February 16, 2005

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome back to another season of Emory Eagles Baseball.

You might have to wait a month and a half to see the Dodgers and other teams take the field, but we are back at Chappell Park on our quest for the holy grail at Wisconsin.

The season started off on Tuesday with a 7-3 victory over Washington and Lee, with Will Carr wheeling and dealing on the mound to record career win No. 24. Seven shutout innings and three hits later, their hitters became dogs in Will's pound.

For those pitchers out there that want to learn a bit more about the mental game, you will have the opportunity to learn some mental tips from Dick Mills, who has a profound list of 10 Simple Tips For Successful Pitching.

#1 - Throw pitcher's strikes - not hitter's strikes.
#2 - Change speeds

Stay tuned throughout the season as you will get the chance to learn all 10 simple tips.

Back to the game. Justin Gordon continued to lead off for the Eagles, dropping two singles before injury gave way to freshman Frank Pfister. P. Fister dropped a double in his first career Eagles at bat, finishing 2-for-2 in his Eagles debut. David Murchison, starting out in left field, also recorded his first hit in an Eagles uniform.

Designated hitter Travis Langley sparked the offense with two hits and three RBIs, in addition to Josh Barrett's two hits and two stolen bases. Beirut now moves within 21 stolen bases of the career record here at Emory.

Speaking of records, Bryan Langbord led off his season with a patented double, moving his total of 48, within 11 of the all-time Emory record held by former Eagle Kyle Foster.

Coach T produced an episode of "Eagles Gone Wild,'" with a total of eight stolen bases on the day. Speaking of great episodes, stay tuned to a brand new one of 'The OC' on Thursday night.

I am definitely excited to see where Marissa and Alex take their relationship; Aren't you?

Sam Cunningham reached base twice, including a single and RBI, while Griffin Baum, Baum, Baum led off his season with an RBI single in his first at bat, ending with two RBIs for the day.

To be honest, the credit for the game has to go to our team's D, which was on target all game long.

Spectacular fielding helped hold the Generals to only five hits, especially with Brandon Custer and Taylor Gettinger recording five assists each.

Besides Langbord, we all have decided on new introduction songs, including Will's "I'm a Wheel." However, that is the only Wheel we are in favor of because Wilco would've given us a spring preview, especially after winning a Grammy on Sunday.

Speaking of the weekend, this upcoming weekend is special in the sports community. Yes, you guessed it, the NBA All-Star Game in Denver starring Kobe from the West and Shaq from the East.

Also this weekend is a two-game series against the Thorpe, where Tommy Boy will take the bump on Saturday, followed by Big Willie Style on Sunday.

We appreciate all those supporting the Eagles this year, and hopefully we will make this season one to remember.

February 21, 2005

Tom Mieczkowski

After our season opening win over Washington and Lee it was time to focus our attention on Oglethorpe. Although the 'thorpe isn't our most heated rivalry, there is still a bit of pressure to perform when we play them.

It seems that no matter how good we are Oglethorpe is always able to steal a game from us every year. Maybe that is the reason why we came out a little tight against them on Saturday afternoon.

We opened up the top of the first by scoring three runs right away, however they got all three back in the bottom half on a home run. From there it seemed that we played a bit tense and couldn't settle into a groove. Some balls took bad hops and some we just misplayed allowing the Petrels to stay tied with us.

However, Travis Langley's big two-run homer in the top of the sixth gave us the lead for good. Ian Ganzer, in his first Emory appearance, threw three strong innings to hold our lead until the ninth when our all-region closer Keith Meizler came in and shut the game down. Although we were happy to walk away with a victory, the team realized that we needed to play more consistently and not allow teams opportunities to creep back in the game.

Sunday proved to be the kind of day that we had expected. The weather was overcast and cold, but our bats came out hot. The offense provided seven runs to Will Carr in the first three innings and aside from two quick runs in the first, the defense shut down Oglethorpe at the plate. This time we played a more fluid and solid game from start to finish. This was also an important game because it allowed a good number of our pitchers to get an inning or two.

