Welcome back Catamount fans and thank you for tuning in for another week of the Potomac State Baseball player diary! This being the fourth week back on campus, classes and practices are in full swing and thankfully so is our sacred Coffee Mondays.
For those of you who do not know, Coffee Mondays is a fairly new tradition for the baseball players here at Potomac State College and they take place in downtown Keyser at the one and only Queen’s Point Coffee (QPC). QPC opened for business last fall and it did not take long for it to be cemented into the weekly routine for some of your Catamounts. Last year’s sophomores Andrew Berry, Joel Spishock, and Abe Stearns took lead in the formation of Coffee Mondays and there is no doubt that the tradition has enhanced the brotherhood within the team. Coffee Mondays are more than a cup of coffee, they are a chance for us to relax, unwind, laugh, and bond together. I formed very strong friendships with some of my teammates from last year and Coffee Mondays played a prominent role in building those relationships.
This year’s team has quite a bit more coffee connoisseurs than last year’s and it makes Coffee Mondays even more fun. Some of the regulars this year include Trevor Thomas, Devon “Devo” Neal, Easton Petitt, Caleb Taylor, Preston Taylor, Jonah Clement, and Bryce Turner. Trevor particularly enjoys an iced birthday cake latte, while Devo usually goes for the iced cookie dough. Easton typically gets an iced vanilla latte and Preston orders the hot white chocolate latte. Jonah and Bryce both go for the iced cake batter, but Bryce always orders his coffee with an everything bagel with bacon, egg, cheese, topped with QPC’s special Catamount Sauce. Caleb honestly is not that much of a coffee guy, so he usually gets a hot chocolate. I personally take a seasonal taste toward my coffee. I’ll admit, in the fall I am part of the pumpkin spice fad. Then, when the holidays roll around, I’m all about the gingerbread lattes. But once we return for the second semester, I’m in a spring baseball mood so I usually get an iced banana latte. Now that is coffee 101.
As I alluded to earlier, the menu at QPC is not just about coffee, but is filled with delicious teas, sandwiches, and pastries. One of the biggest reasons your Catamounts enjoy the tradition of Coffee Mondays is the top notch setting in QPC. The ceiling is painted with sunset shades, the walls are decorated with numerous photographs from the Keyser and Mineral County WV area, and my man Brian (one of the managers at QPC) always has the best tunes playing over the speakers. QPC really creates that homey West Virginia feel.
We of course do not limit our visits to QPC to just Mondays and with the rare Thursday off day that we had this week Devon, Bryce, Jonah, and I snuck down for another visit. Brian and Alyssa were on staff and they even gave us some free fruity pebble and cocoa puff donuts that were about to hit the stale marker. They were of course still yummy. QPC is located right next to a train track however, and a train got stuck while we were trying to leave. As a result, we got parked in for quite a little bit and unfortunately, Jonah was a little late for his afternoon English class. Coach Little if you’re reading this, it honestly wasn’t his fault.
Here at Potomac State we really try to be students of the game, and to implement that idea Coach Schafer had the hitters gather in one of our academic classrooms, Academy Hall room #210 this past Thursday night for an offensive strategy meeting. At the meeting Coach Schafer outlined everything from our formula of how to win, to the way we walk up to the batter’s box. We take such a serious approach to studying, learning, and preparing because as Coach Schafer tells us that, “While baseball might be simple, it certainly is not easy.” Coach Little, Schafer, and Kowalo always find ways to inspire and motivate us and this meeting was a great example of how they ignite that feeling within our program.
As you know, we have been taking full advantage of our new Indoor Player Development Center lately, but the weather this week actually gave us some opportunities to practice and even scrimmage outside. Coach Schafer always tells us that the he understands how the walls get a little bit tighter each and every day with indoor practices, so getting to move around outside gives us a real nice refresher and it makes opening day feel a lot closer.
Our field at Golden Park was in great shape on Sunday and we jumped onto it right away and got a nice seven inning intrasquad game in. The temperature outside was still a little chilly and wind was gusting all over the place, but it still felt great to be outside and take advantage of some “Game Day Reps” as Coach Schafer always says. Coach Little was really excited about getting us out onto the field as well and he said that this might have been the earliest in the year that he has had a team outside scrimmaging in a long time. Coach Little even told us that the weather this coming week is supposed to have a few bright spots that we’ll be able to take advantage of and hopefully get on the field some more. Fingers crossed!
Once our scrimmage concluded it was officially Super Bowl Sunday and that meant that it was time to go hang with the boys and have a good time. As I previously mentioned, our teammate Zack Whitacre and his family were hosting a watch party and we were all looking forward to it. I rode over to Zack’s home with Graham Brown, Easton Petitt, Nick Wright, and Preston Taylor. The ride took about twenty minutes and as soon as we pulled up into the driveway we met up with Caleb Taylor, Colton Matthews, and Devon Neal. It was surprising and refreshing of how much of the team showed up to watch the game together as only a handful of guys on the roster could not make it.
Not only did Mr. and Mrs. Whitacre kindly host the event, but Zack’s mother cooked up an entire menu of delicious food that included chicken and rice casserole, a taco bar, barbeque mini hot dogs, and sandwich platters. There was also home brewed sweet tea and fresh lemonade on tap along with Capri sun fruit punch juice pouches. Desert options consisted of chocolate chip cookies and brownies that were topped off with chocolate icing.
The night started off with some pregame ping pong played between Graham Brown and Preston Taylor. I gotta say if Graham is half the baseball player that he is a ping pong player then he’ll be in for a big year because he absolutely creamed any competition that came his way and at one point, he was even using his cellphone in place of the paddle. As the game eventually kicked off, we had a full house on our hands, so much that the group had to break into two rooms just so everyone could fit. I was sitting next to our freshmen walk-on pitcher, Mac Messier and we were not only watching the game together, but also laughing our heads off all night at the classic Super Bowl commercials.
As the night continued, you could’ve guessed that a poker game broke out and while I was not personally playing, Dylan Dunkley and Zack handled the competition at the table with ease. Our man Dunks eventually took home the win in the poker matchup and the Chiefs eventually came back to win the Super Bowl. Our teammate Colton Matthews is a huge Chiefs fan and an even bigger Patrick Mahomes fan, so you know he was ecstatic about his team taking home the Lombardi Trophy and his favorite player being named the most valuable player.
The festivities eventually came to an end and we all had to head back to our dorms in University Place back on campus. We all had such a fun night together and it was a great opportunity for team bonding. Thank you again to the Whitacre’s for having us all over and be sure to check out our Super Bowl video on YouTube.
Thank you for tuning into this week’s player diary! Be sure to check back in next week as opening day is just around the corner.