Baseball Diary Entries

February 16, 2004

 

It is hard to imagine a team more prepared and excited for Opening Day then we were, but our opening series with Christopher Newport, ranked No. 3 in the nation, was washed out.

The commitment of all 31 players since practice began in September was clearly above and beyond the level of any previous year. Of course, all that hard work was rewarded on our last pre-season weekend as we soaked and relaxed our minds and bodies in the slightly cool waters of Lake Lanier.

The team's excitement for the coming season was best expressed by the rarely seen, but always enjoyed, "Freshman Semi-Formal Dance." The brainchild of the normally reserved Jason Glushon, this year's ensemble could be said to be the second-best freshman dance in team history. For the second year in a row, the "highlight" of the evening was Aaron Rosdal's solo dance exhibition.

Our team is young this year, but that fact does not affect our confidence entering the season. With experience in our starting lineup and our opening weekend pitching rotation backed up to face South region rivals Sewanee (Tuesday) and Washington and Lee (Wednesday), we look to start the season strong.

Our bats should help pitchers Will Carr get some wins as a starter (for a change) and back sophomore Tommy Mieczkowski as he brings the "Bull Dance" from the batting cage out to the pitcher's mound.


February 23, 2004

 

This poem is intended to better Jason Glushon and give further evidence to the fact that Grabber is the King of the Emory baseball diary.

Clouds disappeared, water drained away,
So it was time to get the 2004 season underway.
Up first on the schedule was Sewanee, to lose to them would be a sin,
Because every time Will Carr steps on the mound it's a guaranteed win
Each time I ask him, "Will, how do you do it, what could it be?"
He always responds, "I'm telling you it's the D."
I don't mean to slight the offense, they surely were great
Pinckney went deep and Schorr went 4-for-4 at the plate
That game ended with Emory 12 and Sewanee 4,
Little did we know that the next day against W&L wouldn't be a bore
We had only 1 hit through 7, yet were leading 1-0
To put the game out of reach we needed a hero
Just like that they stole a run before the final out
But we were going to win this game, there wasn't a doubt
There wasn't one hero, in fact there were thirty-one
We all went crazy when Justin Gordon scored the game-winning run
Daniel Kaufman got the win, he never ran out of steam
Even though he pitched the last 6 of this game that went 15.
On Thursday we had off; what a beautiful day!
But most of us just slept it away
Saturday meant Brescia and a chance for revenge
They took one from us last year, it wouldn't happen again
The bats got hot with 2 runs in the first inning
But Brescia didn't know that it was only the beginning
Pinckney had 3 hits, even he was having fun
But the place went wild on Josh Barrett's home run
Zaychik pitched well, he made it look effortless
Just like his changeup, which made batters whiff
Sunday's game was filled with runs, sun, and fun
Cunningham dropped a bomb; Brescia knew it was done
Carr pitched eight strong and Glush shut it down
Brescia left the field with only a frown
Being 4-0 is great, what a start!
But they were hard fought battles won with heart
This week will be rough, 6 games in all
So come to Chappell Park and watch Emory ball.

 


March 1, 2004

 

The Emory baseball Eagles put up six wins this week, setting the pace for all contending teams in the South Region at 10-0. The bats backed solid pitching performances up and down our staff by scoring runs in bunches. As of now the team has outscored opponents 98 to 32, posting a .350 team batting average.

Though Coach T attributes the team's success to "good coaching," the general feeling in the dugout is that we have been riding the strength of our superior D to victory. Anchored up the middle by captains Rob Segear and Adam Schorr (who went the distance this weekend with 35 innings behind the plate), the defense has committed only 12 errors in 459 chances. The 10 rally-killing double plays turned by the defense attests to the ability of our D to come up big in the clutch.

A week of winning culminated with a tournament championship in the annual Rawlings Tournament held here at Emory. It is fortunate that the team is already displaying mid-season form with the tarp as the weekend action saw rain, frost and warm sunny skies.

