Welcome to the 2024 Potomac State Baseball player diary homepage. This season, Sophomores Ben McDougal (Bridgeport High School / Bridgeport, WV), and Kris Sutton (Cobb County High School / Calhoun, GA) will take the lead on the Potomac State Baseball Player Diary.
Welcome back Catamount Fans. The Potomac State Baseball Player Diary returns for the 2024 season. This marks the 20th anniversary of the first player diary in 2004 that was delivered by J.T. Osburn and Tim Latham. For 20 years, this diary has delivered a behind-the-scenes look at college baseball on the Keyser, WV campus. That is a lot of information over the years delivered by PSC baseball student-athletes. Many of the players on this year’s roster were not even born when the feature was introduced. So, a tip of the cap to all diary writers over the years and we hope we can represent proudly the history of this phenomenon. Think of how many views and likes this diary has produced over that period, from parents, fans, alumni, and even future Catamount players. An amazing accomplishment.
The traditions that abound here at Potomac State Baseball are many. One of them is particularly important to this year’s team- doing it the right way. The many writers of the diary over the years have done that. They have shared the stories, given a glimpse of life here at PSC and made it better for the future players. So, thanks to all of those that have come before we did. We will do our best to uphold that tradition.
The traditions of this program are always front and center of all we do. On the field accomplishments, in the classroom expectations, and moving on to the next level. For example, this season, Potomac State Baseball will have thirteen former Catamounts playing for NCAA Division I baseball teams. That is impressive for a small JUCO in West Virginia. We know that this year’s team will strive to uphold all of those traditions.
With spring 2024 approaching fast, so is the Potomac State Baseball spring season. Being that it is our first week back on campus, it was only fitting that we got the band back together with a team meeting in the clubhouse on the first day of classes and laying groundwork for what we expect our 2024 season to look like. I don’t think that there is a single guy on the roster that isn’t itching to compete and make a push for Grand Junction, Colorado, (the home of the Junior College World Series). The expectations that are set in this program all come with high standards. With those standards come a great time commitment and a great amount of hard work. That hard work kicked off on January 10th and we hope ends in June.
To make sure this season was a special one, our coaching staff decked us out with the best gear in the game. We are so fortunate to have a contract with Rawlings. This is a company that is synonymous with baseball. Potomac State Baseball has had this contract for over 20 years, and they really take care of us. Not many schools our size have a contract this good. The amount of gear we receive is tremendous and I know not many four-years schools get this much gear. Potomac State really takes care of their players and treats us first class. We are also a school that works with BSN sports. BSN is one of the premier organizations that works with high schools and colleges across the country supplying them with the best and newest gear in sports. This year we got three pair of Nike shoes. The Nike Alpha Huarache Elite Low metal cleats, Nike Force Trout 9 Pro molded cleats, and Nike Air Diamond Varsity Turf shoes. Quite a haul for the Catamounts. In addition to the footwear, the team was also gifted a ton of gear from Rawlings. A long sleeve hoodie, a short sleeve hoodie, a fleece pullover, batting gloves, and the hottest bats on the market.
As for the academic aspect of college baseball this spring, we got off to a slow start as the mountain weather in January can be anything but predictable. We had two school cancellations and a delay to start off the academic semester. As much as we are all focused on our academics, the days off are met with some joy. Sled riding, and other outdoor activities are busy on our campus as most dorm students find their way down to Golden Park to partake of the use of the surrounding hills. These are hills we usually use for conditioning by running up the slope. It was nice for a change to use gravity as our ally.
Even with the poor weather, the team was still able to accomplish a lot this week by practicing in our indoor facility the BPC (Baseball Performance Center). This facility is amazing, and Coach Little spent most of his holiday break by working inside to make some improvements. There is obvious pride in our program as our coaching staff works tirelessly to improve our facilities often on their off-days and sometimes with their own tools and money. Thanks Coaches!
This week the pitchers had low intent bullpens to build their arms up. The pitching staff is working to create some touch and feel for their pitches as we gear up for games beginning in late February.
The hitters got in tons of swings throughout the week. They are working on situational hitting, covering all the game day situations that can arise. They also have a weekly hitters meeting on Thursday nights with Coach Schafer to fill in all the gaps we can’t cover at practice.
All in all, it was a pretty good start to the season and the team is showing tons of promise.
Thanks for reding and be sure to watch the video for the week below and on the Potomac State Baseball YouTube page. Hope to see you next week for an update on the lives of your favorite JUCO baseball team.