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Potomac State Baseball Player Diary Week 3- Know when to fold 'em

Welcome back Catamount fans for this week’s Potomac State Baseball player diary. It has been another week full of class, practice, and bullpens, but there was of course some free time that we all got to enjoy together.  There is a true brotherhood here at Potomac State College on the baseball team and anyone who has ever played here can attest to that fact. 

 

The fun away from the field began with some of the players attending the West Virginia University basketball game that took place on Monday, January 20 in Morgantown. Having big-time athletics, a short drive away is a huge benefit of attending school here and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  Catamounts in attendance included Mason Mitchell, Preston Taylor, Jared Adams, Graham Brown, Zack Whitacre, Dylan Dunkley, Ben Bartilson, and Easton Pettit. The Mountaineers hosted the Texas Longhorns in an exciting BIG12 matchup that ended with a convincing victory for West Virginia with a final score of 97 – 59.  The swarming defense of the Mountaineers was in full effect and a pleasure to watch in-person.

The game ended on an inspiring note as true freshmen walk-on Spencer Macke made his first career field goal and was then carried off the court, as if he was playing the role of Rudy. It was a crowd-pleasing moment that went viral and it was cool to be a part of it. The moment reminded me of last year when we had our own freshmen walk-on, Drew Leach, whose first career hit was a walk-off double that gave us a 10-0 victory over Lakeland Community College.

As mentioned last week, poker has quickly become a frequently occurring pastime for some of the baseball players here at Potomac State and the games have taken on many different forms, and lately in many different venues. We found the card to be game much more enjoyable in the comfort of our own dorm rooms, rather than in the middle of the hallways of our residence Hall, University Place. Several of us preferred the switch because playing in our own room allows us to utilize our own TVs and helps provide a real “Sports Bar” type of atmosphere. The only issue we had was finding a table to play on. I personally had the idea of simply borrowing some of the tables from the hallway of our dorm and moving them into our room. However, the residential advisors on the floor did not take a liking to that particular solution and we were left scrambling for other options. But where there is a will there is a way and where you might see a spare mattress, my roommate, Brandon Schaeffer, sees a brand-new poker table. The spare mattress solution works brilliantly because it provides a larger playing surface, seats more of our teammates, and really enhances that junior college feeling! #JUCOROUTE Some of the Catamounts who share that same enthusiasm for the mattress card table include Colton Matthews, Trevor Thomas, Haydon Almond, and Caleb Taylor.

If we’re not in class, at practice, or playing poker, you just might find us up at the Kelly Recreational Center getting up some basketball shots. While we sure as heck are not running five-on-five or playing any fast-break basketball, we find some thrilling competition through way of simple shooting games like H-O-R-S-E, points on the table, and my personal favorite, knockout. This past Tuesday there were about fifteen of your Catamounts up at the Kelly Center putting up those shots. The night started with all of us spread out around the three-point arc playing points on the table and your surprising champion was none other than Coach Kowalo. We then moved on to the knockout portion of the evening. The games started at the free throw line, then to the three-point line, then the volleyball line, and before you know it, we were playing knockout from the half court line. It may be hard be hard to believe, but there are some pitchers on the team with nice looking jumpers including Ashton Staubs and Austin Cross who took home several wins on the night.

Back to the field now as this week gave us our first look of the year at some live pitching. All our pitchers were only at half speed, but it was very exciting to get back into the batter’s box and get some gameday reps. Pitchers Tyler Bradford and Jonathan Money looked very smooth back on the mound and we are all excited for their seasons. This week also sent us back to the drawing board with Coach Schafer and Coach Kowalo leading us through a review of our offensive strategies including baserunning and our useful swing package. Despite some chilly weather throughout the week we even got to get back out on the field for some team defense. We were not able to be on the infield, but Coach Little had us out in left field practicing our bunt coverages, first and third defense, and pitcher fielding practice. It might not always be the most fun to run through those situations, but our coaches always remind us that everything matters, especially the little details and they just might be the difference between winning and losing throughout the season.

Some new hardware even arrived for the Potomac State hitters this past week. Rawlings provided us with the new “5150” and “Velo” models. As always, we are extremely grateful for everything that Rawlings does for the program, and we cannot wait to break out the best bats in the business on opening day.

Thank you for tuning into this week’s player diary! Be sure to check back in next week to see what your Catamounts are up to!