Baseball on Easter Sunday

Eighteen games into the MIAA schedule we are now 17-1, with ten games left to play.  Half of our four game series against Hope College was postponed due to Friday's weather, and those games will be made up on May 10th.  Though I was hoping we would play last Friday, now we will be able to use six different starting pitchers during that last week (Friday, Saturday, Tuesday) and thus have some more of our pitchers prepared for the Regional Tournament.

Though we still can't count our chickens before they hatch and we can't take a Regional appearance for granted, our practice of believing in ourselves gives us the opportunity to visualize the regionals already.  Our closest competitor in the loss column is Kalamazoo College at 9-7, and the next best team in the win column is Calvin College at 12-8.  We play our Kalamazoo series in two weeks, and we have already played Calvin.

Early in the season, or actually in the pre-season, I had the pitchers use visualization while we practiced inside.  For the returning players, I told them to envision being on the mound at Marietta College's field.  That is where the Mideast Regional tournament was last year and again next month that will be the site.  All of the players who played last season in that tournament are able to visualize themselves being successful on Marietta's field, and that can only help us when we get there.

Again though, we still have to take care of business in our last ten games.  Yesterday we swept Hope, with Ryan Domschot throwing another shutout in game #1, which gives our pitching staff eight shutouts in our 18 conference games, and seven shutouts in our last twelve games.  That is an indicator that we are continuing to improve, but we have to keep reminding our guys that no matter how well we have been playing, there are still mistakes made that we can learn from and thus make ourselves a better team.

The luxury that a team has when it is playing well is that in trying to improve on weaknesses, or mistakes, it is easier to pick out those mistakes after games because there aren't as many of them as in a poorly played game.  In providing feedback after a bad game, there are often so many mistakes to try to hash out and then some of them can unfortunately be overlooked.  After well played games, we can look at the mistakes we made and spend some time in dialogue as well as in practice to try to take care of those situations more effectively in the future.

Yesterday our hitters did a great job of giving us a lead early in each game.  They executed great in all situations and hit a few long balls for good measure.  Though the homers by Brian Bilius and Nate Sarkissian were great, special props go to senior Nate Clark for absolutely crushing his first career homerun!

Today was a fantastic Easter Sunday.  I was able to watch some baseball on tv with my kids, cook a roast along with potatoes and veggies for us, watch a movie, and nap on the couch.  These kind of days don't happen as much as I would like anymore!!  I'm grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, and for being able to share this day with both of my kids!!

Go Adrian College Bulldogs!!

Faith in selves, teammates, and salvation

Today we have had some wind and some rain, thus our doubleheader against Hope College has been postponed until Tuesday, May 10th at Adrian College.  We are still traveling to Hope tomorrow to play two games of the four game series.  As always, when you love getting out there and competing on the baseball field, it is a bit of a disappointment to have games postponed.  And when a team has been playing as well as we have, the players and coaches just want to get back out there to get at it again.  But of course, some things are out of our control, so we had a practice and can get prepared to play two games tomorrow.

Fortunately this week we were able to play two non-conference games at home against Siena Heights University, a school and baseball program that I love.  We started two freshmen on the mound, with local right hander Rylie Robinson throwing a complete game shutout in a 2-0 first game victory.  Rylie has improved throughout the season, especially with his efficiency, as he threw first pitch strikes to 21 of the 28 batters he faced (75%).  Getting first pitch strikes and getting leadoff batters out are two of the main things we have talked about throughout the season, and in doing those two things well a pitcher can make things easier for himself and his defensive teammates.

In game two, Brent Greenwood had a rocky first inning with some bad luck, and gave up four runs, two of which were unearned.  But to Brent's credit, he pitched the next five innings without allowing a walk and giving up only one more hit. It says a lot about a pitcher when he can bounce back from sucha rough first inning and pitch like a champion for the rest of the game!!

Brent was relieved in the 7th inning by Lucas Willitzer, a converted catcher who earned his first college pitching victory by throwing a scoreless inning.  We scored two runs in the bottom of the 7th to get a walk-off win as Jake Cappellety drove Brian Bilius home with a two out single up the middle.

Bilius made a major league play at third base during the game, and for him that is just 'business as usual'.  He has been making great plays all season, saving runs for us and helping to keep pitch counts to a minimum.  With the combination of Brian's leadership, defense, and hitting, I think it would be a shame of he does not get named as the MIAA player of the year when the coaches get together to vote.

