Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

May 30, 2014

I apologize for the delay since my last blog. I know you're all stoked to hear about our missions trip to the Dominican Republic and truthfully, I'm pretty stoked to tell y’all about it. Fair warning, this is gonna be a very, very long one. Last week was by far the most eye-opening and fun experience of my young life. It was a great opportunity to set aside all technology and just soak in God’s goodness and realize how enjoyable the simple things in life can be. In our privileged lives that we lead in the US, it's very easy to get sucked into the world of social media, constantly checking Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest (for the more secure men), and anything else I'm forgetting rather than appreciating what's right in front of us. To be honest, it was pretty sweet to walk into the dining room at the resort and not see a single phone out. In case you haven't noticed how rare that is, go to a restaurant sometime this week and count how many tables you see with no phones out. It's like my dad always used to tell me (after being corrected for texting at the table) "Be where you are." That might sound pretty simple, but it's a lot harder to invest in your family, friends, or even complete strangers when you've got your nose stuck in your phone.

So we left for the Dominican last Sunday, flying out of Cinci pretty early in the morning. For many, including myself, it was our first time flying. It was a pretty interesting experience, especially the four-hour layover in JFK Airport and the extremely pricey airport food. Upon arriving in Santo Domingo one thing was abundantly clear, our week was going to be extremely hot and muggy. Also, to our surprise, we were staying in an all-inclusive resort called Barcelo Capella. The facility was an absolutely massive beach-front resort with multiple pools, outdoor dining, and most importantly all you can eat Dominican cuisine. To be honest, all of us at one point or another felt guilty staying at a vacation resort on a missions trip, where our only goal was to shine God’s light in a dark place. Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome place to stay, it just didn't seem right that the kids we were trying to minister to were out there living in run-down villages while we were chilling at an all inclusive resort with unlimited food. At the end of the day, we were very thankful for God’s abundant blessings in our life and the opportunity to reach Dominicans through the game of baseball. But while we’re on the subject, the food was absolutely incredible; from the plethora of fried rices, to the stir fry bar, to the lemonada slushies, to the ice cream that melted almost immediately from the Caribbean heat. The hotel staff was also pretty awesome. One of the waitresses was very talkative and eager to help us learn some useful Dominican slang (not necessarily proper Spanish). For instance, she taught us the greeting "Que lo que," which literally means "what the what" but is used more as "What's good?" The proper response to this greeting is either tranqui, traquilo, or traquila depending on your gender, meaning "Chill brah." We also met some of the party staff, two guys named William and Cesar, who had been in the major league academies at a younger age and for one reason or another never made it to the show. It was really cool to talk with them and hear stories about friends of theirs and what teams they signed with.

In addition to the food, the resort had a plethora of island beverages (normally alcoholic, but no worries in that regard). Every night we as a team or in small groups would grab either a Piña Colada con Grenadine or a Banana Mamba (without alcohol) and chill on the beach-front deck under a straw umbrella and talk about life. The subjects of discussion ranged from embarrassing experiences in our past, to thoughts about how the season went, to goals for next season, to things of a more eternal significance. Our last night on the island the team brainstormed a bunch of goals and ideas for next season to keep the team accountable both spiritually and from a baseball standpoint. As a team we established that our style is a more relaxed and goofy approach to the game of baseball. However, as we found out from both the G-MAC and NCCAA tourneys, that style of ball is only effective when it is channeled into focused and aggressive baseball. We also finished sharing our testimonies as a team. Throughout the season this was a really touching way to learn more about each other as teammates, learn what we struggle with, understand that many of us struggle with the same things, and pull together as a team to build each other up and keep each other accountable as brothers in Christ. It's been a joy and a privilege to grow with my brothers on this team. With a senior class of nine solid dudes of Christ, the future is bright for Jacket baseball.

Outside the resort was even more fun than our beach-front shenanigans. Every day began loading the bus at 8 a.m. for our morning game before the sun reached its unbearable mid-day heat. We played four games against local teams from San Pedro, which were comprised of 14-18 year old kids, some of which were attending school. In the Dominican many kids do not attend school, especially young boys with hopes of playing professional ball. Many promising youngsters are snatched up at an early age and placed in a Major League Baseball academy until they are signed and sent to the US. If they are not signed by the age of 19, they are typically cut loose and the dream of playing pro ball is over. It was amazing to see the genuine love they have for the game of baseball, and crazy to think that anyone our age in the Dominican would either be signed by a pro team or retired. Down there it's common to see kids riding on the back of motorcycles with a glove and cleats or walking to the ball field early in the morning. During our four games we saw some amazingly talented youngsters that could run a 6.4 sec 60 yard dash, throw 91 at age 16, drop a bomb off a college pitcher, and make straight up spectacular plays with the glove. The kids are so unbelievably naturally gifted its insane, yet many of them are "raw" meaning they haven't yet mastered the little things that take great talent to the next level.

