Baseball vs. Lacrosse

Owen Joyce, Sports Editor

Baseball and lacrosse are two of the only teams in the school who have a rivalry with each other. The two teams are both spring sports, and the rivalry has been going on for a long time.

“I have been playing lacrosse for two years now, and once I was introduced to the game, I was informed of our rivalry,” said, Joe Bynum, varsity lacrosse player and junior.

The rivalry has been around for a while; so long most of the players do not know how it originated.

“I’m not sure how it got started, but I’m pretty sure that it was because when you’re picking a spring sport it’s either baseball or lacrosse,” said, Brandon Natsuhara, varsity lacrosse player and junior.

Some of the lacrosse players believe the rivalry could also be born from the similarities between baseball and lacrosse.

“The players who choose between lacrosse and baseball, they all have basically the same skills, because you need the same skills for each one,” Natsuhara said.

Baseball players disagreed, however.

“I would like to challenge any lacrosse player to come and try and hit a fastball off one of our best pitchers,” said, Adam Sisk, varsity baseball player and junior.

Other baseball players agreed, saying they are very different.

“They’re not really like each other at all, so I really don’t get where the rivalry started,” said, Chris Lohr, varsity baseball player and junior.

The rivalry can be as trivial as name calling, yet can become as serious as destruction of property.

“There was an incident last year where someone took our speakers,” Bynum said.

No one was ever caught but the team was quick to make assumptions.

“No one knows exactly who did it, but we know it was the baseball team,” Bynum said.

Even though the baseball team was accused of taking the lacrosse team’s speakers, the baseball players maintain it is a lighthearted rivalry.

“It is a playful rivalry, we will probably just take each other’s stuff, but it’s not like we are going to get into a fight,” Lohr said.

Sisk agreed, saying most are friends with players on the other team.

“A lot of baseball players and lacrosse players are friends; our rivalry is mostly talk,” Sisk said.

Some of the players have only a few friends on the opposite team.

“Some of them [baseball players] I really don’t care for, but some of them are my boys,” said, Sam Shaw, varsity lacrosse player and junior.

While the team members can be friends, the players will occasionally compare themselves to one another.

“I really hope they do well, but I do think that we will go farther in the district this year,” Shaw said.

Comparison between the two teams can happen, it usually happens with other schools.

“We like to compare ourselves with other lacrosse teams because if we focus on how well we are doing compared to baseball, we won’t do as well,” Shaw said.

The rivalry is friendly enough where players will joke with the other team.

“We get along well, although I do have my eye on Brando0n Natsuhara’s gloves,” Lohr said, jokingly.