One of those pitchers was Ryan Lumsden, who took the mound for the first time in a year after recovering from shoulder surgery. Lumpy looked great as he carved up the Petrels in his one inning of relief work.

A second highlight was getting to see freshman pitcher Tim Wilkins get his first Emory at bat. Timmy lost a heartbreaking game of "rock, paper, scissors" to fellow freshman pitcher Julian Smith. Julian won the opportunity to close out the game on the mound in the ninth. Tim's runner-up prize was a trip to the plate and an inning in left field. Timmy fought hard and fouled a couple pitches off, but on a 2-2 count, he got fooled by a curveball and struck out.

Last weekend was a good one for the Emory Eagles. We won both games of our weekend set. It was beneficial to get back into the routine of playing games on back to back days.

This weekend will prove to be even more testing with the annual Rawlings Tournament on tap. This year the competition will be very strong with York, Virginia Wesleyan, and Lynchburg making the trip to Atlanta.

On Friday, we play a doubleheader with the first game at our place against VA Wesleyan, and the second game at Oglethorpe under the lights against Lynchburg. On Saturday we start at 10 am against York.

This coming weekend will be a great test for us and we will need a lot of support. So, if you are in the Atlanta area, come see some great baseball and support the Emory baseball Eagles.

February 28, 2005

Tyler Shearon

The Emory baseball Eagles had five games last week. The week started off on Tuesday with an afternoon game against University of the South.

While the game finished in near record time, it was exciting. Sophomore Jason Glushon took the hill for his first start of the season. Jason pitched seven shut out innings facing the minimum number of batters while striking out four. The final two innings of the game were pitched by Ryan Lumsden and Keith Meizler for a final score of 6-0.

If the pitching wasn't exciting enough, the offense provided some fireworks of its own. Highlights were Griffin Baum's second career homerun accompanied by three hits from Josh Barrett.

Friday brought the start of our annual Rawlings Tournament. We started the tournament with 28th ranked Virginia Wesleyan. Will Carr threw 8.1 innings before turning the game over to Keith to pick up the save in a 5-3 final. The pitchers' endurance was only bettered by the support of our fans on the wall. For nine strong innings, cheers and pledge races inspired the team.

The win improved Will's career record to 26-0 tying the all time NCAA record. While on the topic of being perfect, the team's second baseman, freshman Frank Pfister, was 2 for 2 on the day with a walk. Frank drove in three runs and scored another while driving in three runs and scoring another.

With spirits high the team looked to the night cap at Oglethorpe against Lynchburg College. However, the beautiful weather and momentum were wasted because of Oglethorpe's tarp mishaps (their infield was underwater). The game was rescheduled for 8:30 the next morning as part of a back-to-back doubleheader for your Eagles.

The next day didn't turn out as planned, but of course neither did the following day. We dropped two games to Lynchburg College and York University. The next day we dropped our third straight game to Virginia Wesleyan culminated by a bottom of the ninth, two-run rally by the other team to wrap up our tournament.

While the weekend's games didn't go as we would have liked, not all was lost. A lot of our families were in town which led to plenty of good eating and in my case some exciting board games (which I won).

The Eagles take the field again on Tuesday against North Georgia College Saints. This week also brings Will's next start as he pitches for the outright NCAA record of most consecutive wins.

March 7, 2005

It has been quite an interesting start to our season, with an 8-4 record going down to Sanford, Florida, for the University Athletic Association championship.

The week started off nicely with an 8-4 win off the seventh ranked team nationally in NAIA, North Georgia. Tony Vidal had a great start, capped off by a fine four-inning performance in relief by Tom Mieczkowski, earning his second win of the season.

On Wednesday, we won 4-3 in 10 innings against Adrian College of Michigan, behind nine strong innings from Will Carr. Ian Ganzer picked up his first career victory as an Eagle, pitching two-thirds of an inning in relief, but we failed to help Carr capture the NCAA all-division record for consecutive victories.