In the first of our four games down there, we played Marco’s team. Marco Uribe runs the baseball ministry in San Pedro and is an absolutely incredible guy, you'll hear more about him later. In game one we opened up the hurt locker, pouring on upwards of 20 runs on a talented, yet unrefined group of youngsters. Due to a small travel roster, pitcher Jordan Adams got the start in left field and absolutely went off at the plate, putting up three hits in game #1 and another two in game #2 before cooling off slightly. On the mound, David was pretty much unhittable. Coach was not kidding when he said kids down there cannot hit off-speed pitches, primarily because Dominican pitchers throw straight ched and don't waste time with curveballs. Game #2 was a pitchers’ duel that worked out in our favor 3-0. Conner spun a gem on the mound and Coach G came in for the save, making some kids look straight up silly with his disgusting slider and sinker combo. The second field was pretty unique, with half of home plate missing, a tree line as the outfield fence, a giant school that looked kinda like a prison in right field, and giant brick bleachers that served as the dugout. At one point several little school kids were wrestling in right center and managed to sneak up curiously behind Dan before getting yelled at by the umpire. After every game, Marco would introduce Coach and explain how appreciative we were to play them before explaining why we were actually there. Julio then shared with them his testimony in Spanish and several of his favorite verses, explaining that nothing is impossible for God. Marco would then rap up by sharing the gospel with them, explaining that in the Dominican God is like a pill that everyone has in their hand. Many people will say they know God, but never swallow the pill and fully let God transform their life. It was an extremely touching talk that we only understand bits and pieces of, but hopefully moved some hearts with the Spirit.

In game #3 we faced by far the most athletic team of our trip. Jordan got the start on the hill with Baker holding it down at second base. Game #3 was pretty interesting because of the random animal sounds coming from the opposing dugout and the copious yelling in Spanish both in the field and on the bench. For the remainder of the trip we would randomly yell "Yo quiero un chivo" accompanied by some bleating sounds, meaning "I want a goat." Inevitably everyone would start dying laughing, even most of the Dominicans, and Marco started referring to Sam as Chivo. Also, because of our limited Spanish, Jordan and Scotty would randomly yell what little Spanish they did know during bus trips. This eventually led to everyone on the team randomly yelling anywhere and everywhere "Yo te amo" which means "I love you." Similarly to the whole goat joke everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Game #3 finished with a torrential downpour, which made the surrounding river of sewage smell rather pungent. During one of my at bats, the opposing catcher’s mitt busted and he was very appreciate to borrow mine for the rest of the game. I was really touched by the gratitude he showed, running my glove over to our dugout in the middle of a rain storm, holding it under his shirt to keep the glove dry. It was something super simple, but at the same time cool to see how thankful he was. Unfortunately, because of the unrelenting rain Marco was not able to share the Gospel after that game. Hopefully they were able to see Christ just by our love for the game and each other.

In game #4 we faced an extremely good hitting team from another town where our missionary friend Gary recently held his first Bible study with the boys. Sean rolled it out on the mound for us against some really good young hitters, including the son of former MLB player Fernando Tatis Jr. Fun fact for you, Fernando Tatis whose son’s name is also Fernando is from San Pedro, and he holds the major league record for most RBI’s in one inning. He accomplished this by hitting two grand slams in a single inning while he played for the Cardinals in 1999. Young Fernando was a stud third baseman who had a couple hits. This team also boasted a massive DH who looked exactly like the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas. This kid no joke had an absolutely menacing batter’s snarl. He ended up ripping a double to center and a home run to left center before the rains came in about the 6th. As you can imagine, the fields down there don't hold water very well, but we waited out the rain and got in another inning or so before the rains came back. During the first rain delay Little Big Hurt sat on a chair in the rain and just stared at Sean the whole time. It was funny and at the same time kinda scary to see. Earlier in the game the same kid fouled a fastball so hard straight back that it bounced off the brick backstop and drilled him straight in the back. Needless to say I was slightly afraid for Sean’s life after that pitch. Luckily after the game, the rains subsided and we were able get a picture with our favorite man Ralphy as well as the entire opposing team. Julio shared his testimony again and the head of the opposing organization who has been a pro scout for years was extremely touched by the forgiveness Julio expressed toward his father who he has never met. This kind of forgiveness you can only give by loving like God loves us. After that touching moment we headed back to San Pedro and dropped off three of the guys at Sammy Sosa’s baseball academy.

