Elon Baseball Fantasy Files, one month away from Opening Day

Supporting the 2012 SoCon Championship Elon Soccer team.

Every year, for as long as I can remember, I have seen Christmas break as a gauntlet to run through to get to Opening Day. Throughout the time I’ve been in school whether it be, college, high school, or middle school, my yearly schedule has been dictated by baseball season. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Although this year has started off strikingly similar to the past ten, it’s back dropped with an entirely different emotion. For the first time in my baseball career I’m preparing for a season without a written assurance that I have a place to play the following year. It forces you to reminisce. Recalling tee ball in Miami to coach pitch in Georgia to state championships in Jacksonville to conference championships at Elon.  James Earl Jones got it right in “Field of Dreams” when he said, “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.” Outside of my becoming a Christian in 2009, it’s the best calendar of my life. Now, you might be asking yourself, “Are you going to be like the Mayans and assume that just because your known calendar is going out of date so is the thing that it chronicles?” By no means! I hope that I’ll get another year to stare out the window with Rogers Hornsby and wait for baseball season next year, but for now let’s just play ball!

We’re less than a month away from first pitch at the ‘Lath and her artificial beauty is covered with a fresh layer of Carolina snow. That’s hard to believe since the temperature was flirting with 80 degrees just three days before, the last time we saw a 50 degree drop at the ‘Lath was on Whitehead’s curveball. Even though we’re a page flip away from the season opener, some of the newcomers couldn’t wait to make their mark on the field. The freshman brigade, led by Danny Lynch and Brandon Kacer, a pair of Miami natives who had never seen snow before last night, went out to the field and made snow angels (well, maybe not snow angels, but they did frolic around in the newfound precipitation). It was a precipitation that was much different than the sweat we have grown accustomed to pouring out during our off-season training with Coach Mac.

One of Coach Mac’s workouts this Fall.

This is my fourth time through Fall and Winter workouts and I can honestly attest that this year’s squad has raised the bar for what a successful product of #BodyByMac workouts should look like. As Coach Mac is prone to say during squats, “fill out those game pants!” Well, we have. And after making it through another off-season of avoiding stairs, craving ice baths and becoming immune to muscle cramps, we’re ready to don the Phoenix uniforms, some for the first time and some for the last.

Steve (Superfan) Roth is another Phoenix who will be wearing the maroon and gold for his final season as a student. Steve has become the “10^th man” around the ‘Lath and if you’ve ever been to a home game, you would know why. Steve, in all his glory of superfandom, couldn’t stay away from his own off-season training and today we get to see a preview of that work. Below you will see the Elon Baseball Fantasy Files. They are modeled after the NFL Fantasy Files put together for professional players to sell their craft and get their draft status up. Well, a handful of us have done our best to sell our crafts to get our attendance up! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did putting it together and come on out to the ‘Lath on 15 February for first pitch of the 2013 Elon baseball season!

Some dreams never change, adding a few more to the Phoenix

Casey Gaynor and Mike Hall helping a kid pick out a book at the book fair

Throughout this week the Elon baseball team will be spending time at Elon Elementary School, helping the students pick out books from the book fair, and speaking to them about the importance of academics in realizing dreams. After all, as the NCAA commercial truthfully states, “There are more than 380,000 student-athletes and most of them go pro in something other than sports.”

But that aside, there’s nothing wrong with chasing dreams.

Today, we got to hear some dreams of the fourth graders. Astronaut, doctor, veterinarian, inventor, teacher, policeman and fireman were among the long list of hopefuls. The sporadic shouts reminded me of the scene from “Mr. Deeds” when Deeds, Adam Sandler’s character, stands up and challenges the shareholders of a rich business to remember their childhood dreams. It was refreshing. But the one response that colored us best was when a student yelled out, “baseball player!” with all the confidence in the world.

Twelve grades removed from the kids sitting Indian style with “Captain Underpants” books on their laps, I still can’t hide from the juvenile hope of one day playing for pay, and I would bet an off day that I have a locker room full of guys who are in the same boat as me. And that’s why the beginning of fall practice last Wednesday was one of the best days of the year.

Brushing up on some “Captain Underpants”

For the love of the game.

With fall practice under way, so are intersquad games and the inevitable wake of bragging rights that come from each pitcher/hitter matchup. After not seeing a live pitch in six months, I got to shake off the rust with a matchup against my least-liked pitcher to face, Kyle Webb. I’ve never been more excited to hit an infield pop fly. However, for some people, like Swim, Leathers, King and Kinsella, needing time to “get back into the groove,” is just an empty phrase. The weekend was full of Swim line drives, Leathers’ sizzling singles, King’s doubles and Kinsella’s light-tower power home runs.

But with any good team, there is a mixture of veterans and rookies, and we’ve got ample of the latter, which leads me to a few more introductions.

I’ll start with the trio of freshman pitchers who practically give me concussion tests every time I see them, making sure I remember their names.

