NEW YORK – Rats are ubiquitous in New York City.
Everyone who lives in Manhattan has seen one. Anyone who moves to the Big Apple remembers their first sighting.
Such is the case for Columbia's baseball team. And for the hot-streaking Lions, a rat pack sighting has become a good luck charm. What's become a celebration with a stuffed animal sprouted from an early season, crack of dawn bus from Columbia's Morningside campus to Baker Athletic Complex.
"We were all coming on the early bus at like 7:30 just tired and delirious and I think we saw six or seven rats on our way there. That day, we were just joking around about being a rat and stuff and I think it was our next series, we got a pet – a little stuffed rat off Amazon. We painted it blue and everything brought it to Texas and it was there the whole trip," Hayden Schott said, referring to the spring break road trip in March.
"And I don't know if it was like a good luck charm or the fact that it was just fun. But we brought it all over Texas and that was kind of our thing. Then we lost it in Houston after our last game there. We all were mad and sad because it was kind of our omen."
Realizing the rat's prophetic significance, Joshua Solomon soon showed up with a big, black stuffed rat that now has its own spot in the locker room, right atop the protein shake refrigerator.
On game day, they bring the stuffed animal to the dugout, which now has a pivotal role in the home run celebration. When a Lion hits one out of the park, he's greeted by a teammate at the dugout entrance and handed the rat, who is paraded down the dugout line and tapped by jovial teammates.
"It's a celebration, but we also just have a lot of trust in Plushy. Plushy is her name," the fun-loving Schott said, as if talking about a real pet after hitting a three-run bomb in the second inning of Columbia's 16-4 win over Yale.
Plushy has been doing her thing a lot as the Lions have been hitting the cover off of the ball. Led by Schott's 10 dingers, Columbia has an Ivy League leading 52 home runs.
But that's not the whole story.
The notorious creatures that are kings of the concrete jungle have certain qualities. Similar to the Lions, who have put themselves in position for an Ancient Eight crown. Clutching the rat donning a Columbia Jersey under his right pitching arm after closing the series sweep vs. Yale for the Lions, Black explained.
"We've been labeled a little bit as scrappy. And then we started calling ourselves ratty and the term ratty stuck, so we've used it for a while," Black said, adding, "The rattiness – we've had a lot of comeback wins. I think that attests to just our faith in each other and we kind of label that under ratty a little bit. We never quit or, we're clawing back."
A couple weeks ago, Black, a proud member of rat council, picked up the rat after a home run, and handed it to the hitter to celebrate with in the dugout.
It's stuck.
"They're having fun with it," head coach Brett Boretti said with a laugh. "I don't think it's offensive to the other side or anything. It's something that's in the house here and it's neat, it's creative."
And extra special for a group that has dealt with the adversity of missing two full Ivy League seasons due to COVID-19.
"It's a unique situation because of the situation we've had here. Their career here hasn't been the most enjoyable, with the situation that we went through in 2020. And then last year it was really frustrating not to have an opportunity to play, so I think that they're doing an awesome job," the longtime Columbia coach said. "The whole team is making – I don't wanna say making up for lost time, but making the most of each of these opportunities."
That includes Black, who came back as a graduate student in Columbia's School of Professional Studies, earning a M.S. in Sports Management. Along with Schott, Black is one of the jokers of the team, helping to keep a loose vibe in the dugout, resulting in clutch play on the field.
"This last year has meant a lot to me having the last two seasons canceled because of COVID. It was definitely a tough pill to swallow. But when the Ivy League said that grad students could play their sport at their school I knew that this was where I wanted to be," Black said. "I talked to a few other schools about grad transferring, but I knew coach Boretti, the coaching staff, the kids that they recruit, the kids that I already knew were here, they're the best. And I knew that this is where I belong and where I wanted to be. "
And the five-time Ivy League Championship winning coach is happy to have a loosey-goosey team that takes its play seriously, as the results have them in contention to play and potentially host the Ivy League Title series.
"They're very energetic. That's a big reason we've had a lot of successes. They're enjoying their time out here and they're having fun with it," Boretti said. "It helps when you're keeping things in perspective, if you do get down early, there's a whole game to go and that's their attitude and energy that's helped us come back quite a bit this year. Not getting tight, just moving on to the next inning and looking for the opportunities to get things going."
With six comeback wins when trailing headed into the 7th inning or later, five of which came in Ivy League play, Columbia (23-13, 13-2 IVY) has the "it ain't over 'till it's over" mentality. During the teams torrid 16-game stretch of consecutive wins, the Lions have four comebacks, rallying at Brown twice, and against Princeton and Yale.
"It's fortunate that we're on a roll but the roll is just the result of them playing loose and having fun. I don't really think they're thinking about being on a roll as far as the amount of games in a row, it's 'hey, you got a game and let's go out and ball," Boretti said.
"That's that's the attitude that they've had and it's a great attitude to have when you're playing the sport. The sport is unique, it's different. It's difficult because it's a really hard sport, and there's ups and downs and trying to keep that level head is a challenge to do and these guys have done a really good job of doing that."
While the Lions have gone streaking in historic fashion, they head to Ithaca, N.Y. ith Plushy the rat in toe, keeping their level head, focused on first pitch in the Saturday doubleheader that is set for 11:30 a.m.
"It's not even about the win streak," Schott said. "We expect to come out and play good baseball and the game will take care of itself."
Matt Sugam '23 SPS has been covering sports in the NYC Metropolitan area for over a decade. He has spent the last eight years covering college and professional sports as a stringer for the Associated Press, while also contributing to The New York Times, USA Today Network, NJ.com, and SNY.tv. He will be covering Lions Athletics for gocolumbialions.com while pursuing an M.S. in Strategic Communication at Columbia's School of Professional Studies. Follow him on Twitter @MattSugam or visit his website at www.mattsugam.com
