be [Sirianni’s] 400th win,” Gravett said. “Then after the game coach [Mike] Stover told the whole team.”

The Storm’s first home game is March 29 against Carleton College.