Off the field we made some awesome memories as well. Every afternoon we headed out to the 40 plus acre plot of land recently purchased by the mission. This land would eventually contain a Christian high school as well as multiple baseball facilities. It is actually right across the street from the Atlanta Braves baseball academy. The goal is to get the kids through school, incorporate the Gospel, and allow them to keep playing ball. During our work time some of us cleaned out their work shed, dug trenches for the foundation of a gazebo, and helped build a baseball field. Our primary task for the week was to do as much as we could to help them finish the first baseball field on the property. This included measuring out the bases on the infield, building two bullpens, digging six 3-foot deep holes for the backstop, breaking lots and lots of giant rocks during the dig, sifting top soil with homemade screens to provide a base layer for grass to grow over rocks in the outfield, and finally pouring concrete to install the backstop. During the rock collection for the bullpens we encountered all kinds of critters including huge toads, fire ant colonies, big poisonous millipedes, and two giant harry tarantulas who met their demise by rock slide and Coach G’s foot. The hole digging took us about three days because of several giant underground boulders. We chipped away at these rocks with two different breaker bars, two hammers and chisels, a couple huge dudes with pick axes (Harry and Trent), and finally an electric drill. When you can drill eight foot-long holes into a rock, insert two chisels pretty deep and hack at it repeatedly with a breaker bar without causing any significant fractures, you know it's a big rock. It kinda reminded us of that iceberg picture where 90% is hidden underwater. The biggest problem was the best tool, the pick ax, was no good past a depth of about a foot because the hole didn't allow swinging room. Despite the rock setbacks, a couple rainstorms, a ton of mud, and lack of gasoline in the Deere we were able to get the backstop in and secure before we left and build two bullpen mounds just as nice as the ones back home.

I know this is getting long. Just two more stories, I promise. On Wednesday night of the trip we ate dinner at the church with a couple missionary families. After an awesome spaghetti dinner we headed into the church for a Bible study led by Pastor Gary (we had two different missionary Gary’s haha). Canada led us in singing Amazing Grace and afterward Marco and his wife shared their testimonies. It was amazing to hear how God worked in there lives and brought them both through feelings of emptiness to the church and to people who shared the love and grace of God with them. Not only are Marco and his wife Diomaris an adorable couple who bring out the best in each other, they are also a great example of purity in a relationship before God. After the worship time, some of us stayed behind to talk to Marco and just listen to some awesome stories about baseball, art, and family. Marco’s youngest daughter is four years old and her name is Grace. Grace was born at six months and weighed about two pounds at birth. Obviously babies born prematurely have an uphill battle to survive and Marco told us that night he prayed to God and asked for just two days with his daughter. God far exceeded Marco’s simple prayer, giving him four great years with his daughter. He told us he named her Grace because it is only by God’s grace that he has his daughter. He also told us his family slogan which resulted from that story and it is "Every day, one miracle." Every day is a gift from God and a miracle when you find ways to appreciate all He has given you. Next years’ team triangle shirts will feature that slogan on the back accompanied by a verse that expresses God’s amazing grace.

Our final day began with a trip into town to see The Palms Christian School in San Pedro. The school is run by both missionaries and locals and it runs from kindergarten up through middle school. As the kids continue to get older a new grade is added up through high school. It was awesome to meet the kids and see their art project about what they would show a visitor about San Pedro. The rest of that morning was taken up with finishing the backstop followed by our baseball clinic. The clinic was an awesome opportunity to experience the love that Dominicans have for the game of baseball. We worked with both little kids who could barely throw and high schoolers looking to get signed in the near future. It was a great time full of laughs, miscommunication, "Yo te amo," and just awesome baseball potential. The little ones were very difficult to chorale especially in broken Spanish but we managed to coordinate ground balls, fly balls, and relay races. Coach, Sam, Julio and Marco did a great job running infield with the older guys and Coach G hit his infamous fungo pop ups for all to partake. J and I got to work with Marco’s catcher Juan, who was an absolute stud. After working on footwork we just chilled, called out or safe on double plays, and beat boxed while watching infield. It was awesome to see how insignificant language barriers can be when you enjoy the little things in life. At the end of the day we said our goodbyes to Marco and both Gary's and all the awesome baseball friends we had made during the week (including one who wants to come play college ball in the states, cross your fingers).

The week was an amazing time full of baseball, laughs, hard work, beach time, Gospel time, grace, and just a deep appreciation for God’s little everyday miracles. I hope y'all enjoyed the super detailed rundown on our Dominican fun. It's been a blessing to share my senior year with y'all. I'm not sure when it will be done, but Julio and Dan are compiling videos and pictures into a giant video of our trip for you to enjoy. You will be in good hands next year as Jaden takes over the blogging duties. Stay in the Word, live in the moment, and most importantly, always #swagout.