After some good practices on Thursday and Friday, we headed up to Tennessee on Saturday morning, hoping to get on a roll before our trip down to Florida.

During Saturday's game, Ian Ganzer earned his second win of the week, and Keith Meizler earned his third save of the season in an 11-10 victory. I would also like to congratulate Meizler, because he now holds the career record in saves with 13, two more than the former record held by Roy Smetana. Way to go Meiz.

Sunday's affair ended with the same score, with us on the losing side of a 10-inning battle. Mieczkowski, Vidal, Meizler, and Ganzer combined to throw a strong game, but in the end, Maryville took the win.

Looking at our four games from an offensive standpoint, Josh Barrett and Brandon Custer both piled up eight hits, along with four RBIs. Barrett added a home run during the week, along with Travis Langley and Tim Cournoyer. Griffin Baum, Langley, and Tim Cournoyer added four hits on the week, piling up a total of 33 runs in four games.

I always like to talk about as many people as I can in my entries, but this week seems a little different. We may have ended the week with a 3-1 record, but to the team, it doesn't feel like a successful week. Hopefully we can go down to Florida and play like the team I know we are.

 March 22, 2005

Tom Mieczkowski

After hitting a rough patch in this young season, the Emory Eagles looked to turn things around with a successful trip to the UAA Tournament in Sanford, Fla. However it is impossible to say that we went down to Florida fully equipped.

After losing both Sam Cunningham and Bryan Langbord for the entire season, many of us could not help think of how this year might be different if we still had them. Sam just underwent surgery last week to repair a torn up knee. Sam has been through this before and there is no doubt in my mind we will see him in an Eagles uniform again.

The same can be said for Bryan "Splinter" Langbord. Splint was just diagnosed with colitis and has been in the hospital for some time. Splint is our outgoing, energetic senior captain who isn't afraid to take the team on his back. Bryan also underwent season-ending surgery, however he plans to be back next year. The whole Emory baseball team would like to give a shout out to Splinter, Sam, and their families.

Now let's talk some baseball. The tournament started out a little rocky with us having to pull out an 11-10 win over Case Western Reserve University. Although Case played a strong game, it was a bit of a wake up call for the team.

The next day we played a tough Washington University in St. Louis team. After battling for nine innings we came up just a bit short with a 4-3 loss. We had a couple opportunities that we didn't take advantage of and in the end, Wash U got us by one.

The next day didn't go our way either as we took a beat down from Brandeis with a 14-3 loss.

But on Monday we stepped up to the plate in a big way. In the first half of our double-dip we exploded for 22 runs against Case Western Reserve, falling one short of the UAA single game record. We hit five home runs and drove in 20 RBI, both UAA single game records.

Taylor Gettinger led the way with two bombs and Griffin Baum went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run, and a single. After beating Case it was time to play Rochester, a very strong team who will be looking to make a run deep into the playoffs this year.

The Rochester game was a great one as it went 15 innings. Tim Cournoyer hit his fourth home run of the tournament, tying the UAA tournament record. However, it was Frank Pfister's 15th-inning single to drive in the game winner that got the crowd going.

After two big wins the previous day, we looked to get on a roll by beating Brandeis. This game was especially important because Will Carr was attempting to break the NCAA consecutive win streak. We gave it our all, but we couldn't get it done and lost a heartbreaker 6-4.

Will saw his win streak snapped, but if you asked Will he was more upset that the team lost. If you see Will Carr at the ballpark this spring congratulate him on an amazing run.

All in all, Sanford was a bit disappointing for the Eagles. Many teams would be happy to go .500 at the UAAs, but not us. The players hold themselves to a higher standard and we were disappointed with a 3-3 showing.