Casey Gaynor is a right-handed pitcher from Connecticut, who got to toe the rubber for the first time at the ‘Lath Sunday during one clean inning of work. But, if he pitches like he did to get him to Elon, I’m sure I’ll be the only one having any trouble remembering his name.

Brandon Kacer is a southpaw, from the land of Gomi, Nelly and Antonio. Growing up in Miami, Kacer has been a life-long friend of fellow freshman, Danny Lynch. When Elefante and I performed a mock interview with him, one of the first things that he wanted to make clear was that back in the motherland, there is a girl who calls him her boyfriend. Which leads me to the final member of the pitching trio, also donning Romeo status.

Elefante ushered in the first ovation of Michael Roberts’ time at Elon

Michael Roberts is a left-handed pitcher from Sarasota, Fla., who went to IMG Academy, the same school as McVicar. Along with getting his first taste of college baseball during the weekend, he got the first taste of an Elefante joke.

This weekend was Family Weekend and many parents and girlfriends came in to town. Friday night, at McEwen dining hall, Elefante heard that Roberts and his girlfriend had just reached the one-year mark of their relationship. Elefante took it upon himself to congratulate the two by initiating a standing ovation from the entire dining hall — the first ovation of many to come for Roberts and the Elon Phoenix this year.

From coast to coast, new Phoenix players fill up the 2013 roster

Justin Hilt playing in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization

“Watch this,” Coach Huff said while he and I stood down the right-field line at the ‘Lath at one of the first fall practices of my freshman year.

I looked over and saw Justin Hilt catapult a frozen rope across the outfield while playing long toss. It was one of the best arms I had ever seen outside of the big league games I had been to. “Show it off, Hilt!” Huff said.

But anyone who knows Huff knows it sounded more like show iit oooooooff, Hiiiiilt!

I gotta get in the weight room, quick! I said to myself. But that thought was immediately drowned out when Hilt jogged over and introduced himself. As if his rifle-of-an-arm wasn’t intimidating enough, his 6-foot-1, 210-pound frame that appeared to be better suited for Crossfit competitions, sealed the deal. Thankfully Hilt’s appearance, much like Shuerman’s, was starkly contrasting to his congenial personality. That was my first encounter with a senior on the team my freshman year. Reassuring, I know.

Four years later, we have a new flock of freshmen coming in, and the “intimidating” outfielder that they have to deal with is a mere 5’9, 178 pounds (but if you asked him, he would tell you 5’10, 180 pounds). That aside, I’ll never forget my first impressions of the oldest

Chris Schaedel is a freshman outfielder for the Phoenix

guys on the team when I was fresh out of high school, so I’ll do my best to give you my first impressions of them, now that I can remember their names with a month of school under my belt!

The first freshman I’ll reveal to you is Chris Schaedel, an outfielder from Naples, Fla. Schaedel’s smooth bat path and Vietnamese decent offer us unlimited potential to coin him the Asian Sensation during the 2013 season. Schaedel grew up in New Orleans before moving to Florida in 2005 to create a hurricane of his own in south Florida baseball.

Also coming from a coastal state is Jonah Campbell, the first California-bred Phoenix since I’ve been here. My first interaction with Jonah came when we were hitting in the batting cage and I asked him where he was from. A few seconds after an awkward laugh on his part to my succeeding question, I found out that his hometown of Pasadena, Calif., was not in Texas. Jonah will either be in the outfield or fishing up grounders at first base.

The final freshman to be introduced in this post is Danny Lynch, a two-way player from Miami, Fla. Lynch epitomizes the phrase “speak softy and carry a big stick.” I say that because Lynch is slower to speak, and prefers to let his strong left-handed swing and right-handed pitching speak for himself. Joining McVicar, he adds a Charger to not only our lineup, but also our parking lot.
With hopes of decorating our trophy case in the same way that we have our parking lot, we hope and anticipate the beach boys introduced in this post will help us get there.

A few more Phoenix players add on to the diverse blend

Fallout Friday at the ‘Lath

“I can’t wait for Monday,” and “I’m dreading Friday,” are two phrases you normally wouldn’t hear someone say, unless you were around the Elon Baseball team during fall workouts.

Starting with “Get-Swoll Sunday” through “Throw-up Thursday,” our weeks are being chiseled around getting in the best shape possible, under the strength and conditioning dictatorship of Coach Mac. The crescendo of training comes on “Fallout Friday,” at the ‘Lath, past the point of exhaustion, soaking with sweat and with the North Carolina sun, which refuses to yield its scorching summer temperatures to the briskness of the fall, glaring down on us.

In the midst of fall weights and conditioning, we have been keeping up with our individuals, where we are tightening the screws and bolts of fundamental baseball.

The Bullpen Militia has been introducing different members every Friday on Twitter

In large part because of my individual group, I can introduce another junior college transfer, Aaron Schuerman, who will be spending his defensive days in the outfield with me. The twins (who are also in my outfield group) have coined him the “Tank,” – maybe because he has a tattoo on his left bicep that makes him look like a Polynesian warlord, or because his makeup gives him the frontrunner in deciding who we are going to send out the bus first on road trips for intimidation (appearances are deceiving, he is nice as can be). Nonetheless, Schuerman, originally from Ohio, made a few pit stops in schools in Illinois and Georgia before bringing his smooth left-handed swing to Elon. He also has been throwing fashion back to the early 90s with a calculator-watch.