The on-field action was strong preparation for the UAA tournament coming up in just over a week. The depth of our pitching staff set us above the competition last weekend. While our hitters enjoyed the tired arms from deep in our opponents' bullpens, we rode clutch pitching performances in all four tournament games.

Both wins on Sunday were claimed by first-time winners for the Eagles: Jason Glushon threw 7.1 innings of scoreless relief through several tenuous situations in Game 1 and Kris "Country" Herring picked up his first win in Game 2. When asked for a comment on the weekend, one excited fan replied, "Those teams just flat out ran into a buzzsaw."

 


March 15, 2004

The last two weeks have been a blur.

It started with a win over a solid Southern Polytechnic State squad in which Steve Zaychik notched another win with 6.2 scoreless innings of work. But if you ask Zaychik he would say that his most impressive stat was his eight strikeouts. Little did Zaychik know that he would soon be outdone by Will "All I do is win" Carr, but we will get to that in a minute.

A couple days pass and we're off to scenic Sanford, Florida, in hopes of winning the UAA title outright and staying undefeated. Armed with the offense, defense, and our bus driver, we were ready to go to war. We knew it would be tough having to face Brandeis (Mass.) and Washington University in St. Louis both twice but we were confident.

The first game, against Brandeis, we found ourselves in a 3-0 hole, but the offense showed up as Sam Cunningham dropped a solo bomb to pull the game even and we scored two in the top of ninth to win 6-4. Will Carr earned his fourth win of the season and Keith Meizler picked up the save.

Our second game followed in similar fashion. We find ourselves in a 5-3 hole going into the top of the ninth against the University of Rochester, but this time Ryan Lollar smoked a ball that the Rochester shortstop booted to start the rally. Justin Gordon reached on a second consecutive error by the shortstop and by this time Rochester knew it was in trouble.

It's hard to think who didn't have a hit in that inning but when it was all said and done we had tallied eight runs and won 11-5. Congratulations go to Rich Babb who won his first collegiate game.

Washington University in St. Louis was next and even with their hideous uniforms from the 1970s they still were not able to lick us. Aaron Rosdal, Andrew Pinckney, and Rob Segear all tallied multi-hit games as we won this game 8-5. Zaychik turned in another impressive pitching performance and Meizler came in to earn another save.

At 3-0 in the tournament and 14-0 overall, at this point we weren't going to let Brandeis ruin our perfect record. Our bats exploded for 16 hits, but Brandeis matched us hit for hit. A clutch bases-loaded triple in the fourth by Aaron Rosdal proved to be huge. Timely pitching from Jason Glushon, who garnered his first collegiate start, as well as Anthony Vidal, who earned his first collegiate win pitching five strong innings, and Tyler Shearon who closed the game out, earned us a big win.

As we began to get close to a championship we almost encountered a bump in the road with Case Western Reserve. Kris Herring pitched exceptionally well, but our bats weren't giving him any support. We let Case hang around until our half of the seventh when we scored six runs and then followed up with two in the eighth to win 11-2.

The offense banged out 15 hits in all, and our stealing ability showed by swiping nine in all with three each from Pinckney and Barrett. In the end, Kris Herring was now 2-0 and we were 5-0 in the tournament.

The UAAs ended with us steamrolling of Washington. The offense belted 16 hits as we jumped up 7-0, however Wash U. played tough and scored six runs, but then we added four more and won 11-6.

Brye Adler pitched the first inning scoreless before giving way to Will Carr who pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up only two earned runs. But in very uncharacteristic behavior Will "All I do is Win" Carr struck out 10 batters leaving Steve Zaychik a bit salty and bitter. On top of his strikeouts, Will recorded his fifth win moving to 5-0 on the season.

With that win we won the UAA tournament and for the first time in team history went undefeated in Florida. The team felt so good that we decided to sweep Savannah College of Art and Design (Ga.) for good measure to move to 19-0, but I'll let Sam Cunningham tell you all about that next week because I am tired.