However, our sorrows weren't anything that a few days in Daytona Beach couldn't cure. Now that we are back in Atlanta we are looking to get on a roll and get hot going into playoff time. The Emory Eagles have a long way to go, so come out to Chappell Park to enjoy some exciting baseball.

March 28, 2005

Tyler Shearon

The Emory Eagles came into the week looking to go on a roll. We started the week with a record of 11-7. However, the mutual feeling of the team was that it was time for a winning streak.

Everything started out right with a 4-0 win against Edgewood College (Wisc.). The shutout was spearheaded by sophomore Jason Glushon. Glu went seven strong innings before handing the game over in the eighth to closer Keith Meizler. The day's offense was found in the form of freshman shortstop Joe Roth and his two RBI singles.

While the win was a good way to start the week, on the horizon we had Heidleberg College from Ohio. Heidleberg, along with your Eagles, are ranked in the top 25 in the nation. The game didn't quite go as planned: we picked up a 12-2 loss. Obviously, our playing was not up to par and so we looked to Friday to rebound.

Friday brought a rematch in which the Eagles soared to a 5-1 victory. The game's highlights were once again Jason "The Craft Veteran" Glushon's seven strong innings and Roth's pair of RBIs. Travis Langley and "Dirty" Dave Murchison were each hit twice leading to four of the five runs scored.

Next up on the schedule was the 'Thorpe. While they might not be the toughest team on our schedule, they somehow manage to steal a game off of us every year. However, the team was determined to make this year different.

While the bats took a little while to warm up, they came through in the clutch.The offense and game was punctuated by a sixth-inning, two-run home run by Ryan Lollar. The final score was Eagles 7, Ogelthorpe 4.

With a couple of consecutive wins under our belts it turned out to be a great Saturday night for the annual baseball alumni party. Gracing us with their presence were Eagles from past years, including lawyer Rob Segear, officer Adam Schorr, and dance instructor Aaron Rosdal.

Stay tuned next week as the Eagles look to add to their win total and pick up steam heading towards the post-season.

April 4, 2005

Last Tuesday, the Eagles took flight and defeated Southern Polytechnic by a score of 4-2 behind the arm of the Hebrew Hammer, Ian Ganzer. He threw six strong innings and struck out five to earn his fourth win of the season.

Kris Herring came in relief to pitch a scoreless seventh. For your information, Kris currently has a diverse portfolio, and his stock tip of the week is to agressively buy Wild Oats (OATS) when it dips down to 8 1/2, and if it gets all the way up to 14 1/4, SELL!

Keith Meizler came in to shut the door and earn the save for the final two innings of work. Taylor Gettinger remained hot in the box with two hits on the day, while B-Rabbit, Corn Dog, and Big Levz helped the offense by each driving in runs.

It has been a while since we have gone over some pitching tips, so this week will be a special week. Here are tips 3-7 of 10 Simple Tips For Successful Pitching from Dick Mills' "The Big Game Pitcher:"

No. 3 - Have four fastballs: 1 inside, 1 outside, and 2 off-speed
No. 4 - Take something off your best curveball
No. 5 - Focus on one hitter at a time
No. 6 - Pitch inside more (Very Important)
No. 7 - Work fast

For some extra help to all those young pitchers out there, here is something to think about:

In 1995, Greg Maddux threw 600 first-pitch strikes. And out of all those first-pitch strikes, only 43 ended in base hits. That is a ridiculous seven percent. So all those youngsters out there, throw first pitch strikes (Stats from Leo Mazzone's Pitching Like a Pro).

Some scary lightning and thunderstorms during the week cancelled our Maryville game last Thursday, so it was a huge weekend ahead of us that included the Final Four, the Opening Night of Major League Baseball, and of course, two games against La Grange.

On Saturday, Josh Barrett had two hits and a stolen base, Ryan Lumsden has two hits and an RBI, and Gordo and T-Get each added RBIs, but we lost the game 13-3. The loss gave us some added motivation for Sunday's game at their place.

We jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning when Tim Cournoyer's two-RBI double drove in Justin Gordon and Taylor Gettinger. From there, we didn't look back.

We piled up 12 hits, which included a three-hit day from freshman Joe Roth, and two hits each by Josh Barrett and Taylor Gettinger. For the week, Gettinger batted .455, Barrett .417, and Roth .364. Not too bad (Honorable mention to both Lumsden and Gordon who hit .333 for the week).

We won the game 2-0, with Ian Ganzer earning his first ever save here at Emory, pitching a perfect final 1 1/3 innings. We were also followed on the road by one of our recent alums, Matthew Palmer '03, among all the parents who made the drive south to support us.

We have another big week ahead of us, which include three out of our four games home at Chappell Park. The seven-day forecast looks great, so we would love to see you down at the ballpark supporting your Eagles.

April 11, 2005

Tom Mieczkowski

Last week was a big one and we knew it. After shutting out Huntingdon on Tuesday the team was feeling great about going into a weekend series with Piedmont.

The first game was under the lights at Piedmont and with a big crowd present to celebrate the dedication of their new grandstand, we were ready to play. A rainstorm that day left the field soggy, to say the least. You could see puddles splash up and down each time an outfielder ran to a ball. Regardless of the conditions, we didn't play our best ball and we were beat 9-5 by the Lions. We all knew that Saturday was a big day for the Emory Baseball Eagles.

Waking up Saturday morning, the team knew that it was going to be a battle from inning 1 to inning 18 of our double header. The first game was a great one. The bench was so intent on winning this game that we had to conjure up long and forgotten rallying tactics to help our team. In the end, the bench pushed us over the top and we won on a bottom of the ninth single from Dave Murchison that scored Josh Barrett.

Intent on winning the rubber match we sent Jason Glushon to hill for game three. Glu pitched a great one, but a smaller-than-normal strike zone put a couple extra runners on base. Unfortunately, a couple of those runners scored and we lost a heartbreaker 5-4. That loss hurt. Every loss hurts, but this one was especially hard to shake off.

After a weekend series like that one, it will be interesting to see how we bounce back. I still believe this team can make a run deep in the playoffs, but it's going to be tough to get an opportunity. We need to get hot and win a bunch of games in a row, but all we can do is concentrate on the next pitch or the next swing and hope that things turn out in our favor. We will be on the road for the next week, so stay tuned and keep cheering for your Emory Eagles.

April 18, 2005

Tyler Shearon

After having some time for practice and rest, the Eagles traveled to my home state of Tennessee for a hump-day game against Sewanee. While the scenery was beautiful, as usual, we had business to take care of.

Ian Ganzer took the hill and threw a complete game, 10-strikeout gem. The wind cost us a couple of hits, but we fared all right in the end. The final score was 6-1 for Emory.

After Sewanee, our attention shifted to the weekend games against a tough Millsaps team. We knew these games were big to keep our playoff dreams alive. However, the games turned out to be like the bus ride to Mississippi. Numerous slow portions accompanied by a flat tire (actually it was a blown tire but that would sound too extreme for the games). We dropped both games, although we did rally in the second to push the it into extra innings before coming up one out short in the bottom of the 10th.

The weekend was not a total loss. We managed to find a bit of fight while down. We plan on keeping this intensity going into the last week and a half of the season. We also received cookies from both Josh Barrett's girlfriend ,Tara, and ex-Emory trainer Kelly (thank you ladies).

I also am now a midweight contender after numerous boxing lessons from the towering 6-foot-7 Ian Ganzer. Finally Sam "The Knee" Cunningham and I managed to squeak in about 97 seconds worth of schoolwork for our semester project in environmental studies.

With only seven games left, the Eagles look to end on a high note and it all starts on Tuesday with our double header against Huntington College.

April 25, 2005

Why is this weekend different from all other weekends?
It was a strenuous season that ended at home with two close losses.