With that fresh piece of 20^thcentury-fashion, he could help calculate the expected high batting average of another junior college

Antonio Alvarez is a switch-hitting infielder from Miami, FL

transfer, Antonio Alvarez. This second transfer is an infielder that, like me, could never make up his mind in the batters box and decided to hit on both sides of the plate. I welcome in another switch hitter (R.I.P. Right-handed swing of Kinsella). Alvarez or “Macho,” originally from Miami, spent his freshman year down the road at N.C. State before eventually coming west down I-40. Macho fills in the gap of Spanish influence that was weakened when Serra decided to go to Wingate.

To round off the junior college transfers, we’ve got Jacob Baker, who, like former-Phoenix Connor Lewis, is a “good-ole Southern boy.” Baker is from right here in North Carolina. A right-handed pitcher, he went to East Carolina out of high school before taking a Pitt stop in the community college in Greenville before coming to Elon. Baker will join the “Bullpen Militia,” which is what the pitchers are calling themselves in their aim to shoot down high averages, like the ones we’re expecting to see from the aforementioned hitters.

Although all three guys come from different places, and play different positions, and have different accents, they are learning that they are blending with the rest of the Phoenix. Some of that blending is coming from the love of Monday and its status as the off day, or Colonnades dining hall after training, or the excitement we get

Jacob Baker, right handed pitcher, taking a nap in the locker room in between workouts

when we see an elevator when we have a class on the second floor, or the relief we get when Coach Mac says “find a partner and stretch,” to finalize a conditioning session. But the ingredient that contributes most to the rich blend is the desire to take the Phoenix to unreached places in the national tournament in 2013.

The beginning of the ninth inning as an Elon Phoenix

This summer I worked at BiLo and had an internship writing in the sports department of the Burlington Times-News

It’s the dawn of a new year, and it couldn’t rise out of the ashes soon enough.

When I first heard about Elon University, I thought two things: Is it a junior college? And, what in the name of Kinsella’s beard is a Phoenix? I learned quickly thereafter that Elon’s perennial fight for the Southern Conference championship, and rapid rise in Division I polls didn’t mesh well with junior college status. And, that a Phoenix was much more than a fictional figure in that odd English book series about wizardry and teenage crushes.

On the eve of my senior year as an Elon Phoenix, I can say that I’ve learned invaluable lessons donning the maroon and gold. Lessons that I’d imagine to be similar to those learned by the Elon administration after the 1923 fire, which burned down half of the campus, prompting a reconstruction of the school and the eventual naming of the school’s mascot – the Phoenix, which symbolizes an emergence from apparent disaster.

Let me explain.

As some of you may know, my junior season was cut considerably short after a collision with Furman’s center-field wall handed me my fifth concussion, a season-ender. I don’t say any of this to sniff out sorrow. I hope for the opposite effect. As a result of the concussion, my love for baseball was rejuvenated at the well of longing, and supremely, I learned how to trust God in the midst of confusion. Gifts come wrapped in all sorts of packages.

And so, with a smile similar to the one always painted on Sam Paone’s face, I’m back at the land we call ‘Lon, with the lessons I’ve learned serving as the embers for this final dance we call senior year.

Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in you — Matthew 5:16

Enough about myself!

The Phoenix bullpen twitter acount

Opening day is on the calendar and that means one thing for the Phoenix, it’s time for #BodyByMac. As a welcome home gift, some of Coach Mac’s victims already have given the flower bushes outside of the

weight room a new aroma – it’s fresh and recalls previous meals. I’ll stop. Needless to say, Mac is back at it, chiseling beach bodies and filling out game uniforms.

Not all the returning players are back for another go around at the ‘Lath. Some were Eric Serra, who decided to head down the road to Wingate University, and Connor Lewis, who went to Erskine College. We’ll miss their salsa spice and jolly grin.

Jake Luce refused to let the draft hinder his playing days. He went out to Amarillo, Texas, to continue making Top 10 defensive plays, like the one he made in the conference tournament that appeared on ESPN.

Dylan Clark and David Whitehead also played on professional grounds – both getting selected to pitch at Fenway Park in the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game after ridiculously good summers near the

Whitehead’s pitching in the All-Star game at Fenway got a shout out on Baseball America

motherland of our very own E-Money Sweet Cheeks (Eric Hailer).

As we circle the Northeast, we can’t forget Tyler McVicar, who just showed up on campus bigger than ever, only containable by his Dodge Charger.

If the adjective “big” is at hand, so is Bird (Jordan Darnell), who stayed on campus with Nate Young, Andrew McDonald “Doogie” and Spencer Medick to bulk up, leaving no more room for ERA points. Joining them was Swim, who couldn’t stay away after putting together a jaw-dropping first-team all-conference season and turning down all the MLB teams who dialed his number in early June.

