Senior first-baseman Davis Mikell stands in the batter’s box waiting for the pitch.

Spring in the northeast is never predictable. You never know how much snow you are going to have gotten throughout the winter, and you never know how long that same snow is going to stick around throughout the spring time.

Castleton baseball has played 12 games so far this season, all on the road, and has earned a 6-6 record.

The team has had to cancel five games due to inclement weather, and Coach Ted Shipley says that it is something that he has gotten used to over his 19 years of coaching.

“It’s a challenge,” he said. “It’s not frustrating, frustrating is when you’re not used to it, I’ve come to kind of expect it.”

Senior catcher John Stewart III knows how difficult it can be for the team throughout this stretch of cancelled games.

“It’s harder to get into a rhythm when we aren’t playing regularly,” he said.

Junior first-baseman Davis Mikell, who has had a very good start to the season, knows what cancelling games now means for the rest of the season.

“I think one year we had ten games in seven days,” he said. “It takes a toll on your body to play so many games over a week.”

Mikell also commented on the fact that this is something that occurs every year, and that it is never truly predictable.

“It’s always tough looking out and seeing snow on the field wondering when our first home game is going to be,” he said.

The Spartans have been able to get games in so far this year, but they have had to put in a lot of travel.

Over the school’s last break, the team travelled to the west coast to play games against some tough competition. They ended up playing six games while in California, earning a 2-4 record.

“We are fortunate enough to be able to travel to warmer places like California,” Mikell said.

Shipley said that he is trying to find schools to play against who have turf fields. When asked about Castleton potentially getting a turf field, he wasn’t too optimistic.

“I think they would consider it…I’m sure they would love to be able to do that, however it’s pretty costly,” he said.

Stewart III also believes that it would be great, but not entirely possible.

“I mean that would be amazing, but I feel it’s probably way too expensive for just a baseball field,” he said. “It would have to be a full facility thing so it would be fair, and everyone can play.”

Mikell also commented on the fact that a turf field would be a, “big investment.” But thinks that the school could profit off of it as well.

“We sometimes pay other schools to use their turf facilities,” he said. “I’m sure if we had one schools would want to come and be able to use ours.”

Although the team has been able to get some practice inside of a gym, the players know that nothing compares to being able to get outside on the field.

“Nothing can compare…Seeing how a ground ball bounces, a fly ball in the sky or even how far a ball goes after you hit it,” Mikell said.