On a side note, on behalf of the team I would like to thank all the parents who were able to take time from their busy work schedules and root us on in Sanford. We had more support than any other team and your trademark chant of E-M-O-R-Y! in the seventh inning of each game won't be forgotten any time soon. Also, I would like to thank the parents who weren't able to make it, but waited by the phone to hear news on the Emory Baseball "Flying" Eagles.


March 22, 2004

Last week our team showed just how many ways we can win ballgames. Upon returning from a conference sweep in Florida, we faced a lineup of teams that had beaten us or played us tough last year.

We began the week games in front of our home crowd with a three-game set against NAIA opponents SCAD and Iowa Wesleyan. "Everyday" Keith Meizler picked up his first relief win of the season in a come-from-behind win on Saturday, followed by an offensive explosion as we completed a sweep of SCAD on Sunday.

On Wednesday shortstop Rob Segear single-handedly propelled us to a 9-3 win over Iowa Wesleyan by driving in seven runs (including himself twice on a pair of home runs). Anthony Vidal got the win in his first start, clearly getting stronger as the game went on. Kris Herring and Rich Babb, "El Guapo," came on in relief to seal the deal.

To keep us on our toes, Coach Twardoski penciled in a game the next day against Maryville College. Tom Mieczkowski made his return to the mound after two weeks of rest and picked up where he left off, somehow lowering his ERA from 0.46.

Heidelberg College, or The Team Formerly Known As the Student Princes, probably saw what was coming their way as they sat in the stands during our Maryville game. The next day they took their turn and ran into a buzz saw as Will "Coleslaw" Carr carved them up for nine innings, surrendering only two runs on six hits in the first complete game by an Emory pitcher this year.

Finally we finished the week with a Sunday double header against Eagles of Edgewood College of Wisconsin. Hopefully they found the weather enjoyable because the EMORY Eagles remained perfect with a sweep. Griffin Baum had four RBIs and fell only a homer short of the cycle in game one as the home team piled up 15 runs.

We squeaked by with a well-fought, last-inning victory in the second game of the twin bill. In typical fashion, when the bats failed us at times the pitching stayed strong. As it was pointed out, it's not everyday the closer throws more innings than the starting pitcher, but we were glad to see Meizler out there shutting down Edgewood for three innings while we scratched out a winning run. And so the streak continues.

The road does not get easy, though. Coming up Tuesday is perhaps our toughest test of the season. We hope to return the favor to NAIA North Georgia College, who beat us on their home field last year. Will Carr is scheduled for the start.

Not to be forgotten in this recap are the efforts of our most vocal fans from atop the left field wall. Captain Dan Seiden's squad has remained in top form with no lapses or major incidents all year. These guys manage to bring it to the table for every game.

People are starting to take notice of the Emory Eagles, but don't take my word for it. Emory is featured as the Spotlight Team of the week on an NCAA website, http://odac.bridgewater.edu/div3base/2004/stories/teamspotlight.htm.(see March 16).


March 29, 2004

I am writing this Sunday night while waiting for ESPN's "Dream Job" to come on television, so in the true spirit of SportsCenter I offer you the Emory baseball team's Top Ten Plays of the Week:

10. Griffin Baum being a home run away from the cycle in our 15-6 route of Edgewood College in which Baum had a bases-loaded triple.

9. Travis Langley's 2 out, 2 strike shot down the line that scored Zander Sotiriou, pinch runner extraordinaire, to beat Edgewood 6-5 in the second half of the double header.

8. Will Carr brushing off North Georgia with 7 innings pitched and allowing only 1 run while striking out 6 to move to 7-0. All this on 3 days rest.

7. The OC party that followed our win over North Georgia. In attendance were Will "I go for the hotties" Carr, Kris "I have a front row seat" Herring, Jason "This is the only time I don't think about The Lake Show" Glushon, Sam "I only act like I don't know what's going on" Cunningham, Lane "I swear Julie Cooper isn't my mom" Cooper, Tom "I'm no better than the rest of them" Mieczkowski, Aaron "I'm the only one who brought a girl" Rosdal, and Andrew "I might like this show more than Glushon" Pinckney. What a good time.