Also getting called this summer was Stokes, who took the offer and is now on a Greyhound bus somewhere in between here and the Cleveland Indians’ starting rotation.

Casey Jones led his summer team deep in the Coastal Plains’ playoffs with a highlighted game going 4-for-4 with 2 homers and a game-winning RBI double. We’re hoping that the whispers off that game will linger into an encore come opening day.

Nick Bruno, Sam Paone, Blaine Bower and Michael Elefante all spent their first collegiate summer days playing in leagues with beaches nearby to display the work of Mac in between workouts and games.

As for me, I also spent time at the beach. I was in the land of Jimmy Reyes’ Myrtle Beach Pelicans, working in the meat section at BiLo in the midst of a campus ministry project aimed to learn more about Jesus Christ before coming back to Elon to work in the sports department of the Times-News with the one and only Bob Sutton, Elon Baseball’s beat writer.

Elefante playing in the Hampton’s League in New York

With school bells looming, the Phoenix trickles back from to and fro, all with summer experiences as diverse as the shuffle option on our various iPods. But as diverse is near, so is unity, and we are all back to reunite something — the Southern Conference championship to the Elon Phoenix.

Dazed and confused, Phoenix fumble at Furman recover against Towson

Me and Elefante sniping down guys on the team during a rain delay at UNC Chapel Hill

This past week has finally given me something in common with Bono: Vertigo. My experience at a place called Vertigo was a result of a headfirst dive into the centerfield wall last Friday night at Furman. While watching the Phoenix take a 6-2 win in the rubber game this afternoon against Towson, I recounted my career clashes into outfield walls with McGeorge. The tally number is eight and every time the wall’s durability has outlasted my plunge. When I was younger we had a dog named Cuda who would always chase the UPS truck when it would drive by our house. She caught up to the truck two times and both times we had to take her to the vet dazed, confused, and bruised. I used to admire her effort but couldn’t help shaking my head. Somehow I feel as if the tables have turned and I am Cuda in this allegorical tale. As I wake up from this haze and get ready to get back on the field I will take with me a few invaluable lessons and skills learned from cognitive testing: 1) Use the warning track religiously 2) Clarify to group project members and law enforcement officers that you are concussed and not inebriated or dumb 3) New skill: December, November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February and January (verbally recited in seconds).

Whitehead, Fish, Connor, Nelly, Paone, and Grant at Easter Sunday Mass

Now that my reason for not posting any blogs in the past week or so is publicized I can try to cover some ground on life beyond the uniform in the past couple weeks. Last weekend was a bump in the road to a Southern Conference title as we dropped two games to conference foe Furman. To put salt on the wound of a gloomy series loss in Greenville, Swim’s impressive hitting streak was snapped at 25 games. That streak might have been one of the most impressive things I’ve seen while playing college baseball. It made me smile in memory of Dan Uggla’s 33-game hitting streak for America’s team, the Atlanta Braves, last season. After the doubleheader last Saturday at Furman we all had Easter Sunday completely off. It was a rejuvenating day to say the least and we all spent our off time in various fashions. A small herd of the Phoenix migrated to the Moseley Center for Easter Sunday Mass, others enjoyed time with parents who had come in town for the weekend, and others headed over to the ‘Lath for extra batting practice or throwing work. I believe that it was the first day off from baseball without classes since January.

The extra rest wasn’t enough to charge us to a victory in either of our two midweek contests against ECU and N.C. State, respectively. At the home game against ECU, the baseball team’s favorite Zeta Tau Alpha sorority partnered with the Phoenix to raise support for Susan G. Komen Foundation and breast cancer awareness. It was a “pink out” game in which the ‘Lath was decorated like an infant girl’s room and the Phoenix wore pink shoelaces and undershirts during the game. It was the first of two events to support cancer awareness that the Phoenix will partake in this year. The second will be the St. Baldrick’s sponsored BaseBald taking place during the UNCG weekend. To add a soundtrack to the game was SuperFan, Steve Roth, who relentlessly heckled ECU catcher Zach Wright. SuperFan has added emotion to home games against ECU for three years and as a result of his dedication to zoned taunting of Zach Wright, Wright’s father asked SuperFan for his signature after the game. SuperFan was very proud.

The Phoenix were not sharing the proud feeling that SuperFan had leading into this weekend as we had fallen back on to the schnide, but we had a short oasis of out of conference play against the Towson Tigers to right the ship steered off course. Coming into the weekend we were tied for second place in

Hailer and Fish before the “Pink Out” game against ECU

conference with College of Charleston and behind Appalachian State. Both of those teams were in conference play this weekend and so we knew that we were set to claim second place spot by ourselves come Monday.

