Welcome back Catamount Fans and Followers to Week 13 in this Potomac State Baseball Player Diary. I can’t believe that it has already been 13 weeks into this semester and there’s only a few left. One thing I’ve learned is that time really flies when it’s baseball season.  With that being said, let me give you the rundown of the team’s past week.

Last week other than last Tuesday, we didn’t have any mid-week games, which was great because we all got to rest up and get ready for this weekend’s games, and most importantly, our Region XX opener against Hagerstown Community College.

On Saturday, we had a doubleheader at home against CCBC-Catonsville. Catonsville is a team we have matched up against in many previous seasons and they usually have a solid team, so going into the games we were aware they’d put up a fight. On a side note, we couldn’t have asked for a better day to play that day, it was sunny and in the 70’s, just about perfect baseball weather. In the first game, starter Brett Whiteman almost went the distance, throwing six innings, striking out nine. He later got the win as Abe Sterns came in to close out the game securing us an 8-5 victory. Dale Houser continues to stay hot, as he recorded three hits in the game. Cole Miller and Austin Chavis also contributed to the offense. Miller had two hits, and Chavis drove in three runs. This brought the team’s winning streak up to 10 games.

At the beginning of the second game of the double header, we got off to a rough start. Due to walks and hits, we fell to a steep 8-0 deficit in the first inning of the game. It’s hard to dig yourself out of that deep of a hole but we started chipping away by making it 8-3 in the bottom of the first. The intensity was there throughout the whole game, everyone trying to pull together to cut the deficit, but we couldn’t get the offense moving, falling to Catonsville in the last game 8-4, stopping the winning streak at 10 games.

Any loss is rough, but baseball is a game of failure, so any defeat or failure has to be short lived in order to succeed. And as a team we had to put the loss behind us quickly because we had our regional opener the next day against Hagerstown for a single nine-inning game.

Now any regional game is important but this game had a little bit more to it below the surface. During regional playoffs last year, Hagerstown was the team to eliminate us for the second year in a row, so after all the time past we finally had a chance to redeem ourselves.

The best way I could describe the game was “lights out”. And by that, I mean that our pitchers simply shut their hitters down. Colt Webb started for us, going six innings, striking out 10 batters. Brandon Schaeffer came in as relief and shut the door, striking out eight of the 11 batters he faced. If you do the math, that’s 18 total strikeouts by our pitchers, which is six innings worth of outs where our fielders didn’t have to move whatsoever. On the flipside of that, our hitters really saw it well at the plate, pounding 17 total hits. Seven Catamounts had multiple hits, led by Juwuan Weaver with three hits. In the game, Austin Chavis also had his second home run of the season with an absolute bomb to left field. With offense and defense working together in harmony, we cruised to a 11-3 victory, making us 1-0 in the region, putting us in first place in the standings. In the upcoming week, there is a lot of baseball to play, with double headers on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, all at home. So, stay tuned for updates!

Also, in this diary entry, I wanted to give a shout out to some of the guys on the team who don’t get enough credit for what they do. On the team, there are a lot of other jobs that happen not just on the field. For example, the reason out uniforms always look nice and clean are because of our laundry guy Tobias Holmelund. Along with being a stud-hitter and a major part of the team, Tobias also takes the time out of his days to wash all our practice uniforms, game uniforms, etc., so all uniforms are clean and ready. It’s a very annoying job sometimes, I’m sure, but I know we’re all thankful he does this for the team.

Also, there’s the team of guys who keep charts for the team. This crew is usually Justin Stone, Foster Conis, Dylan Dunkley, and Jake Ours. When they aren’t playing, they keep charts for the team that really help out. These charts include things like tracking what pitches their pitcher is throwing, what kind of pitches are thrown, the stats that fans at home can follow along during the game, along with some other things. They don’t get recognition for stuff done on the field, but what they do makes a big difference between winning and losing sometimes. So, I just wanted to give those guys a quick shout out for the work they put in.

For this week’s video, I decided to make use of the GoPro and give you guys an inside look at our normal batting practice days at Golden Park. Check it out on the team’s YouTube page!!

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Welcome back Catamount Faithful to this week's edition of the Potomac State Baseball Player Diary. For this week's edition, I wanted to talk a little bit about the academic side of life as a baseball player and Potomac State in general.