6. Sending DePauw home with a doughnut. 10-0.

5. Glushon making it to the final three in a flip game before being blitzkrieged by Brye and Will.

4. Robbie Segear banging a home run off the left field foul pole in our 10-6 win over the PBA Stalefish.

3. REVENGE.

2. Josh Barrett breaking the Emory single season stolen base record in only our 26th game of the year. Way to go Josh.

1. Winning 26 straight games to start the year, a new school record and hopefully a number one ranking in the next poll.

Next week: The Emory Baseball Team's NOT Top Ten. You aren't going to want to be on this list.


April 5, 2004

Last week was a bit of a "heads up" for the team. It started off great for us with the new ACBA polls ranking us at No. 2 in the country. But things began to get a little rocky from that point.

We slugged out a win against LaGrange which included seven straight singles in the fourth inning and 15 total hits in a span of one and one-third innings. Josh Barrett decided to go 5-for-5 at the plate and steal four bases. His five hits and four stolen bases tied school records. In typical news, Will Carr won AGAIN with a little help from Steve "I'm the Emory Wheel's favorite" Zaychik and Keith Meizler.

Our next game was anything but an April Fool's joke. The Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels plated five runs to our four runs and handed us our second loss of the year. Despite Brye Adler's five innings allowing only one run, unearned, while striking out six, the Petrels rallied in the ninth to score three runs. While this was a gut check for the team, we knew we would bounce back over the weekend.

Next was a long bus trip to Maryville, Tenn., that began at 7 a.m. Most of you would think that we would all be sleeping and resting for the game, but the OC kept us awake. Jason "Glu-Daddy" Glushon taped the previous week's episode (because we were at LaGrange when it aired) and showed it on the bus ride to Maryville. Although this guy slept through it, the show earned thumbs up from our coaching staff.

Once we arrived at the field, we were ready to lay the wood to Maryville for the fourth time. Steve Zaychik was backed by the D and we escaped with a 4-2 win that saw Daniel Kaufman earn his first collegiate save.

That night Coach T took the team to O'Charley's sports restaurant to watch the Georgia Tech vs. Oklahoma State basketball game. While most of us enjoyed our food, there was a very upset trainer who didn't get his salad (maybe he should have ordered a steak). After a Tech victory, we headed back to the hotel to watch the Duke game. UConn made a fantastic run to win the game, but the story of the night was Chris Duhon's POINTLESS three-pointer as time expired.

Sunday came quick and Will Carr was on the mound. This time we decided to make the game interesting. We fell behind 4-0 before finally scoring three runs. Trailing 4-3 in the seventh inning, Griffin Baum took matters into his own hands and smoked a solo home run over the left field fence to tie the game.

The team picked up three more runs including a triple from Andrew Pinckney. Keith Meizler moved into second place on the school's all-time list for saves in a season. He passed some guy named Ethan Solomon; I heard he (Solomon) was overrated. That win completed our season sweep of Maryville and got us ready for Tuesday against Sewanee.

Yours truly took the hill and served up his first collegiate home run; however the team backed me up and put up 11 runs in my defense. In all that offense was a pinch-hit three-run homer from Sam Cunningham and solo shots from Josh Barrett and Andrew Pinckney. Kris Herring and Brye Adler finished up the game by pitching the eighth and ninth without allowing a hit.

That win improved our record to 32-2 as we head into the weekend with a three-game set against Piedmont. Come to Chappell Park on Saturday at noon to watch a doubleheader on a beautiful day. The team would like to wish all the fans and families a Happy Passover and a Happy Easter.


 

April 12, 2004

Sometimes you just don't have it and Friday night was one of those times. It happens to all of us at some point, but it seemed like the 31 guys on the Emory baseball team all lost it at the same time.