The series win against Towson was filled with McVicar smacking his first two collegiate home runs in back-to-back at bats, four freshmen starting today, Gomi playing shortstop for the first time at Elon and the twins combining for five hits and four RBIs this afternoon. Also during the Friday game, a handful of Broadcast Journalism students in the Communications school set up cameras and live streamed the game onto ESPN3 and ElonPhoenix.com. It was a tryout run for the TV crew in hopes of live streaming all of the Phoenix home games next year on ESPN3! After watching a handful of games from the dugout the past week or so, I’ve noticed a few things worth noting: Paone is the leader of dugout charades intended to catalyst a rally, Bird’s leg kick while pitching actually does go over his head, “give him a chair” means strike out the batter, combining ranch and BBQ sunflower seeds is delicious and Bruno shaves his arms.

As we begin to wrap up work in the classrooms and head into the final four weekends of conference play we’re hoping to lift the haze of recent stumbles and get back on track of #DefendingTheRing.

Swim swinging the Phoenix into a sweep over Samford and new haircuts for the team

Pregame buffoonery at the ‘Lath

Who’s on first? Swim’s on first. We said that question and answer so much this weekend that it was for all intents and purposes redundant. But when you’re in the midst of a 22-game hitting streak and you are 12-for-19 during the weekend and the recipient of both the SoCon Player of the Week and National Hitter of the Week, you give your teammates a lot of opportunities to identify your seemingly ever-presence on the bases. Led by Swim’s ludicrous offensive performance, we swept the Samford Bulldogs. However, this weekend’s sweep marks the lengthiest and most unusually scheduled series of my college career. We showed up to the field around 10 a.m. Saturday for the double dipper against the Bulldogs with a good night’s sleep and McDonald’s McGriddles in our stomachs. The first game was riddled with an 8-inning pitching performance by our ace Dylan, another three- run homer by Garrett, and a 5-for-5 offensive

Swim hit .591 over the past week and got National Hitter of the Week

performance by Swim en route to a 7-4 win. After a quick 30-minute break, we started the second game — little did we know what the second game had in store. Every time you are about to play a double header in college baseball you have to be mentally and physically prepared for the 18-inning affair. Whether that preparation is Gomi’s blasting of dubstep from the last row of the bus, or myself eating another pack of fig newtons, you’ve got to be ready for the extra demands of focus. We were in the final stretch of the second game when I experienced something unprecedented. The game was tied 1-1 in the top of the seventh inning with Brez on third and one out when I was walking to the plate. Before I stepped in to hit, there was a lightning bolt as seen on National Geographic over my right shoulder and a Thor-like thunder immediately following. The umpire suspended the game until Sunday — I have never thought of a single at-bat more leading up to its realization.

That night Coach Kennedy let us go to dinner on our own before most of us watched the Ohio State vs. Kansas Final Four basketball game in our hotel rooms. Team disclaimer — Fish was studying. We woke up bright and early Sunday morning, checked out of the hotels and headed to iHop before playing what-we-thought-would-be three more innings of the second game and then the final game of the series. After finally getting to have that at-bat that I waited for for nearly 11 hours and 30 minutes, but who was counting anyway, we went into a 18-inning showdown with Samford. Before I came to Elon, I would’ve never thought that I would have played in as many extra-inning games as I have. Combining last year’s conference tournament game against Western (20 innings), last year’s series clinching game against USF (17 innings) and this 18-inning matchup, I have played 55 innings! Or, one inning short of 8 high school games!

Fish and Elefante standoff after the National Anthem

We ended up winning 5-3 after Quinn hit the game-winning single to score Serra in the 18th. Garrett and I were talking after the game and we both agreed that we had never played in a game that was filled with as many key plays as that game. Some plays include Quinn’s diving play to keep the game knotted in the later innings, Serra hosing down the would-have-been game-winning run at the plate in the middle teen innings, Webb pitching six scoreless innings, a go-ahead RBI triple in the seventh inning and then of course Swim’s second consecutive 5-hit performance. I’ll be telling people about that game for years. After the second game we had clinched the series but still had another game to play before taking the 9-hour trek back to Elon. We started the final game around 4:00 Central Time with all the momentum in the world. As a staple to college baseball, competitive nature was high and so squabbles were present. These quarrels between us and other players gave us any more motivation we needed to focus in on the details of the game to ensure a series sweep. We hit three triples in the game to leg out a win a 7-5 win. Doogie got the win and Nelli got the first save of his career. As a par to course, Doogie was “cold as ice” and Nelli was “fresh out of MIA (or the bullpen)” — a reference to both of their telling walkout songs.

Nelli got his first save in the third game of the series against Samford

With a series sweep tucked in our back pocket we hit the showers and the pitchers got one last “two-ball” game in at their field before we emptied Jason’s Deli of all its salad bar and ice cream machine on our way home. We got in to Elon at 6:30 a.m. — just in time to take a shower, shine our shoes, and head to our 8 a.m. classes. But, as posts aforementioned tell, “Monday is the safe haven” and we all made up for the long weekend with hibernation naps throughout the day.

Today at practice we got confirming news that the Phoenix will take part in a BaseBald event after our upcoming series against UNCG on April 29. Yes, this means that the glorious manes of Grant, Swim, Bankhead, McVicar and the like could be shaved down to a cue ball look if donations reach the mark. If you are interested in helping research for finding a cure for kids with cancer, click here and donate to see your favorite Phoenix with a new haircut and an opportunity to help needy kids through the St. Baldrick’s foundation.