I have enjoyed reading quotes from our pitchers in the local paper this season.  On just about every occasion they mention that the defense had been great behind them.  Having faith in teammates and remember that it is always 9 against 1 when we are on the mound helps to make pitching a lot easier than it might otherwise be!!

Hopefully this dreadful spring weather (though I am grateful to be out on the field!!) will change and we can play in nice conditions tomorrow and for the rest of the season.  Our guys have final exams next week and then they can really focus on daily baseball improvements and achieving our team goals.  We can't take anything for granted, and we must continue to compete and be grateful for the opportunity to have fun on the baseball field.!!

Since today is Good Friday, I would like to end this post with a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas:  "To one who has Faith no explanation is necessary. To one without Faith no explanation is possible."

Business as usual.....again!!

Our run to the first of our 2011 team goals, winning the MIAA Championship, is beginning to become a little  more clear.  We are now 15-1 in conference games and 20-6 overall.  It doesn't come easy, and the next three weekends will be anything but routine as we continue to try to improve every day.  We still have twelve games left, including four games each against Hope College, Albion College, and Kalamazoo College.

On Saturday we finished a four game sweep of Alma College, a team which has had some good pitching performances this season and took a couple Division I teams into extra innings a few weeks ago.  They are also coached by legendary former Ferris State and Central Michigan University coach Judd Folske.  We weren't going to out coach them, but as coaches you don't concern yourself with that.  We just want our players to out play the other team's players.

How do players out play another team?  First of all they (pitchers and hitters) need to execute each pitch and stay focused on the immediate task at hand.  That amounts to two teams having a new goal to accomplish approximately 200-250 times per game.  A team can out play another team by executing as efficiently and effectively as possible 200-250 times per game.

In addition, athletes can be most effective when they are aware of the task at hand throughout the game.  Their awareness helps them to understand what they need to do to accomplish the immediate task.  Players also out play their opponents when they have genuine belief that they are going to be able to execute their tasks successfully, as well as the faith in their teammates' abilities to help them execute each pitch and every play.

Of course, all the execution, focus, belief, and faith doesn't guarantee anything.  Having the physical ability to perform and compete and having prepared themselves physically as well as mentally is important in executing a game plan.

So what our players did in the four game series against Alma was execute tremendously for 28 innings, winning all four games by scoring 33 runs and allowing only 3 runs in the series.  The hitters got big hits in crucial situations in Thursday's two close games, then on Saturday they drove the ball impressively all over the park while the defense and pitching executed nearly flawlessly, especially with baserunners on the bases.

There are still twelve big games to play, and when a team is playing well it is important to remember that in baseball any team can beat any other team at any time.  We still need to work on the right things at practice, practice with a purpose each day, play with passion and aggressiveness, believe in each other, and check our own thoughts persistently through each day, practice, and game.

Last weekend's series doesn't matter anymore, other than the things we can learn from it or the positive things we can carry into our next series.  Our next games are now the focus, and the next practice takes place so that we can leave the field better than when we arrived there.

Don't let your teammates down, check your thoughts

Baseball is a team game.  I have always told players that it is more of a team game than any other sport.  When the game is on the line, you can't just put the ball into your best pitcher's hand; he may have thrown all his bullets for the week.  You can't just put your best hitter in the batter's box; it may not be his turn in the batting order. In all the other team sports, the coaches have the opportunity to get the ball in control of their best scorers and playmakers when the situation is critical.

In baseball, a pitcher relies on his teammates playing defense.  He tries to get the opposing hitters to hit the ball to them so that they can do their jobs.  It is a 9-against-1 situation.  Hitters sacrifice themselves for the team, so that their teammates on the bases can advance and score runs to help the team to victory.

Baseball players have to understand that baseball is often a game of failure.  A great hitter fails in his at bats approximately 70% of the time.

If any player (hitter, pitcher, fielder) makes a mistake or has an instance of failure, bad execution, bad luck, he has a choice.  He can choose to hang his head and feel bad about it, appearing to be selfishly thinking of his own misfortune, or he can choose to stick his chest out and fill his mind with positive thoughts.  A player can replace negative thinking with positive thinking by choice;  it doesn't happen accidentally.