It started out slow, but by the end Piedmont had waxed us 15-2. Justin Gordon, Bryan Langbord, and Bo Schill each had two hits, but it wasn't enough. Piedmont swung the bats like the Yankees and we fielded like a 1-15 Little League team.

In a night that nothing went right, at least we got to watch a good bit of "My Cousin Vinny" on the bus ride back to Atlanta. The thought of sweeping a doubleheader on Saturday against the same Piedmont team kept us sane.

Saturday came quickly because we didn't get home from Piedmont until about midnight. Will Carr was on the mound for the first game and on top of grabbing another win (10-0) he also took the strikeout lead from Steve Zaychik (Wear it, Zaych). Zaychik is still holding on to the argument that he has pitched less innings than Will and that's why he has the lead.

Griffin Baum had a big day at the plate where he went 2-for-2 with two RBIs. Brye Adler finished the game up in quick fashion and before we knew it we had evened up with Piedmont.

The series' deciding game followed a half hour later when yours truly took the hill. Although I threw pretty well, our offense carried the team. We jumped out to a 10-0 lead by the end of the sixth.

However, the fireworks came in the first inning when Andrew Pinckney hit a home run over the 395-foot sign that one-hopped the SPICE house in center field. What a bomb! Pinck was 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBIs and Langbord was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Aaron Rosdal also had two hits and swiped a couple of bases in our 10-2 victory.

It was great to see the team bounce back after taking such a beatdown Friday night. The loss made us upset, but we didn't let it get to us. We came back refreshed Saturday morning and showed Piedmont how the Emory Eagles take care of business on the baseball field.

This week we have a doubleheader against Huntingdon in Alabama and then we head to Savannah to play SCAD in one more weekend series. I hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday. I spent mine watching Phil Mickelson get nasty on the back nine at Augusta and win his first major championship. What a finish to the Masters!


 

April 19, 2004

The Eagles were busy behind the scenes to earn their three wins last week. The hours we logged on the bus might easily have surpassed the time we spent on the field had we not played three of the longest games of the season.

Perhaps the Tuesday game against Huntingdon College only seemed to last upwards of three hours because it is still winter in Montgomery, Alabama. Highlights from the win included a pair of home runs by Andrew Pinckney (not exactly "Huntingdon-specials," but he would tell you he should have hit at least four that day) and Taylor Gettinger getting "rip city" in his favorite ballpark.

Lowlights?? How about four hours out in the 38 degree weather with a steady drizzle coming down and a stiff wind blowing in from left. Good thing we had Steve Zaychik, the "Crushin' (Bela)Russian" on the mound. It probably helped that there were more people from north of the Mason-Dixon Line in our dugout than anywhere else within a 100-mile drive. I'd also bet my Sonic Watermelon Slush that we had the only two Utah Utes in the state of Alabama that day.

Having just returned from our business trip to Savannah, I think we are all breathing a sigh of relief. We got two wins to complete the season sweep of the SCAD Bees, but it could have been a real fiasco. Our hitting, pitching and fielding basically took turns bailing each other out.

Saturday we squeaked out a 10-inning victory with some clutch middle relief out of freshman Daniel Kaufman. Sunday, playing at the home field of the Savannah Sand Gnats (Single A affiliate of the Montreal Expos), we gave up our lead several times before finally recapturing it for good in the seventh and holding off a ninth inning rally with a 6-4-3 DP. Keith Meizler picked up the win in game one and the save in game two.

We got the job done last weekend but nothing came easy. We couldn't even get off the bus without Coach T having to break up two intramural soccer games. I think his line was, "Move your cars, punks, or Splinter will throw you in the laundry bin."

We look to maintain our No. 1 ranking in the South Region this week with three big home games starting Tuesday with LaGrange. Our regular season concludes with a weekend series against NC Wesleyan.


 

April 26, 2004

If you look at the schedule it would seem that last week was a pretty easy one for the Emory baseball Eagles. The schedule showed one game on Tuesday against LaGrange and then a weekend series with North Carolina Wesleyan; a nice break from our usual four- or five-game weeks that wear us out.