The Phoenix are looking to #DefendTheRing this Easter weekend against Furman after we have a rematch against in-state foe UNC Chapel Hill tomorrow at 6 p.m.

Last look at Samford before we hit the road. Take a look at the “Two-ball” in the left.

On the road again, playing conference foe Samford University in seven-game road swing

Swim and Serra walking into Collins Hill’s field

Pavement never seems as familiar as it does during baseball season. To quote one of Willie Nelson’s marquee songs, we are “on the road again.” For the next seven games the Phoenix will live the nomadic lifestyle, having the greyhound bus as the closest thing to home. Thursday the Phoenix made a 9-hour trek through the Carolinas and my home state of Georgia on our way to Alabama to play the Samford Bulldogs. Last week’s series victory over Appalachian State and this weekend’s matchup was sandwiched between a midweek win against the UNCW Seahawks. Winning 3 games out of the last 4 was a confidence booster for the whole team, and as Coach Kennedy oftentimes will say: “confidence breeds success” — we’re hoping to verify that phrase this weekend against the No. 2-ranked team in the Southern Conference.

We left Elon right after our last class to hit the road on our longest road trip of the year. As is tradition, we had movies playing on the TVs sprinkling the bus — this ride’s showing was The Departed, Old School, and The Warrior. The Warrior had the large majority of our team’s emotions in a flurry of testosterone pumping excitement and the urge to open up the waterworks,

Jodi refuses to have her picture taken. These are her paparazzi shots after practice at Collins Hill.

luckily we don’t have tear ducts so the urges were fruitless. After watching a couple of the movies and driving right by my house, we stopped right outside of Atlanta to practice at Collins Hill High School. This was a cool experience for me because when I was in middle school I played travel baseball games at Collins Hill. Sweet reminiscing of travel ball: doubleheaders every weekend, late-night drives around the Peach State with my Dad, and staying in hotels with teammates (which you oftentimes got into trouble in meandering around the lobby with bouncy balls and adolescent mischief). While at Collins Hill, some of the high school players stayed and watched us hit batting practice. I speak for us all when I say that having kids watch us play and hitting on a smaller field and watching the balls fly in the humid Georgia air gave us all a spring in our step and a whip in our bat speed. Kinsella, Garrett, Connor, McVicar and PAONE put on a home run light show dotting the fields beyond the outfield wall with blistered baseballs. If I were a budding high school player gazing at the show, I would’ve been energized in my aspirations at the excitement that comes from college baseball. The last few hours on the bus were filled with normalcies: Brez and others playing cards in the back of the bus, Grant listening to new tunes on his Apple Nano watch, McVicar dreaming of the Charger (Chaa-jjaa), Quinn listening to budding rappers, and Elefante playing video games on his phone while slouching into my side of the seat as I unashamedly rock a nerd-status reading Augustine’s “Confessions.”

We rolled into the Days Inn in Birmingham, Ala., around midnight central time where we all quickly passed out in a travel daze. Well, almost all of us. I had to wait an hour for the internet to kick back up before I could turn in an assignment due early this morning for my Sports Media class — a drawback of the season is the combination of travel and academics. Someone who doesn’t let the weight bring his academics down in Fish, who was at the breakfast table at 7 a.m. this morning doing schoolwork.

Huff’s very accurate tweet during our BP

After upgrading to a much better hotel in the heart of Birmingham we rolled up to Samford’s field to be greeted by an unplayable rain-drenched field. They rescheduled the game until tomorrow, marking our fourth doubleheader of the year. Before we left the field, the position players climbed what seemed to be endless stairs to get to some batting cages overlooking the football stadium. According to the eloquent wordsmith on our team, Grant, the “Feng Shui of this cage was not up to par.” Neighboring the cages was a high school girl’s AAU basketball game being played that left our team glued to the future Lisa Leslies. During this time, the pitchers were feeding their obsession of the game “Ninja” on the field below.

The game “Ninja” was taken to a different level tonight while we waited to get on the bus back to the hotel. Position players joined the pitchers in the parking lot for an unusually large circle that was boisterous enough to have a Birmingham police car drive up in curiosity. The game had its war scars as Elefante was covered with a Chik-Fil-A milkshake after the game ended.

The Phoenix hopes to take that same energy to the field tomorrow as we take on the Samford Bulldogs en route to #DefendingTheRing.

Luce showing off his freestyle rapping skills on the bus

The beloved ‘off day’ after a series win over Appalachian State

Monday is the safe haven. Ask any college baseball player in the middle of spring and he would tell you how glorious Mondays are Why? Monday is the “off day.” It’s the time of the year when our bodies begin to feel tattered and decrepit, so having Mondays to rejuvenate ourselves is like having fresh water in the summer’s heat. My freshman year J.D. Reichenbach, now a pitcher in the Cleveland Indians organization and reigning “best uniform guy” in the SoCon, told me right before the season started that the best advice he could impart after four years of playing collegiate ball was to “cherish the off day.” Every Monday my body recollects and applauds his seasoned advice. This Monday the Phoenix can rest our bodies with a sweet taste of a series victory against #29-ranked Appalachian State lingering in our mouths.