May 13, 2014
 

May 6, 2014

Welcome back Jacket fans. I trust that y'all had an enjoyable week and hopefully had a chance to fire up the grill, sizzle some dogs, and watch baseball because school is officially out for the summer! Nothing says summer quite like bonfires, sweet tea, country music, and fireworks. Sorry, none of that really has to do with baseball....except the fireworks. And that's only if you drop bombs like my boys Drewcy J and Lensmart did this weekend. So in honor of summer, our right to bear arms, our right to blow stuff up, and our right to drop bombs; this week's blog is dedicated to the art of pimping a home run.

Now before I get into the specifics of pimping a home run, I first need to explain what brought this about. This past weekend we had some first-hand experience with what is referred to as "pimping a home run". For those of you older folks unfamiliar with that phrase it basically means to showboat, celebrate excessively, or taunt the pitcher as soon as the ball leaves the bat. As I mentioned previously several of us went Yahtzee down at Ohio Valley this past weekend, but the significance is how each individual rounded the bases. Drew went first with a monster bomb to left and yea he stood there and admired it all the way over the fence. Lenhardt was a little more adventurous going "oppo boppo," but rounded the bags with the swagger of a seasoned veteran, finishing up with a well-timed helmet click at home plate. I, on the other hand, accidentally hit one out to left and celebrated with a nice barrel role around first base. No worries, everybody saw it because it happened right after the ball cleared the fence.

I must say, however, that the home run pimping award for last weekend goes to a player from Ohio Valley. Upon mashing one to left, he proceeded to chuck his bat backward toward the umpire, before walking half way to first base and eventually jogging back around. It was pretty funny to watch, but more than that it was just straight up impressive. He combined several excellent techniques into one home run trot and I'll break those down for you in a bit.

Just like hitting, pimping a home run is a pretty exact science that takes years of practice to perfect. Just follow these six easy steps to a perfect home run pimp job. Step 1: Hit the ball very very far; so far, in fact, that there is no doubt it's a home run. Step 2: Flip your bat immediately (I'll discuss options later). Step 3: Watch the ball all the way over the fence. Step 4: Pop your chain out of the jersey. Step 5: Walk, hop, or skip at least to the edge of the dirt. Step 6: Take it slow and high five both coaches on your way around. There is nothing that ruins a home run pimp job more than busting it out of the box. Remember to admire your work and take time to soak it all in as you make your way around the bases. This is your moment in the sun, so enjoy it.

Now that you are aware of the basics, you have several options to customize your own personal home run style. These all depend on the magnitude of your blast and the situation, whether it be a walk-off blast or solo shot down ten runs. Take a gander at the following video compilation of MLB hitters and their mastery of home run pimping.

Home runs - Major League "Style"

As you will notice, the first order of business is the bat flip. In many cases you can simply spin off the ball as you make contact and drop the bat emphatically as it touches the dirt. In other cases it may be more prudent to do a modified overhand tomahawk flip for emphasis. Also notice that the length of time spent in the box varies. For walk-off home runs you can either go with the double fists straight up (like Cardwell's pimped walk last season) or the bat toss straight up. Exiting the box can present some challenges for new sluggers. However, this aspect of home run pimping is perhaps the biggest area of personal preference and style. Some people choose to simply walk out, some hop into a jog, and others simply put their head down in jog. No matter how you do it, just make sure everyone knows that it's gone.....immediately. How else will everyone, including the pitcher, know it's going to be a home run? That's what we college graduates like to call foreshadowing.

Well, now you know how it's done. So next time your favorite big league hitter goes yard, pay attention and take some notes. I hope y'all enjoyed this little tutorial. Be sure to follow Jacket baseball this coming week as we head to the G-MAC tournament at beautiful Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio. Also, please be in prayer for us as we continue to prepare for our missions trip to the Dominican Republic. If you're interested in helping us financially please do so (make checks out to Cedarville MIS.....no individual names please, specify baseball in the memo). Thanks for all your support this season. Have a blessed week, get outside, watch some baseball, and most importantly #swagout.


April 28, 2014

Needless to say, this year hasn’t exactly turned out the way we all imagined it. Our absolutely stacked power-hitting lineup has dwindled down to the few healthy men that we have left. I’m not sure whether it’s something in the water at Cedarville or whether it’s a sign from above, but in the past two seasons we have lost close to 20 players to injury. So this week’s blog is a shout out to our wounded warriors of Cedarville Baseball 2014.

This season we lost two of our top four starting pitchers to season-ending surgeries. Please be in prayer for Jammon and Cardpiece as they recover and look forward to a great senior season next year. The combination of these two studs with a fresh batch of new arms next year should be plenty to get this team over the bump during the season. Also on the hill this season we lost our only Canadian, Jesse Froese, to Tommy John. Fortunately for him, they took the spare tendon from his wrist rather than his leg, so he doesn’t have to limp around like Jordan. Just recently, we also lost my half roommate Scotty Kneeland to arm issues. Scotty has been our bases loaded bullpen magician throughout the season and done a marvelous job working out of sticky situations. Last week against Urbana, Scotty was pulled mid-inning after six straight dirt balls and an emergency call to the pen. Right now no word on the extent of his injury, but our bullpen is starting to look pretty thin.