The one thing we didn't know was that each game was going to be a hard-fought battle. On Tuesday Will "Yes, winning is still all I do" Carr threw a gem against a strong hitting LaGrange team. Will was so spectacular on the mound that the coaches let him go all nine.

The team gave up four runs and it seemed as if we were going to fall one short until Justin Gordon singled to lead off the ninth. Before you knew it, Adam Schorr hit a line shot up the middle to score Josh Barrett and give us the 5-4 win. Because of his complete-game win, Will Carr tied the Emory season win record with 11.

Will also accomplished another special feat this week when he turned 21 years old. That night, many members of the team, including Emory baseball legend Kyle Foster, got together to celebrate with Will. Even though Thursday night was full of fireworks, it was Saturday that really stole the show.

Senior Day at Chappell Park was, in a word, memorable. Parents and fans filled the stands to cheer on the seniors one last time at our beautiful field. N.C. Wesleyan is a team known for their back-to-back national championships in the 1990s, but we didn't let that intimidate our game.

Inspired by Senior Day festivities and Ryan Lumsden's 20th birthday, the team was ready to play. Senior Brye Adler made his first start of the season and threw six innings that included four perfect innings to begin the game. After Brye's perfecto was broken up, it was senior Lane Cooper's hose from left field to gun a runner down at the plate that really got the crowd going. Lane also followed that up with a single and an RBI.

Senior Adam Schorr drove in his 100th career RBI in the midst of his three-hit barrage. However, the curtain call came in the bottom of the sixth inning when senior Paul Myslinski dropped a bomb over the right field wall for his first collegiate home run.

In the seventh, senior Steve Zaychik came in and threw three scoreless innings to shut down the game. What an amazing Senior Day for our team. Hopefully, the old guys can carry us in the post-season and put the team in the hunt for a national title.

Sunday was a different story. Will Carr got off to a slow start and so did our offense. Although we were down only a couple runs, we came up with big plays that kept us within reach. As the game went on, our bats and Will's arm began to wake up. After two N.C. Wesleyan players were ejected for talking back to the umpire the game belonged to us.

Will threw seven strong innings before Danny Kaufman and Keith Meizler threw scoreless innings to earn Keith a save and get Will his 12th win on the season, a new Emory record. Keith earned his ninth save of the year tying the Emory season record. Congrats are in order for both them as well as the rest of the team for its 40th win of the season.

Last week proved to be a bit more challenging than many of us thought it would be. However, after fighting to win all three games, it will be even worse to have to fight to pass three finals this coming week. The team is about to receive a much-needed break and our next game will be at North Georgia on Friday, May 7th. Then it is off to the NCAA regional tournament.


 

May 3, 2004

With the exception of those few that study best in the batting cage, all was quiet at Chappell Park last week as the team had time off for finals. Soon campus will be empty and the team will be taking the field from morning until evening, but we wouldn't ask for anything else. The post season begins in just two weeks, and since we've been working since last September to get here we may as well go all the way.

As the likely No. 1 seed in the South Regional we have the honor and burden of being the team that everyone is shooting for. The South region is typically one of the nation's strongest, and as we saw last year, it's anyone's ballgame. Hopefully the national No. 2 Eagles of 2004 can turn up their game just as the "unranked" Eagles of 2003 did on the road to Appleton, WI, site of the DIII College World Series.

Though it should not affect the postseason prospects of either team, the final game of the regular season is coming up on Friday, May 7 at North Georgia College and State University. If you ask the players, eager to get back on the field after so many days with the books, Friday Night Under the Lights will be more than a tune-up game.

Other than that road game we will be taking our hacks off of each other. If you're in the neighborhood and the sun is up, it's a safe bet that you can see some baseball at Chappell Park. Blue vs. Gold.


