Player Diary 2.28.18
Welcome to the 2018 Potomac State Baseball player diary homepage. This season, Sophomore's Mitchell Henshaw (Brockport High School / Brockport, NY), and Jeff Wong (George Washington High School / Charleston, WV) will take the lead on the Potomac State Baseball Player Diary.
Welcome back to another edition of the Potomac State Baseball Player Diary! With the first weekend of the season under our belts, we were ready to get to practice making sure we were ready for another great weekend in South Carolina. We got back early Monday morning around 1AM, but that was no excuse to not make it to class at 8:30AM. Coming off a long bus ride, and only catching a few hours of sleep is all part of the grind. It makes a little easier getting up for class knowing that Monday's are our off-days, so after class we know we can get back to our dorms to relax a little bit after a busy week. Our practice on Tuesday was very light.
Everyone did some conditioning, and after that we were free to do whatever we wanted to work on. A lot of hitters went to go work in the cages while some infielders and outfielders worked on some specific drills. These are always great days to hone in on your skills. Us catchers, we typically have to catch some bullpens on these days. Bullpens are the best way for us to get better. It is as close to a game situation that we will get to. We have to make sure to be prepared to do these just about every practice. On Wednesday, we took batting practice at Golden Park.
We were battling with the weather that day, but we were lucky enough to just beat the rain and get practice in on time. As a hitter, it was comfortable to take some swings on the field before the games on the weekend. Coach Little gave us another off-day on Thursday so we could rest our bodies and catch up on some school work. We left for South Carolina at 8:30AM on Friday.
On Friday night, I went to Krispy Kreme to get some hot glazed donuts with a bunch of the guys on the team. Maybe it's not the best thing to be eating the night before a game, but they sure do taste delicious! One of the players to come along was Freshman Catcher, Cole Miller (Myerstown, PA/East Lebanon County). Cole is a good friend of mine and he seems to make me laugh and everyone else around him every time he talks. On the walk from Krispy Kreme back to the hotel, we all got to listen to Cole inform us on how he would be the greatest WWE wrestler. Once we got back to the hotel, Cole was busting out some of his best moves. Cole is a funny kid, so watching him do this made it a relaxing night as I got all my energy out from laughing. I slept great that night.
Although we make some of our own fun, we do go down to play baseball. The bats came alive this weekend for us, scoring a total of 33 runs in 4 games. It was good to get everyone in the line-up rolling. Going up against great teams and pitching, it is definitely a confidence booster to get the guys feeling good so early. It is nice to see all the practice we have been putting in is paying off. Even though we were scoring a lot, it still was not enough to sweep the weekend. We lost two games to Walters State, finishing the weekend 2-2. Our overall record now is 4-4. We will have our home opener this Saturday at 1PM against Eastern Gateway Community College. This is Eastern Gateway's inaugural season, so they will come ready to play. Make sure to clear your schedules and come out to beautiful Golden Park to support your Catamounts!
I made another video for our trip this past weekend. Please make sure to watch it.
That will be it for this week's edition. Make sure to check in next week as we travel down to South Carolina again! Feel free to follow the team on Twitter @PotomacStateBB and
Instagram @potomacstatebaseball. You can also follow me on Twitter @mhenshaw4 for some exclusive coverage of the team. If you have any questions or comments about the player diaries you can email me at mjh0025@mix.wvu.edu. Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it.
Hello, Catamount faithful! Welcome back for another Potomac State Player Diary. This week’s entry looks back at our weekend in Florence, South Carolina, where we split 4 more games which brings our record to 4-4. This week features a look into the typical day of a Catamount PO (Pitcher Only) at away games.
Upon arriving at the ballpark, a pitcher knows whether he is available to pitch that day or not. Starting pitchers that aren’t starting that day have more of a practice-style approach to his pregame routine; where a reliever who is ‘hot’ that day must mentally and physically prepare themselves to pitch in the game. A starting pitcher who is isn’t pitching that day still has a vital role to play in the dugout. The biggest part about being in the dugout on a down day, to me, is being there for your teammates whenever they may need something to make the game easier for that player, pitcher or position player.
Before the game starts, a possible reliever must take initiative to get their mind and body ready for the possible outing to come. Proper stretching is vital, as we never know when we will be called upon to go warm up in a moments notice. A little light throwing, including a few of each off speed, is usually done so when we go to warm up, its not the first time touching a ball that day.
For a starter, pregame is a little different. We usually get a short toss in to stay on top of our pitches. After the day’s throwing, we do a good shoulder, back and core workout in the bullpen using mainly bands, medicine balls and some weighted baseball routines for arm recovery. After the day’s workout is out of the way, we pretty much hang out and be facilitators. We do joke around and have some fun, but we make sure everything that needs to be taken care of with our position players and pitchers. It takes a true teammate to play an active roll in the team when they no chance in throwing that day, and that is what the Catamounts have in abundance: true teammates.
Enjoy the attached video of a Day in the Bullpen! And tune in next week as our first home series is this weekend, March 3rd and 4th at 1:00 and 12:00 PM, respectively.