All of our thoughts are consciously chosen thoughts, and we have to check them constantly when we are out there playing for our teammates.  Teammates deserve to have peers who have their backs, and great teammates pick each other up with words, body language, and positive energy.

The best team doesn't always win the game, but the team who has players who believe in themselves and in each other has a better chance of winning than the team who doesn't have those characteristics, regardless of the talent level.

On the field, a player must focus on the immediate task at hand, not on the results.  Focusing on the task at hand, one pitch at a time, and maintaining a positive mental approach, with positive body language, unselfish energy, and the attitude of not letting his teammates down.........will allow the results to take care of themselves.

Playing baseball is an emotional game in the sense that an athlete must control his emotions no matter what is happening around him.  He must not let a negative event reveal any negative thinking nor body language.  Players should show happiness when a big play is made, and then get ready for the next task to accomplish successfully.  A game is played by performing and completing the task at hand 250-300 times per game.  Each time, a player must have a goal that he will not let his teammates down.

In baseball you don't play with a sense of urgency, you play with the idea of completing a specific task, one pitch at a time.  Accomplish the task at hand on each pitch, and the results will take care of themselves.  A coaching staff or a teammate can't ask anything more.

You don't know what you don't know

I began working as a college baseball coach in the summer of 1987, 24 years ago.  At that time, at the age of 28, I certainly didn't know what I didn't know.  I still don't know what I don't know.  That is a quote that my good friend Mark Merriman once told me, and I have repeated it hundreds of times since then.

One thing I have learned in the sport of baseball is the importance of pitching.  In particular, each game is in one way or another determined by the two guys who oppose each other on the mound at the beginning of the game.  Another thing I learned is that the results of a pitcher on any certain day are unpredictable, and I believe it is the most unpredictable thing in the sport of baseball.  We can look at Major League Baseball games to figure that out.  Hall of Fame bound pitchers sometimes get rocked and pulled from a game in the early innings.  Occasionally an unknown guy will throw a no hitter or flirt with a perfect game and never come close to doing so again.

Our Adrian College team has started the MIAA season by winning seven of our first eight league games.  We have to be careful not to feel too high about it, and by the same token we have to be cautious about having any negative thoughts about our only loss so far.

We had won our first six league games and had our #1 and #2 pitchers going in the next doubleheader against Trine University last Saturday at Trine's field.  For good reason, we felt pretty confident about our chances of sweeping that doubleheader, leaving the field with an 8-0 conference record and with Coach Craig Rainey's 400th and 401st career victories.

Our two pitchers, Ryan Domschot and Dave Parytyka, were coming back on only three day's rest, perhaps for the only time this season.  They both felt pretty good and had worked exceptionally hard during those three days to assure that they would be as close to 100% as possible.  But again, as unpredictable as pitching is, we discovered that there are no guarantees.

Dommer gave up a single to the first batter in inning #1, then after a couple fluky kind of plays they had scored a run.  The next couple innings some similar things happened and soon we were down 7-4, but still in the game.  Craig Steadman, who has been tremendous out of the bullpen all season, came in and was also the victim of some unfortunate things and we ended up behind by eight runs.

The freaky types of things that happened were things like wind blown pop flys dropping in, ground balls and bunts that we didn't get outs on, and umpire's questionable calls that ultimately ended up in two of our coaches getting thrown out of the game.

One good result of that game was that I saw our pitchers return to the dugout and become the models of leadership for their teammates, not sulking but rather being supportive of their teammates for the rest of the day.  That is important for any athlete in any sport!

We ended up winning game two even though we gave up runs in similar style as game one, in addition to allowing the first home run hit against us since opening day in February.  We also hit our first three home runs of the season and got back to our winning ways.

The last two days we have played three jv games, with some pretty good pitching being displayed in those.  We threw seven shutout innings out of nine on Monday, and then yesterday we had guys go deep into games and pitch effectively throughout.  This is an indication that our entire pitching staff continues to make progress, and the younger position players are learning how to compete and win close games.  Those are invaluable experiences for any athlete.

Although I was not expected to be in uniform for our jv games, I have donned the uniform (sometimes with the wrong team pants) because I enjoy the opportunity to be there during competition, to communicate with the pitchers and position players and help them to make strides of progress every day.  But don't get me wrong, I can't admit that I am just there for them; I'm there because I love being in the dugout, competing with the players.  They give back to me more than what I give them, for sure!!

