Welcome back Catamount fans for this week’s Potomac State Baseball player diary entry. This past week was a busy one for us back on campus as it was our first full week of class and practice. It is always tough to readjust to a new schedule of classes, but professors here on the Keyser campus took it easy on us and did not assign too much work the first week in my classes. On the field however, we hit the ground running and got after it with an exciting week of workouts. This is the first winter that we get to utilize our brand-new player development center and it truly does change the whole dynamic of our schedule and helps us practice way more efficiently than in the past. Over the years former Catamounts can remember the practices in the Lough Gymnasium. The best thing about the transition out of the gym is this: no more setting up and tearing down. Last year our indoor practices consisted of at least 30 minutes of setting up and taking down the cages, l-screens, baseballs, ropes, etc. This year: walk in and hit. When you get done, go home.
Our winter practices obviously depend greatly on the weather and we took full advantage of two beautiful days and grinded out two days of outdoor workouts. On Monday the 13th, we had our first practice and the coaches had the team divided up into three groups, infielders, outfielders, and pitchers. Practice began at 4:00pm, but we always have a handful of players show up to get some early work in on their own and sophomore outfielder, Dylan Dunkley, along with freshman infielder Mason Mitchell are consistently putting in that extra early work. Once our practice started, the outfielders got to enjoy an hour of hitting rotations and stations while Coach Kowalo led the infielders through an abundance of defensive drills. At 5:00pm, the groups switched, and the infielders went to work in the player development center while the outfielders hustled down to the turf field for their share of defensive work. Our pitchers did not have practice until 6:00pm and as soon as the position players cleared out, our staff threw their first bullpens of the year.
Practice on Wednesday the 15th was an absolute gift from the baseball gods as we got to be on the field and got to play a BP scrimmage. Here at Potomac Sate we try to make every day feel like a game day and I think that it is safe to say we did a great job with matching that type of gameday intensity and energy on Wednesday! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and to me personally it felt like our home opener! The whole team was ecstatic about being out on the field and Coach Little told us how this might have been the earliest any of his teams have been out getting gameday reps on the field.
We certainly took advantage this day as hitters each had five or six at bats, we ran the bases and made tons of plays on defense. It was a high-speed effort that had to make each of us better as we prepare for the 2020 season. It was an impressive effort from all of our guys, especially the younger guys who are really anxious to experience what College baseball is really all about.
The temperature dropped pretty quickly after that glorious day of outdoor practice and we finished out the week with practices in the new development center. Although the weather was not ideal for baseball and being inside is not as much fun as being outside, practices indoors do not lack any intensity. Coach Schafer always reminds us that we cannot win championships in the winter, but we can most definitely lose them by not routinely bringing our best effort!
Our practices indoors mostly consist of hitting for our position players and bullpen work for our pitchers. The position players are divided into two hitting groups and they each get an hour of hitting in and then the pitchers arrive for their bullpen work. Bullpens clearly require assistance from catchers and our catchers here in Keyser are some of the hardest working dirtballs around! Sophomores Connor “Frank” Kelly and Christian “Geno” Reyes get the work in behind the dish along with freshmen Caleb “Gibby” Taylor and Jonah “Indy” Clement. For a better look at our indoor practices, checkout the Potomac State Baseball YouTube channel as sophomores Brandon Schaeffer and Haydon Almond give you a tour of our facilities!
I would also like to take this time to introduce some brand-new Catamounts! Josh Hoffman is a freshman infield transfer from Youngstown State. Josh is from Belle Vernon, PA and attended Belle Vernon High School. Daniel Matos is a sophomore pitching transfer from Florida Atlantic University. Daniel grew up in Davie, FL and attended Archbishop McCarthy High School. Last but not least, Jared Adams is a freshman pitching transfer from Montreat College. Jared is from Jackson County, GA and attended Jackson County High School. We are thrilled to welcome these three new individuals into our baseball family and cannot wait to grind out the season with them!
Some of the players concluded our first week of class and practice with a Friday night poker marathon. Brandon Schaeffer, Haydon Almond, Graham Brown, freshmen outfielder Colton Matthews, sophomore pitcher/outfielder Foster Conis, and I went head to head in the matchup that lasted over FOUR HOURS! We of course were not betting or gambling money, but just playing for fun. Foster took home the win, but you know we’ll all be back for more! Although Colton was one of the first knocked out of the poker matchup, his weekend was highlighted with watching his Kansas City Chiefs secure a spot in the Super Bowl and a bunch of us are very excited for the viewing party that local product and freshmen infielder, Zack Whitacre will be hosting!
Thank you for tuning into this week’s player diary be sure to check back in next week for another update on your Catamounts!