This past weekend Harry and I came to the realization that in his two years here at Cedarville, he has never played a game at Yellow Jacket Field. Last season Harry went down with season- ending shoulder surgery during our Florida trip. This season he faced season-ending knee surgery shortly after our showdown with Ashland and before our first actual home game of the season. It’s tough to say why a stallion like him has faced so many injuries in his time with us at Cedarville, but his positive attitude and dry sense of humor have been an inspiration to us all. We are still waiting on the voice-overs for Harry and Jaden’s music video Boats n’ Throws. Cross your fingers, we may have that to you by the end of the season.

Speaking of music videos, the other rap artist/boy wonder Jaden ‘the big Mamu!!!’ Cleland has also suffered a potential season-ending foot injury. Although I wasn’t there for the incident, the word on the street is a nasty collision at the plate during our weekday trip to Kentucky State. He is now able to walk without a boot, but no time table has been set for his return this season. Jaden’s roommate and stud pitcher Nate Robinson had his own collision earlier in the season. Robby, however, made his showdown with the outfield wall in our rather embarrassing series with Ashland. Although his ankle is not at 100%, Robby is up and around without a boot and even managed to run his 1.5 mile PACL run that we all love so much. While it was a tough break for these two young bucks, the future is bright for Cedarville baseball.

Well, that about raps up the injury report……wait, no actually we have two more. Cam and I, old men that we are, are slowly falling apart at the seams. Unfortunately, neither one of us were able to play in our final home game at Cedarville. Cam has been battling a pulled groin muscle for the past couple weeks, rendering him still the fastest guy on the team. However, against Trevecca on Friday Cam dove back to second during a pick-off attempt and dislocated his shoulder again. The pain in his shoulder is such that it’s pretty much impossible to take a full swing without dropping the bat. This past week against Urbana, I pulled my hamstring running to first. I’m not exactly sure how I was that tight after nine innings behind the plate, but the joke around the dugout is I was in so much shock that I actually hit the ball, that my leg spazzed out and I barely made it to first base. This is the same hamstring that I tore my freshman year, so at this point I’m still one of the slowest guys on the team (big shocker).

With only a handful of games left this season, we are at the point where it couldn’t get any worse. We just pulled out of an eight-game losing skid and are holding on right at the .500 mark for the season. With this many injuries it’s kind of miraculous that we have enough pitching to get through the weekend. But there’s no quit in this junkyard dog. So until next time ladies and gents, rub some dirt on it and don’t forget to #swagout.


April 25, 2014

Welcome back ladies and gents!

I hope you all had a restful and blessed Easter weekend celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is only because of this great sacrifice that we have the hope of eternal life with our heavenly Father. And I don’t know about y’all, but for me there is nothing more humbling in this world than the knowledge that the King of all Creation died for my sins. Every year during the Good Friday service, my church plays a video narrating the day of Christ’s death. I realize it’s a little late for this year, but it never hurts to be reminded of God’s great love for us and the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy my favorite Easter reminder.

Click here for Good Friday video

I’m going to be really honest with y’all at this point; I really don’t know what happened as far as Cedarville baseball is concerned for the weekend of April 11-12. So in that regard, your best bet is to check out the wonderfully written game recaps on our website. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I was away with our Cedarville Aero Design team attempting to fly our awesome plane down in sunny Georgia. Unfortunately things did not work out as well as we hoped. We finished 23rd overall out of 42 collegiate teams at the SAE Aero East competition. Our design presentation placed 4th overall, saving us from our lack of a completed flight. Our team ran into all kinds of issues, mainly fractured control surface linkages in our tail, on several occasions causing our pilot to lose all vertical control and nose dive our lovely plane into the ground. Our plane was flying great when the control shaft for the elevator (the horizontal flap on the tail) sheared in half and our plane experienced a rather bumpy landing.

{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}These rough landings resulted in several sleepless nights in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express, rebuilding the entire aircraft for the next flight rounds. On one occasion we were joined in the parking lot at about 1 a.m. by both Michigan and Michigan State for copious amounts of ice cream provided by our advisor. Another night, two drunk guys from a wedding party brought us back food from Steak n’ Shake for our "pretty epic dedication." From stick ball, to throw catch, to all-nighters, to lipo fires this trip was a pretty epic failure that turned out to be some of my fondest memories from Cedarville.

