Player Diary 4.11.18

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. Note: Wong's entry will be in bold font.

Welcome back Catamount fans! I wanted to take some time this week to give a shout out to my fellow catchers. Justice Keener (Grafton, WV/Grafton), Tanner Lambert (Morgantown, WV/East Fairmont), and Cole Miller (Myerstown, PA/East Lebanon County) have been unbelievable teammates. I wanted to share with you guys how close us four catchers are, what we go through on a daily basis, and the amount of respect we have for each other. First off, I want to say that as a catcher, we have the best job on the field. We are constantly in the game. You cannot lose focus for one second when you are back there. As soon as you lose focus the other team will very easily pick up on that and take advantage of it. With that being said, being a catcher is also brutal job, and a lot of do not realize that. Let me take you through what us four catchers go through.

Just about every day at practice we have to catch bullpens. If there is a practice with no bullpens, it is a nice relief as a catcher. There are many practices where we will be catching three to four bullpens and getting completely beat up behind the dish, but that is part of the job. Cole Miller has been a work horse for me, and the other catchers. Cole constantly volunteers to catch bullpens to give some of breaks when needed. That is the type of teammate Cole is. He is a great kid and he takes a lot of pride in doing whatever is needed to help the team out. Catching bullpens is where we learn our craft though. You really need to bare down and work your tail off in the bullpen for a few reasons. One, it benefits you. Work on your receiving, work on your blocking, put yourself in a game situation as much as possible. Another thing is getting to know your pitchers. As a catcher, you almost need to know the pitcher better than they know themselves so you understand how to work with them. You need to know how their ball moves. Every pitcher is different. When you do get in a game you need to be comfortable with all your pitcher's separate pitches. This is one thing that us catchers do a great job at. I know for me, these catchers we have here motivate and push me every single day. Not one of us take a practice off. It is always 100% and that is so much fun to be around. I have learned a lot from this group, and I can't thank them enough. It is such a terrific group and I am extremely fortunate to be a part of it. I would not be the catcher I am right now without these guys.

Outside of baseball, we are always hanging out as a group. Whether it is at the dinner table, or one of our rooms, you can be sure to find two catchers together. One of the conversations I look forward to the most at dinner is hearing about how Keener and Lambert did fishing that day. I thoroughly enjoy listening to how their day went trout fishing. Constantly showing pictures and videos of their trophy fish. I would not be surprised to be watching tv one day and see Keener on the Outdoor channel fishing streams in West Virginia.

I want to share a little bit about how Potomac State Baseball Bowling did today. The bets were back in action as Sebastion Williamson and David McQuain battled for three cheeseburgers and a big chocolate milkshake. They upped the ante a little bit this week, so you know it was all business at Rainbow Lanes. It was a good day for the boys. I do not want to spoil anything, but it was a great match-up, came down to the final pin! Make sure to click the link and see who came out on top between the two!

That will be it for this week's edition. Make sure to check in each week to catch up on all our games, and to see what the team is doing. 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.

Welcome back Catamount Faithful! The past few weeks we have dealt with cold and rain. This week we have hope that the low temperatures are behind us. Forecasts say the next couple of weeks will be in the 60’s with highs reaching the 80’s, which sounds a lot more like baseball weather than temperatures in the 30’s and 40’s. With the season more than half way finished, this weather means the Catamounts will be very busy for the remainder of the year. We have all our regular scheduled games, plus games that have been rained out the past couple of weeks and rescheduled. This accompanied with Final-Exams coming soon makes for a strenuous schedule for everyone in the baseball family. This week we hear from freshman outfielder: Peter Costigan, and sophomore power hitter: Ryan Roell on how a student athlete stays on track in the heart of the season. I sat down with Ryan and Pete and asked them a few questions:

Question: What is the hardest part about being an athlete in season?

Ryan – “The hardest part about an athlete is definitely managing school work and powering through the grind of the season.

Pete – “The hardest part about being in season is managing my time between baseball

and school work so that I can be successful in both areas.”

Question: What influenced you into coming to Potomac State?

Ryan – “Besides the baseball program’s rich history of winning and tradition, and the academics, being a part of West Virginia University, was strong. I was unsure of a major coming in as a freshman, and Potomac State seemed like a good fit to get my associates and go from there.”

Pete – “I came to Potomac State to develop myself as baseball player and a student. I felt that the JUCO route gives me an advantage in instant experience of playing at the college level. Potomac State stood out to me because of the winning baseball history and the ties to WVU.”

Question: What is your favorite part about going to school at Potomac State?

Ryan – “Definitely the baseball and the bonds I have made with all of my brothers on the team.”

Pete – “My favorite part about going to Potomac State is playing baseball under Head Coach Doug Little. The class size and close-nit feel of the school are great also.”

Question: Your first couple of weeks, what was your first impression of the campus and your class load?

Ryan – “I didn’t really know what to expect coming in, but after the first few weeks here last year, I settled into the lifestyle of college on living on my own. I really grew to like the small class sizes. I was able to focus more in class and got to know my professors pretty well, allowing me to do better, especially during the season.”

Pete – “Small. At first I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it as much because of the size of the school and Keyser, but I have definitely grown to appreciate what a small school can offer.”

Question: How do you do deal with and recover from missing class inevitably for games?

Ryan – “The first thing I do is contact my professors ahead of time to let them know I won’t be in class. I go in during my professors’ office hours and catch up on what I missed, which goes back to having a good relationship with each of them.”

Pete – “I make sure I communicate with my teacher so they know I’ll be gone. The night before a travel day or game day, I make sure all my online assignments are taken care of and try to read ahead if I am missing lecture.”

Keeping up with classes and working to excel on the field can be tricky to balance at times, especially at this time of year. Ryan and Pete both are fine examples of how to succeed. Ryan is set to graduate from Potomac State after the spring semester with an Associate’s Degree in General Studies. Ryan plans to move on to a 4-year school and continue his academic and athletic careers. Pete is heading into his first college summer with a 3.2 GPA and plans to raise it over the course of next year.

Thank you for reading Catamount fans!