After being shut out during Saturday’s contest to this week’s SoCon Pitcher of the Week Seth Grant, we regrouped and put up 11 runs against ASU’s two, in the rubber game to clinch the series victory. It was a shame that we offensive players couldn’t put up some runs to help Spencer garner a victory after he pitched 7 1/3 innings only giving up two runs and striking out six ASU hitters. Saturday evening our 4-0 loss left us in a mood that matched the gloomy weather that painted Elon. However, our bats came back Sunday with a point to prove notching 12 hits including a 3-for-3 performance by Quinn, Elefante receiving his first extra-base hit of his career, and Garrett putting on a fireworks show with his grand slam in the sixth inning that put the Mountaineers away for good. And then there was the reliable consistency of Swim going 2-for-4 and extending his hitting streak to 18 games — right into his birthday, which is today.

Spencer’s great pitching performance

A huge part of why our offense was able to relax and produce was on account of Whitehead allowing just two runs in six innings. Whitehead’s walkout song “New Noise” by Refused has a title that was ominous for ASU hitters: a “new noise” of not being able to outscore SoCon opponents this year. Bird finished off the last few innings by “cutting down” ASU hitters, also demonstrating a performance that illustrates his walkout song’s lyrics: “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash.

With 12 home games under our belts we’ve been able to hear everyone’s walkout song at least a couple times and thus came the

Crazy Fire

yearly vote of “who’s got the best song.” Today at lunch a few of us discussed the contending songs and five songs stand above the rest in player appreciation:

1) Swim: “Your Love” by The Outfield

2) Bird: “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash

3) Garrett: “Electric Feel” by MGMT

4) Serra: “Danza Kuduro” by Don Omar

5) Tomko: “Sweet Child Of Mine” by Guns and Roses

The genre of songs spreads across the musical spectrum, just like our fashion tastes and hairstyles but if the offense keeps producing like Sunday’s performance I’m sure Coach Buck and “Buck’s School of Hitting” will have no problem with the diversity. As mentioned in an earlier blog, it is always fun to see whose walkout song describes them the best. My top two for this year’s “describing songs” are Connor’s “Song of the South” by Alabama and Doogie’s “Cold As Ice” by Foreigner.

Much like our diversity in musical interests is our interests and methods of spending our “off day.” I speak for the team when I say that first and foremost it is a day to physically regroup — that can take form in many ways. Some forms would be by taking our lovely trainer Jodi’s offer for cold tub treatments in the field house or joining Doogie on the couch to

Tomko’s fort

watch “How I Met Your Mother.” Many of the guys on the team are going to see “The Hunger Games” today, some are slaking their hunger at Crazy Fire, probably with Grant, and others are playing games on Xbox, the majority of the freshman class. Then there is Tomko, an adventure-minded man like myself, who chooses to convert his dorm room into a glorified fort. Tomko, I salute your venturesome.

With another conference series victory under our belts as we #DefendTheRing, we can let our walkout songs linger in our minds as we take the advice of baseball sages like J.D. enjoying the long awaited “off day”.

Niko Fraser –“Georgia” by Ray Charles ft. Ludacris	Darren Lauer– “When The Music’s Over” by The Doors
Chris Bresnahan– “Moment Of Clarity” by Jay-Z	Sam Paone– “Levels” by Avicii
Nick Bruno– “Better Than You” by Sam Adams	Ryan Kinsella– “Gold Dust” by Flux Pavilion
Eric Serra– “Danza Kuduro” by Don Omar	Spencer Medick– “I Use What I Got” by Jason Aldean
Sebastian Gomez– “Levels” by Shrillex	Kyle Webb– “Bad Company” by 5 Finger Death Punch
Michael Elefante– “300 Violin Orchestra” by Jorge Quintero	Andrew MacDonald– “Cold As Ice” by Foreigner
Casey Jones– “Nike Boots” by Wale	Ryan Pennell– “Born In The USA” by Bruce Springsteen
Joey Tomko– “Sweet Child Of Mine” by Guns and Roses	Alex Swim– “Your Love” by The Outfield
Garrett Koster– “Electric Feel” by MGMT	Quinn Bower” Tony Montana” by Future ft. Drake
Jordan Darnell– “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash	Brad MacHaffie– “Stranglehold” by Ted Nugent
Jake Luce– “Lose Yourself” by Eminem	Blaine Bower– “The Least I Could Do” by Ice Berg
Alec Bankhead by “Ride Wit Me” by TI	John Antonelli– “Take It To The House” by Trick Daddy
Eric Hailer– “I’m On It” by J Cole	Dylan Clark– “A Warrior’s Call” by Volbeat
Tyler McVicar– “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan	Jim Stokes– “Lights” by Ellie Goulding
Grant McCoury– “No Diggity” by Blackstreet	Grant Fisher– “Right Now” by Van Halen
Nate Young– “Beyond Belief” by Lecrae	Connor Lewis– “Song Of The South” by Alabama
David Whitehead– “New Noise” by Refused