Here at Potomac State College, each student has a great opportunity to reach their full potential on and off the field.  Because our campus is a division of West Virginia University we are given the same opportunities and can take many of the same classes as students on the Morgantown campus. For the baseball players, this is great because it makes it a lot easier for classes to transfer to other schools after our two years at Potomac State College.

Potomac State offers a large variety of majors for each of their students.  With over 50 two-year programs that are transfer eligible and six four-year programs, you will be sure to find a major that you will like when you’re here. On top of that, there are also five two-year, career-technical degrees offered to students. I, myself, am a business administration major and have really enjoyed my courses I have taken. Following this year, I will be on pace to graduate in four years at whatever school is next for me. I was able to get all of my core courses and electives out of the way and will be receiving as associate degree in business administration following the end of this semester. 

For the baseball team, we usually tend to take the two-year route for two main reasons. The first method is to get our core courses out of the way, like I stated earlier, before moving on to another school. Following that, players can use those courses taken here as transfer credits to the next school they attend. The other option is to work towards and earn an associate degree while playing here. This is great for players who may have not had the best grades in high school and came here looking to improve in school.  If you attend Potomac State and graduate with at least a 2.5 grade point average, you are automatically eligible to move on to any school at any level whether it is NCAA Division 1,2,3 or NAIA.  That is one of the great perks about attending Potomac State College.

When you are a student at Potomac State, you are given countless methods to be as successful as possible. We are blessed with a state-of-the-art library open to all students.  In the Mary F. Shipper Library, you can do countless things to work on your academics.  There are multiple computer stations open along with study tables to work at.  The library also offers the Academic Success Center which is where you can go and receive FREE tutoring in any course you are struggling with. On top of that, each residence hall is equipped with study rooms for students.  The University Place residence hall even has a computer lab with 10 computers and a printer for students who do not own a laptop or computer of their own. I, myself, have used the computer lab countless times to work on projects or papers- even the weekly player diary!

The classes at Potomac State are set up to help each student be successful. I believe each of my teammates would agree with me whole heartedly.  The average class size at Potomac State has 21 students and the student-to-faculty ratio is 20:1. I am even in a class now that only has six students! It makes it very easy to learn and grasp concepts. This is one of the most helpful parts about the school. In my own experience, I have been able to build great relationships with many of my professors due to the one-to-one opportunities.  At a baseball standpoint, it is very helpful especially during the season.  When we have to miss class for games, our teachers are very understanding and work hard to help us stay caught up. We can meet outside of class during their office hours or communicate with them through eCampus and email where the teachers do an amazing job at being available during many hours of the day.

As baseball players, we are equipped and given the opportunity to be the best student-athletes we can.  As coach Little always says, “We are here to do two things. Get A’s and B’s in the classroom and W’s on the field.”

Now, to continue my "10 Questions With…" segment, this week I decided to do 10 questions with… Colt Webb.  Colt is a sophomore right-handed pitcher. He is from Berryville, Va., where he attended Clarke County High School.  He is committed to Virginia Commonwealth University for next season. 

Colt Webb

What is the best restaurant in Keyser?

Castiglia’s without a doubt.

What is your favorite type of music?

I am really fond of Indie and Alternative music.

What player on the team is most likely to be rich?

Brandon Schaeffer

In your two years, what has been your favorite course you have taken at PSC?

Abnormal Psychology

Would you rather become a famous singer or famous actor and why?

Famous Singer because I love music.

The Keyser area is known for having great outdoors attractions. What attraction around Keyser is your favorite?

The Piedmont dam is really cool. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it.

What is your favorite pitching experience to date at Potomac State?

Last year when I pitched against Harford at Golden Park.

What is your favorite video game?

The Bigs baseball game. It’s old but so much fun.

What is your favorite meal to eat in the entire world?

A steak bowl from Chipotle.

What are you looking forward to for the remainder of the season?

Playing hard with my teammates and giving our best to have a great showing the rest of the season and postseason.

That's all for this week's edition. If you have anything you would like to see in the diaries or learn more about, you can contact me through email (akb0019@mix.wvu.edu) or Twitter (@andrewberry_15). I would also encourage you to follow the team on social media. Please subscribe to our YouTube account @PotomacStateBaseball to be notified when Joel or I upload a video. Thank you for reading, and until next week, Go Catamounts!