Our goal was to win every league game, one at a time.  It is a lofty goal, but goals are meant to be challenging.  We have now lost one of eight, which is pretty darn good.  Now our goal is to win the next game, and then the one after that, etc.  If we continue to get better and climb out of the temporary valleys that come in the form of losses, we will again represent the MIAA in the Regionals and put ourselves in a position to get back to the DIII College Baseball World Series.

Business as Usual

A lot has happened in the almost two weeks since we played Heidelberg College, unfortunately most of what was happening had to do with Mother Nature trying to prolong winter here in the Great Lakes Region.  Our MIAA conference openers last Friday were postponed due to cold temperatures and rescheduled for May.  But when we got to practice Monday we were informed that we would play our four game series against Calvin College on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Therefore, we (and Calvin) now faced the prospect of playing four conference doubleheaders in the next five days.

As soon as Coach Rainey told me the news of the week's schedule, I genuinely painted a positive picture of the opportunity that it presented for our pitching staff.  Then I was able to meet the pitchers in the left field corner and tell them the great news.  This was going to be an opportunity to prove to ourselves that we have a very deep and talented pitching staff.  Our conference format of 28 games over seven weeks, facing one conference opponent each week (a doubleheader at our place and a doubleheader on the road), puts us in a position of using our top four pitchers in those games.  Because the games are seven innings (rather than nine innings), if our pitchers are efficient in their starts we don't need to use our bullpen very often.

As I presented the scenario to our pitching staff on Monday, it was clear that I was excited.  I have been saying for the past few years that our schedule has not prepared us as well as possible for our Regional Tournament and DIII World Series, tournaments in which we play nine inning games.  We are forced to use the bullpen more in the post-season, and thus we use some guys who haven't pitched much in legitimate pressure situations.  Sure, they have pitched some quality innings, but nothing like the kind of innings we play against great teams in the post-season.  So I told the pitchers that this week we would probably use six or eight starting pitchers and that would be a good thing for us, for the reasons already mentioned above.

What has happened so far is working out to be exactly the way I thought it would.  We have played our first six of the week's eight games, and have won all six.  On Tuesday we used our staff aces, Ryan Domschot and DavePartyka, our only two senior pitchers.  They were their usual dominant selves, as we won by scores of 3-2 and 4-2.  Again, our defense was also outstanding.  We struck out 19 batters in the 14 innings and gave up only eight hits.  As I predicted in my previous blog post, our hitters started to make strides as well, and this was only the beginning of the offense getting back to being fat (in a great way)!!

On Wednesday we went to Calvin and beat them twice again, with Jason Fryman throwing a complete game on only 67 pitches in the opener and Josh Burd, getting his first start, going the first five innings in game two.  Freshman Mike Osterman made his first varsity appearance and pitched the last two innings, allowing only one hit.  During the wins by scores of 6-2 and 9-1, the offense continued to improve and our pitchers allowed no walks in 14 innings.

Yesterday we began our four game series against Trine, playing at home.  Game one was started by sophomore Zach Robbins, who had some shoulder tenderness after our southern trip.  He was perfect through four innings, and then walked two guys and hit one in the fifth.  We decided to take him out after five, even though he had a no-hitter going.  Sean Hartman pitched the last two innings and did not allow a run as we won 6-0.  Freshman Rylie Robinson started game two, and after throwing five innings of 2-hit baseball we took him out so that Brent Greenwood and Craig Steadman could shut down the opposition in the sixth and seventh innings for a 5-0 win.  For the day we threw 14 innings and again with great defense, did not allow a run and gave up only five hits.

I had told the pitchers that if we ever threw two shutouts in one day they would be treated to some batting practice, so at today's practice they will get to take some swings.  Hopefully we can limit them to only a handful of swings each, and then we can be prepared for tomorrow's doubleheader at Trine and continue with  business as usual.

Tomorrow, Head Coach Craig Rainey will be going for his 400th victory at Adrian College.  If we play up to our expectations, he will also get victory #401 and we will be off to a good start to the 2011 MIAA season!  I'm sure he is more focused on getting one victory at a time tomorrow rather than reaching a milestone like 400, as are we, but it is always special to be able to congratulate a friend for such an accomplishment!!