Historically, starting off on the road hasn’t been the best start for St. Joseph’s baseball and softball

A lot of birds fly south for the winter so why should the Hawks of St. Joseph’s University be any different?

The trip each year has seemingly taught St. Joe’s baseball and softball programs some valuable lessons.

This season, the softball team played its first 19 games of the season away from home, while the baseball team played nine of its first 12 games on the road.

Last year, the baseball team opened its season at the Hawks’ Smithson Field against Quinnipiac in a series that saw frigid temperatures throughout. According to coach Fritz Hamburg, a decent winter up north this year prepared his team for its early-season slate.

“We’re accustomed to going away early,” Hamburg said. “Depending on where you go and who you play, a lot has to do with the winter that we have [in Philadelphia.]”

The baseball team played all 15 of its games in the brief 2020 season on the road, as well as its first 15 games in 2019, 13 in 2018, and 12 in 2017. Their combined record over those stretches? 17 wins, 38 losses.

Long stretches away from Hawk Hill to open the season are not a foreign concept to the softball team either. The Hawks played their first 14 games of the 2022 season on the road, all 15 of their games in 2020, and 19 in 2019. They went 17-31 in those games.

Although both programs open with long road stretches, they both experience long stretches at home, which come during the heart of the season. Baseball has a stretch from April 4 to May 5 where the team plays 13 of its 18 games at home, while softball will play 12 of 16 games at home from April 7-30.

Since returning to Hawk Hill, both teams have started to gain traction. Baseball is 7-3 at Smithson Field, and softball is 4-1 at SJU Softball Field. According to Hamburg, playing at Smithson is great for the team in spite of its occasional difficulties with the sun.

“It’s a definite advantage,” Hamburg said.

According to softball head coach Erin Brooks, the setup of the schedule has done its job, adding that many of those early games are a major adjustment for a team that has practiced indoors up until that point.

“I think, by design and structure, we started hitting our groove right at the right time,” Brooks said. “The first time you’re on dirt is your first game. You’re playing teams that have played [in Florida] for multiple weeks.”

Nicole Bondac, a junior outfielder, said the competition at the early-season tournaments is some of the stiffest they face all year.

“It’s a little hard to gauge because these are some of the best teams you’re ever gonna face,” Bondac said.

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The baseball team also faces tough competition in its early-season road games, according to graduate infielder Nate Thomas. Thomas said on top of the tough competition, playing on the road is a different animal than being at home where sleeping in their own bed and going through their own routines is a big advantage.

“I just think that it benefits you a lot,” Thomas said. “Just having all the resources here that we have rather than on the road being in the hotels. It’s tough playing on the road and then tough competition as well. It’s always nice coming home.”

Bondac said the early-season games allow for the kinks that come with practicing indoors all winter to be worked out.

“We come from the Northeast, so we don’t have the luxury of playing outside,” Bondac said. “When we came out, we didn’t even play on our field yet.”

Thomas said another big advantage of playing at home is being able to conduct warmups at their own pace.

“On the road, it’s a little more rushed,” Thomas said. “You get there, you stretch there, and do everything you need to do to get ready and it’s kind of just nonstop.”

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Hamburg is optimistic about his team and its ability to battle from behind.

“I like where we are,” Hamburg said of his team’s 10-13 record through Sunday. “Sure, we’d like to have won a few more games, but there [have] been very few games that we’ve been out of.”

As for Brooks,there are still plenty of tough games ahead, despite the homestand.

“These are all really great teams,” Brooks said. “So we better be ready.”