University of Delaware Athletics
1981 Delaware baseball captains Brett Gardner and Jeff Smith.
Celebration of Champions: 1981 Baseball Wins ECC Championship
4/1/2021 10:17:00 AM | Baseball
The 1981 Delaware baseball team posted a 33-16 record and won nine of its 10 East Coast Conference games to claim the conference's Western Section title.
After dropping their season opener to Eastern Kentucky, the Blue Hens responded to defeat the Colonials the following day before adding wins over Army, Louisville and Stetson to improve to 4-1 on the year.
Delaware later posted doubleheader sweeps of Army and William & Mary, while a win over Howard gave the Blue Hens an 11-6 record on April 2 heading into league play.
UD split its conference-opening twinbill with Bucknell, but then reeled off six consecutive wins including a sweep of ECC foe Rider. The Blue Hens later swept ECC doubleheaders from Lehigh, Lafayette and West Chester.
Delaware won its first two games of the ECC Tournament by defeating Temple, 6-4, and West Chester, 9-8, but then dropped two straight to the Owls to finish in second place at the championship.
Brett Gardner paced the Blue Hens with a .396 batting average and 74 hits, while fellow co-captain Jeff Smith hit .372 with team-highs of 56 runs scored, 12 homers and 53 RBI. Chuck Coker batted .360Â on the year, while Rock Antoni hit .359 and Dave Keil posted a .348 average to go with a team-leading 22 stolen bases.
Scott Young went a perfect 11-0 on the mound with a 3.93 earned run average, Bob Vantrease posted a 7-1 record along with a 2.92 ERA, and Greg Keriazakos recorded a 6-3 mark with a 3.49 ERA.
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After dropping their season opener to Eastern Kentucky, the Blue Hens responded to defeat the Colonials the following day before adding wins over Army, Louisville and Stetson to improve to 4-1 on the year.
Delaware later posted doubleheader sweeps of Army and William & Mary, while a win over Howard gave the Blue Hens an 11-6 record on April 2 heading into league play.
UD split its conference-opening twinbill with Bucknell, but then reeled off six consecutive wins including a sweep of ECC foe Rider. The Blue Hens later swept ECC doubleheaders from Lehigh, Lafayette and West Chester.
Delaware won its first two games of the ECC Tournament by defeating Temple, 6-4, and West Chester, 9-8, but then dropped two straight to the Owls to finish in second place at the championship.
Brett Gardner paced the Blue Hens with a .396 batting average and 74 hits, while fellow co-captain Jeff Smith hit .372 with team-highs of 56 runs scored, 12 homers and 53 RBI. Chuck Coker batted .360Â on the year, while Rock Antoni hit .359 and Dave Keil posted a .348 average to go with a team-leading 22 stolen bases.
Scott Young went a perfect 11-0 on the mound with a 3.93 earned run average, Bob Vantrease posted a 7-1 record along with a 2.92 ERA, and Greg Keriazakos recorded a 6-3 mark with a 3.49 ERA.
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