“Hoppee Flight” back to Elon for the Phoenix after winning the series against CofC Cougars

After the National League Division Series this past MLB season, Rafael Furcal told a reporter that now that the St. Louis Cardinals won they would have a “Happy Flight” back to St. Louis. His heavy Dominican accent pronounced “Happy Flight” as “Hoppee Flight.” Before the doubleheader today there was a buzz around the dugout for a “Hoppee Flight” back to Elon. Well, we got it. Nothing is better than a bus ride home after a series win. It’s even better when the series win is against the No. 30 team in the nation, the preseason pick for the Southern Conference championship, and our biggest rivals — The College of Charleston Cougars.

This weekend was our first weekend of conference play and the hype leading up to the series lived up to the bill. It was a weekend filled with free baseball (extra innings), game winning home runs, double-digit strikeout performances, strong defensive plays and dugout squabbles.

Friday we got to sleep in a little bit before we headed to Wild Wing Café around noon where the open shades, 70-degree weather and unlimited hot wings convinced us all we were in Florida and that it was summertime. At Wild Wing Café, Connor attempted “The Saltine Challenge.” The challenge is to eat 10 saltine crackers in one minute without a beverage. Connor’s valiant effort for legend status was to no avail. I’m voting for “The Gallon Challenge” (drinking a gallon of milk in an hour without throwing up) to take place on our next off day.

The night game yielded us 0-1 in conference play as the Cougars jumped on the board early and held on to a 7-1 victory. Garrett refused to let the Phoenix get shut out on a Friday night; he hit a monstrous home run in the top of the ninth inning for the second week in a row.

With a heavy storm on the horizon, CofC postponed Saturday’s game to Sunday and so we had the day in Charleston, with a bitter taste in our mouths from the loss, and weather that matched the mood outside. We went to the Outlets in Charleston where we blew most of our meal money on new fitted hats, or in Nelli’s case on Banana Republic garb that helps him compete for the most “swag” on the team on and off the field. One thing to know about baseball players is our love for hats. I’d say most guys in college baseball have their “go-to” hat that they wear religiously off the field. For me, it is a blue Jacksonville Suns hat that I bought in high school watching a game with teammate Kyle Webb. The team’s players restocked their cap collections at Lids. Saturday night saw our team divided. Besides the heavy rival of CofC vs. Elon, college sports offered another marquee rivalry — Duke vs. UNC basketball. TRob brought his UNC fandom to a new level, flaunting a UNC basketball jersey around the hotel during the massacre of Duke.

This morning we woke up, checked out of the hotel and headed over to IHOP for breakfast. During breakfast, McGeorge tried to rally my table to have a paper airplane-flying contest with him and our waitress tried everything in her power to get Elefante to feel bashful of his order: a smiley face pancake with Gogurt. Her attempt was to no avail.

With our physical hunger satisfied, we headed to the field to slake our hunger for a doubleheader sweep.

We got another vintage performance out of Dylan in the first game as he tossed 6 2/3 innings of one-run baseball, striking out six and scattering five hits.

I honestly hate writing anything about myself in this blog, but I’ve been heavily pressured into writing about the eighth inning of the first game. The setting was this: bases loaded, two outs with CofC up to bat and down by three runs. Its hitter got a hold of a ball, lifting it to right center and possibly over the fence before I jumped up and robbed the would-be grand slam for the third out of the inning, and taking us into the ninth with a three-run lead. Grant came in to pitch in the ninth and shut the door to garner his first save of the season.

In the second game of the twin bill, Spencer struck out a career high of 10 batters in seven innings and allowing just two runs. Serra was a pest for CofC pitchers, scoring our only two runs leading into extra-inning play. Spencer is resume-building for those lady viewers of “Elon Baseball: Bachelor Edition.” With the game tied, we headed into extra innings. Doogie came out of the bullpen and handed a bunch of Charleston hitters a lower batting average. Then came the heroics… In the top of the 10th inning, Luce came up to the plate, already with a game-tying RBI single in the eighth inning before he “dropped the head” on a low fast ball, delivering a game-winning home run halfway up the Palmetto trees beyond the right-field wall. Luce told me that right before the at-bat Coach Kennedy came up to him and told him to hit it over the sign in right field. Kennedy’s demanded prophecy came to life. Nate came in to close the game out, topping out the radar gun at 93 MPH and giving us a 3-2 victory and the series win.

Buck sealed the deal of our post-game excitement on the bus when he stormed through the aisle in just his boxers yelling “GO PHOENIX.” It was sight for sore eyes. Coach Kennedy told us before this weekend that the Southern Conference runs through Elon, we feel that we made a huge statement of proving that statement true this weekend. As many of the guys on the team’s tweets from tonight say, we are #DefendingTheRing.

Gomi’s parody of Luce’s post game interview (there is no real post game interview)