But enough about airplanes for now and back to baseball. This past weekend we were swept by new conference foe Alderson Broaddus. In all honesty they aren’t any better of a ball club, we just let ourselves get taken out of our game. This again resulted in copious walks, a multitude of errors, and several costly base running blunders. Despite our poor play we showed some fire in the final game after stud middle infielder Marshall Johnson was cleated high on the leg, ripping his pants. Cooler heads eventually prevailed and Coach Manes gave us the whole "don’t stoop to their level" speech after the game. Even though we lost on the field last weekend, we are all winners because Christ conquered death on our behalf. At the end of the day, baseball is just one way of enjoying God’s creation and using the gifts He has blessed us with.

Thanks again for sticking with us throughout the season. Be sure to come out to Yellow Jacket Field this weekend for Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day, free t-shirts, and 25 cent hot dogs. It should be a great weekend for conference baseball against Trevecca Nazarene. I’d like to leave you now with two very important pieces of advice (1) swing hard in case you hit it and (2) don’t forget to #swagout.


April 9, 2014
 Hey y’all! Sorry for the two week delay since my last update on our Cedarville baseball shenanigans. I’d like to say there is no such thing as a good excuse......but mine is pretty sweet. So here it goes. I’m an engineering major. And as such, our entire senior year is wrapped up in this lovely adventure they like to call Senior Design, which in my case is the Cedarville Aero Design team. Rather than bore you with the deets, I’ll just show you our absolutely sick airplane that we are taking to the national SAE Aero Design competition in Georgia. We will be participating in a heavy-lift competition against other universities from across the country as well as several from overseas. Our plane weighs only four pounds and can carry upwards of 25 pounds. She has a wing span of about nine feet and the motor/propeller combo (which is my baby) could easily rip your hand off. Like almost anything that you have forever to work on, it’s come down to building three planes in the next three days to get ready for competition. Flight testing has been anything but kind to our team (hence last weeks’ missing blog.....oops). Our team would greatly appreciate your prayers as we travel this Thursday and as we fly this coming weekend.

So now that you know about our stunna of an airplane, let’s get back to the good stuff. Since my last blog, the Jackets have gone 4-4, dropping 3-of-4 against conference foes Kentucky Wesleyan and sweeping a non-conference double header against our friends from Oakland City. We haven’t been playing stellar baseball recently, but the pitching has been coming around as of late. It turns out, that if you throw strikes, opposing hitters will actually get themselves out a majority of the time. I’ve often heard it said that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports, and I’m not here to debate that one way or the other. But if that’s true, then pitching should be the easiest thing in all of sports right? Let’s just say that’s a slippery slope and leave that one alone before I offend Coach G. All joking aside though, walks are bad. Case and point, our staff walked/hit 22 batters in an embarrassing 19-4 loss to Kentucky Wesleyan. Last weekend we squeaked out a 1-0 win against Oakland City. Do you wanna know how many walks we gave up? Even if you don’t, I’ll tell you.....zero. That’s right. My man Jordan Adams walked zero batters and gave up zero runs. Here’s the kicker; he wasn’t even the scheduled starter for that game. Mad props Jordan! Enjoy that refreshing round of "pitchers beeps" (coach promised the pitchers they could hit if they went a whole game with no walks).

In the past couple of weeks we have gotten a lot of rain and unfortunately Cedarville baseball has procured a brand new tarp for the 2014 campaign. I say unfortunately because that removes all excuses and any prayers we may have had of not tarping whenever possible. Because we have such a nice tarp, we have already tarped the field once due to a predicted 20% chance of rain overnight. When in Rome right? Our new tarp is much lighter and more user friendly than its predecessor, but the issue still remains.....tarps are heavy and Cedarville is windy. This past week during a couple of back-to-back rainy days we had the pleasure of christening the new tarp with its first round of team tarp slides. Check out frame by frame clips of our tarp shenanigans at our twitter handle @CUJacketsBasebl. But like I said, tarps aren’t all fun and games. The flip side of tarp sliding is hang gliding. I’m not sure if that’s a real thing, at least in reference to field tarps, but last Saturday the tarp absolutely man-handled us. It took us about an hour to pull the tarp, fold it, and roll it. This kind of thing should take about 20 minutes on a good day. It was by far the most haphazard, feeble attempt at folding a tarp I have ever been associated with. Several of us joked that we were going to have to call Oakland City and tell them to turn around because we couldn’t get the tarp off the field.

Oh and I almost forgot. Two weeks ago we posted a slick video of Papi’s best handshakes and asked for you to vote. Well since posting it, the video has been removed from the web due to some unnecessary shenanigans of a couple freshmen (who shall remain nameless.....cough Marshall) in the background. We apologize for offending anybody. Obviously that wasn’t the intent of the video. But after tallying votes from Facebook, Twitter, and good old fashioned email - the results are in! And the winner of our first handshake battle, in a landslide victory, is Geef (aka Sam Summerlin, aka Summerlin 6, aka Geef Masta Flex)!! Congrats Sammy. Unfortunately the win doesn’t come with any sort of cash prize (Big Brother is always watching haha).
 To conclude my extra long make-up blog I would like to present y’all with another voting opportunity. But this one first requires a story. It was a rainy Thursday afternoon in late March; I believe it was March 27th to be exact. I had just come from the Aero lab and was enjoying a delicious chicken patty sandwich with Stinger sauce in the Hive, when several of my teammates came in to eat before our departure for Kentucky Wesleyan. I asked them if the bus was here yet and the reply I got shocked me. "It looks like a Chinese tour bus!" they all said.