 

May 10, 2004

After a week-long hiatus, the Emory baseball Eagles were back in business. Coach T stuck to his game plan of light practices while gradually increasing the intensity.

After three days of practice it was time to travel to Dahlonega, Ga to play North Georgia College, a very good NAIA team. We took a beating from the Saints, eventually being '10 runned.'

Although we were upset with the loss, the point of playing North Georgia was to shake off the rust that had built up during our two-week layoff from games. The loss put a couple things in perspective for the team.

First, we realize we have a long way to go before we are ready for regionals, but we know that the coming two weeks will prepare us for Martinsville, Va., and Appleton, Wis. Second, it made us realize that we are a beatable team with weaknesses that teams are capable of exploiting. Still, we are confident we will be peaking when May 20th rolls around.

Because of a long intrasquad on Saturday, Coach T gave the team Sunday off, but even the graduating seniors will be on the field Monday at 3 pm ready to practice. In a week that is sure to be full of turkey, ham, and PB & J sandwiches, it is exciting to think that in two weeks we begin our journey for a national championship.


 

May 17, 2004

The invitations are out and the tickets are punched for the 2004 NCAA Division III Regionals. As expected, Emory tops the South Regionals as the No. 1 seed and will face York College (PA) in the first round on Thursday.

This will be our third matchup with York this season, having beaten them twice in the early season Rawlings Tournament. Will Carr, yes Will Carr as seen in Sports Illustrated's most recent "Faces In the Crowd," will likely get the ball for game one. Last year, we saw how important it was to win that opening game.

Emory is one of four teams returning to the post-season from last year's World Series. The other returning teams include champion Chapman University (CA), Eastern Connecticut State University, and DeSales University (PA). Notably absent this year are University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Trinity University (CT), Anderson University (IN), and 2003 runner-up Christopher Newport (VA).

I think the whole team is relieved to finally get on the road to play some baseball. It's been three weeks since the school year ended and campus was deserted. Some of the card players were so burnt out that they had to turn to the high school movie-going scene for diversion (Kris Herring gives Mean Girls "two enthusiastic thumbs up.").

The Emory M.A.S.H. unit, growing in numbers everyday, welcomes the return of founder Ryan Lumsden and Rookie of the Year Rich Babb, each returning from a week at home. But all you need is nine.


 

May 24, 2004

We've all heard the story about Moses parting the Red Sea, so one would think that a regional championship would be a piece of cake for him. Yet, it didn't happen.

Our lucky Moses action figure that was placed in the dugout for each regional game failed to give us that extra power we needed to get past our competition. Even Bryan Langbord's "Rod of God" couldn't deliver enough hits to carry our offense to a couple more wins.

Although we left the tournament earlier then we anticipated it was still a great experience. The nightly runs to the gas station for the essentials with Will and Zaychik were always an experience. The countless games of "Monopoly" between teammates and coaches were always heated and competitive.

Only the Emory baseball team would bring two sets of "Monopoly" to a four-day tournament. Jon Levy came to announce each game on TEAMLINE, even though probably no one was listening because all the parents were at the games watching.

And of course the parents had their fun. While the players were in their rooms hydrating for the game the next day, the parents were doing their own hydrating.

Our team set the regional record for most bottles of Pedialyte consumed with 39; 26 by Adam Schorr, alone. Although we fell short of our goal, the tournament was still a lot of fun and a positive experience.

It will be impossible to forget this season. There are so many memories from this season that it is difficult to wrap my head around it all. I still can't believe it. I thought the only way this season would end would be a national championship, but when all was said and done we came up just a little short.

It hurts to sit here and write this diary because of what I could be doing. I could be watching Josh Barrett hose another kid at the plate or I could be watching Rob Segear grab a ball in the hole and do his best Derek Jeter impersonation, even with a hurt ankle.

It all happened so fast. One day we are in the driver's seat of the regional tournament and the next night we are packing for Atlanta, while two other teams are playing for a regional championship. Watching other teams play for the national title just makes me hungrier and more determined. I can't wait for next season.