Welcome back Catamount fans and thank you for tuning into another week of the Potomac State Baseball player diary. Our regular season kicked off this past week and although our record doesn’t show it, the start of our 2020 season began with some bright spots.
Our final week of preparation kicked off with another round of three group batting practice outside on the field at Golden Park, but unfavorable weather pushed your Catamounts back inside for the rest of the practice week. Our final practice before the start of our season took place this past Thursday and we took advantage of the time to go through another round of hitting groups and bullpens. Coach Kowalo and Coach Little wrapped up the practice by taking us through some detailed scouting reports on our upcoming opponents, USC Sumter and #11 Walters State. The coaches also took us through a final review of our offensive and defensive sign packages. Once the practice ended Coach Little informed us that we will start loading the bus the next morning at 8:00am and be on the road and headed south by 8:30am. Unfortunately, Coach Schafer was overcome by an unexpected health issue this past week and was unable to make the trip with us down south. Coach Little brought his son, Morgan along as a replacement base coach for the weekend. Although some of us players did enjoy the cancellations of his Sports Psychology classes this past week, we missed having our third base coach with us on opening day and we all hope to have him back as soon as possible.
A popular method that some of the players here at Potomac State use to prepare for travel days is staying up as late as possible the night before so we can sleep as much of the eight-hour bus ride. Throughout the night we all finish up or packing and try to put a dent in our schoolwork so all we need to focus on throughout the weekend is playing baseball. Caleb and Preston Taylor, Graham Brown, Christian Reyes, and I also snuck back over to the field for some last-minute swings in the player development center. After the late-night swing session, we of course had to run some last-minute errands at the local Walmart to grab some snacks for the weekend.
Eventually the early morning came and brought with it the beginning of our travel day. The day began with Justin Stone (Chops), Jake Ours, Dylan Dunkley, and I heading down to our beloved coffee shop at 6:30am for a hearty breakfast and a quick sip of that morning joe. Once we were finished, we headed back to University Place to grab our things and then shuffled over to the clubhouse to start loading the bus. We got the bus all packed up and were headed down the road right on schedule.
The beginning hours of the bus ride are always the quietest because we are all catching up on the sleep we missed out on the night before. One of the most impressive talents of the baseball players here at Potomac State is the ability to find comfort and fall asleep in the most unconventional areas on the bus. We have people passed out next to each other in their seats, laid out in the middle of the aisle, and even curled up under the seats.
After we were on the road for about three hours, we made our first stop at a rest station on the interstate. After we all stepped out to stretch our legs and use the restroom, we piled back onto the bus and began to dive into our bagged lunches and settled in for one of Coach Little’s favorite movies, Tombstone. Tombstone is a wild western movie that Coach Little always likes to enjoy showing us in hope of getting those “Tough son of a gun” juices flowing in us. The movie put a pretty good dent in the time and we soon found ourselves pulling up to the hotel around 5:00pm. While the coaches were getting us checked in our bus driver took advantage of the time to show us his taste in hip-hop and blasted some tunes by Kevin Gates and Post Malone over the bus’s speakers.
Once the coaches got us checked in, we gathered outside of the bus as Coach Kowalo read off the room assignments for the trip. I roomed with Nathan Kerr, (K)evan Moreland, and Avery “Hype Man” Heiple. I ended up bunking with (K)evan and I thought that sharing a bed with (K)evan would work out well for me because he is probably the smallest guy we have on the team. However, while (K)evan isn’t the biggest dude around he certainty sleeps like he is and I was left hugging the corners throughout the night.
After we all got settled into our rooms, we met back up in the lobby to head over to Logan’s Steakhouse for dinner. Even though the restaurant was just across the street from the hotel our journey crossing the six lanes of traffic was no easy task. I’m sure Coach Little arranged for it in effort to keep us on our toes for the stiff competition we would be facing the next couple of days.
After dinner we had a couple hours to kill until our curfew rolled around and I caught a lot of heat from several of my teammates because I forgot to pack the poker set, but Zack Whitacre came in clutch for us as he had his parents bring us a poker set from his house. Curfew eventually came around and Coach Kowalo conducted the room checks and gave us the game plan for the morning.
Once the morning came, the team met in the lobby of the hotel for breakfast and we then packed up and headed over to Riley Park for the 10:00am game. We ended up going 0-2 on the day with a loss against USC Sumter followed by being bested by #11 Walters State in the tail end of the double header. Although we obviously did not have the day we would like, we had promising pitching performances from Brandon Schaeffer, Tyler Bradford, and Ashton Staubs. Haydon Almond picked up right where he left off last season with a solid weekend at the plate. Freshmen Trevor Thomas, Caleb Taylor, and Graham Brown also had impressive debuts throughout the weekend and Zack Whitacre flashed us some impressive leather at shortstop.
After the rough day at the ballpark we returned to the hotel, showered up, and met back in the lobby to head out for another team dinner. Coach Little treated us to Chili’s, but we again had to make the daring trek across the road. After the team dinner, some guys were in the mood for some dessert and walked down the road to the local Cookout for some milkshakes. Brandon Schaeffer, Haydon Almond, Dylan Dunkley, (K)evan Moreland, and Nathan Kerr all gave the southern gem some business. Curfew eventually came back around and Coach Kowalo rolled back around for room checks and gave us the game plan for Sunday. On Sunday morning, Chops and I woke up a little earlier and headed across the street to Dunkin’ Donuts for some coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Making the trip across the street at 6:30am is not nearly as challenging as doing so during dinner time.
We all packed up our rooms and loaded up the bus to head over to Riley Park for the final game of our opening weekend against #11 Walters State. Despite strong pitching by Austin Cross and Avery Heiple, our offense came up just a bit short and we ended up going 0-3 on the weekend. Although our program’s first win against Walters State still alludes us, we hope to get another shot at it later in the season in Colorado.
After the game we gathered onto the bus and headed back to West Virginia. You know it wouldn’t be a Potomac State road trip without a stop at Golden Corral. We made our dinner stop after about two hours back on the road and stopped one more time at a gas station about three hours outside of Keyser. The remaining time gave us the perfect opportunity to view one more western movie before we returned to campus. This time we watched Pale Rider, which stars and is directed by a Potomac State Baseball idol, Clint Eastwood. No bus trip is complete without a visit from Clint.
The movie eventually concluded, and we found ourselves back at the clubhouse at Golden Park. We unloaded all the equipment, cleaned up the bus, and turned in our laundry then returned to our dorms at University Place. Although our season did not begin as we would hope we are all excited to get back to work and head South again next week to open up some district play against Florence-Darlington Tech and the Monroe Mustangs.
Thank you for tuning in for another week of the Potomac State Baseball player diary! Be sure to check us out again next week for our second week of the 2020 season!