In my head I pictured a double-decker tour bus with no roof, kind of like in the movie Rush Hour, when Carter is chasing Lee all over town. Upon returning to the Athletic Center I was amazed at how simply accurate the description was. Our bus looked exactly like they said and on top of it, it looked like it was older than me (like at least somewhere in the 80's). Now coach was none too pleased with what the charter company (who actually will remain nameless) had provided for us.

After phone calls and a rather hilarious packing dilemma we opted to "rough it" (#firstworldprobz) and embark on another potential Bus 71-esque adventure to Kentucky. Hopefully that story painted a pretty good picture for you, because now it’s your turn to tell me which "Chinese tour bus" we took to Kentucky. Take a look below and cast your vote for which one you think best matches my story. I’ll give you a little hint: it was white.

the Neoplan. Over the past couple seasons we have developed a close relationship with our beloved Florida-trip transportation of Eagles Wings Charters. She was so young and full of life, positively impacting the lives of every ballplayer that came on board. I would like to take this opportunity to reminisce about everything that made the Neoplan such a great travel companion.

For those of you who have never experienced her awesomeness, the Neoplan was a double-decker "sleeper" bus. The Jackets baseball team was fortunate enough to develop a memorable banter-filled relationship with her over the past several seasons, during our annual Florida trip. The upper level of the Neoplan provided the perfect "players only" get away, highly conducive to banter, euchre, team bonding, teaching opportunities for our homeschooled brethren, the ever popular "gauntlet," and Neoplan pimples. On several occasions Coach G ventured to the upper deck to share his wild and entertaining adventures at Kent State University as a stud pitcher. The lower level provided a more formal table setup for the adults as well as our very own trainer Kurt "the best trainer ever" Beachy. One of the coolest aspects of the Neoplan was the incredible skill of our drivers from Eagles Wings, maneuvering our personal space ship through crowded parking lots, heavy highway traffic, and low hanging trees. In our final adventure together, the emergency hatch was ripped off the roof by a low hanging tree just before arriving safely at our abode on Cedar Street. Several freshmen retrieved her hatch, as the remainder of the trip was accompanied by leaves and the occasional morning dew on the upper deck of our beloved bus. I would now like to pause for a moment of silence in remembrance of the Neoplan……….

………This season marked the dawning of a new age as the Neoplan was replaced by a single deck sleeper bus known simply as Bus 71. The maiden voyage has been slightly less than auspicious, as Bus 71 has spent a majority of our 2014 Florida campaign at the local mechanic for repairs. A special thank you to the parents who shuttled the team to our first game against Clearwater Christian. For future reference, if anyone is looking to make their own Neoplan purchase, be sure to check out the newest Skyliner model at the following link - Skyliner

In case you were wondering, we have actually played some baseball this season. Prior to our Florida trip, we were fortunate enough to venture down to Florence, Kentucky for a showdown with Saint Joseph’s. Our bats came out on fire in our first outdoor appearance of the year with Lenny, Harry, Dan Larkin and Drew "Guckle" Johnson all going Yahtzee. On the mound, both Scotty Kneeland and our new closer Tyler Hurt were absolutely untouchable. Despite timely hitting and shut down pitching, we came back from Florence with a record of 2-2.

So far in Florida, we have pulled out three wins against our friends from Clearwater. Two of our victories were pretty ugly, as we were able to squeak the go-ahead runs across in the final innings on wild pitches and some clutch hitting. Mad props to my boy Sean Larkin on spinning our first complete game shutout of the season. Way to command the hill bud.

As some of you may remember, fellow senior Cam and I engaged in a friendly game called Assassin throughout last season. This year we have decided to extend the challenge to our teammates by drafting teams of assassins to compete head-to-head in team death matches armed with mini-marshmallow blowguns. For those of you familiar with Call of Duty, these team death matches will be similar in nature: requiring deadly accuracy, teamwork, and stealth. The first team to 25 kills will be crowned the weekly victor. The Assassin rosters for this season are as follows:

Team Blue
Cam
D. Larkin
Geef
Jammon
S. Larkin
Jaden
Harry
Drewbs
Scotty Knees
Baby Bancroft
Baker
Swigs
Hamilton
Julio

Team Gold
Foxy
Lenny
Petey
Adams
Hucky
Card-Piece
Hurt
Bucky
Papa Bancroft
Robinson
Danny Boy (student trainer)
Marshall
Trent
Canada

P.S. Stay tuned for a video mash up of our Florida adventures brought to you specially by our man Geef (Sam Sumerlin) and his brand new Go Pro camera.


February 20, 2014

Once upon a time, a wise man said "Spring training is like a cat with nine lives. A baseball player has X number of lives and each spring is the birth of a new life." I’m not really 100% sure what that means but I do know this…..it’s time for Jacket baseball 2014!

With that in mind, welcome back ladies and gents. I hope you all had a blessed and safe holiday season. To say that I am ready for another season of banter, crazy hashtags, Assassin, and Christ-centered baseball is an understatement. I will be your baseball blogger again this year and I look forward to bringing you the inside scoop throughout my senior season.

This year our roster has filled out quite a bit over previous years….not that we are fat or out of shape or anything (we just have more people). The ol’ ball coach brought in a quality batch of 10 freshmen this season, providing some much needed depth on the infield. For those of you who remember, last season was pretty traumatic for our lineup, as we lost our entire starting infield to injury down in Florida. By God’s grace our wounded warriors, Harrison Martin and Sam Summerlin, have recovered from surgery and are ready to provide some veteran leadership on the infield. We also have my boy Huskey back up the middle, knee brace and all, providing the squeakiest, yet smoothest double play duo in the league.

This season Harry will slide over to first to provide some rest for his sore wing, leaving room for stud freshman third baseman Drew Johnson. This guy, affectionately known as "Drewbeedoo," is no joke. A switch-hitter with tremendous pop from both sides of the plate, Drew (my #1 draft pick in the steak-dog series.....who, by the way, saved the series with a diving stab down the line to end it) will be one to watch this season. We also picked up four quality middle infielders who can play both sides of the bag: Marshall Johnson, Scotty Kneeland, Austin Bouquet, and JT Deane. With a plethora of options, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a variety of combinations up the middle. This year also marks the debut of my fellow catcher David Lenhardt (Lenny) over at first base. Between Harry and Lenny I would venture to say that we have the hardest swinging first basemen this side of heaven.

The outfield should look relatively similar to last year, minus two beloved former teammates Chria and Logie. Fellow senior Cam McWilliams and Dan Larkin will be holding down the outfield this season along with a freshman to be named later. Just kidding…freshmen Nate squared (Bancroft and Robinson) should see time on the green this year as well as my man Lenny.

Before discussing pitchers for this year, I would like to take a little break for story time. Throughout the pre-season, coach has made a point of instilling the child-like nature of baseball by instituting "Friday Fun-Day" (about as fun as 6 a.m. practices could ever be). So far we have had cage games, whiffle ball, and my personal favorite vintage baseball. I’m still not really sure of the rules but basically in 1806 there was no such thing as a foul ball, pitchers threw underhand, and every ball could be played off one hop for an out. To add even more drama to our vintage baseball debut, we played with a tennis ball in the field house with all surfaces in play (lights, curtains, rafters etc.). Needless to say, the action was rather intense and comical at the same time. Unfortunately, amidst all the joy and celebration of Friday Fun-Day, one of our captains, Steve Cardwell, tore his ACL. Please be in prayer for him and our beloved trainer Kurt during surgery and the long rode of recovery.

The loss of Steve will provide a big gap in our conference pitching rotation, with Jordan Ammon, Sean Larkin, and Garrett Baker holding down the starting role. The bullpen will be comprised of a couple former catchers (Peter Martin and Trent Johnson), a submariner (Connor Hamilton), a country boy (Jordan Adams), and a straight up goof ball of a closer (Tyler Hurt). This season also marks the resurgence of some money ball tactics and a pretty exciting surprise. Helping me handle this fine group of pitchers behind the dish will be freshman Jaden Cleland, who I am fairly convinced could go an entire day speaking strictly in movie quotes.

Also joining us for the ride this season is my man Julio Miranda, who will be acting as a player-coach this year. Julio steps into the first base coaching shoes left by my house-mate Wiggz from last season. In addition to a vast improvement in fungo skill, Julio also provides a bilingual presence for us on the field, which will be vital when we head down to the Dominican Republic this summer. Please be in prayer for us as a team as we prepare for the missions trip and begin to raise money.

With all that to say, this season looks to be a promising venture for Cedarville baseball. Be sure to check back throughout the season for more shenanigans and banter. I’d like to leave you with a verse that has hit home for us as a team, as we begin our journey as brothers in Christ and accountability partners.

Hebrews 3:12-13 - See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.




Chris Fox is a senior catcher from Lancaster, Ohio. He is in his third season with the Yellow Jackets and is a Dean's List student majoring in mechanical engineering.