Why was this Senior Day different from all other senior days?
Well Emory is always unique and different, which is why we had our Senior Day on the next-to-last home game of the season.

Why was this season different from all other seasons?
We expected and worked towards greatness, but we fell short of our goals.

Yes, Passover Seder with the Gordons, Gettingers, and Meizlers may have included four questions, but last weekend resulted in more than losses on the ballfield.

This year's senior class has demonstrated so much leadership, so much skill, so much love for the game, that they will be missed immensely.

Senior Josh Barrett has the all-time Emory stolen base record with 94 career stolen bases, and has added a .331 batting average so far this year. Outside of his gun of an arm in centerfield, he always brought a sense of fun to the game, which is exactly how baseball should be played. Over the past two years, many other players and myself have been able to form a great relationship with his entire family, especially his parents, Mike and Lisa.

Senior Will Carr will go down in the books as one of the greatest pitchers in Emory history. His gaudy numbers on the mound speak for themselves, but his leadership and charisma will be missed by the Emory community. He taught all of his younger disciples to always 'Respect the D.' Like the Barretts, many players, including myself, have been able to learn a lot and form strong relationships with Will's parents, Mike and Kathy.

Senior Kris Herring has shown where his skills can take him when his arm is healthy. He suffered through injuries and soreness, but his health this year has shown how effective he can truly be, and continuing his reputation of putting opponents through his 'buzzsaw.' He is debating coming back to play for one more year at Chappell Park, and if he decides to do it, many of the returners will be glad to see him back in the blue and gold. That also means that we will be able to hang out and enjoy even more time with Kris' parents, Ed and Carol.

Finally, Senior Bryan Langbord had impressive numbers for his duration here at Emory. This year has been frustrating for him, his family, and the team, because he had a horrible illness that sidelined him for the entire season. However, through rehab and strong determination, he will hopefully not only bring his great offense to the table, but also his leadership abilities that will help out the 2006 Eagles. We look forward to seeing both Bryan, and his parents, Big Dave and Barbara, down at Chappell Park next year.

For those young pitchers out there who wanted to learn the two and final tips from Dick Mills' 'The Big Game Pitcher,' I don't want to disappoint.

No. 9 - Keep runners close
No. 10- Challenge hitters with good pitches - it's still a round ball and a round bat

We came into this season looking to not only mimic last year's great success, but also hopefully improve on it during regionals. We failed.

The key is to learn from our mistakes and work from there, understanding how bad it smells at the end of a dreaded season, and what we can do to put ourselves back with the elite of teams.

May 3, 2005

Tom Mieczkowski

Watching the seniors play their final games as Emory Eagles was bittersweet. It was awesome to see Will deal against LaGrange and see Josh run down a couple more fly balls. It was even better to end this season on a positive note with a win.

However, it was heartbreaking to realize this was the last time I would ever step on a collegiate field with them. But there is life after baseball.

I know I will see these guys again, but I can't believe that what brought us together won't be a part of our lives anymore. When my class came to Emory, the sophomore class was the only group of older guys who would talk to us without making fun of us.

These were the guys that we looked up to because they were talented and had a cool head on their shoulders. With Splint clogging up right field, Will having a 10-0 record from the bullpen, Kris coming back from shoulder surgery, and Barrett just finding his groove in the outfield, it made my freshman year very special.

I would also like to say that Rosie, Keenan, and Pinck also contributed to that year which ended in a fifth-place finish at the World Series. But enough with the sentimental stuff. These seniors still have one piece of unfinished business.

The first ever Pitchers vs. Position Players scrimmage.

To elaborate, the pitchers will be playing the field and hitting and the position players will be pitching and playing the field in positions they do not typically play. In a reliable report, I was told that the pitching matchup will be Barrett vs. Lumsden, followed by Murchison vs. Glushon (or Meizler).

If I was a betting person, which I'm not, I'd go with the pitching staff to put on a hitting spectacle and run away with this thing. The pitchers have secretly been training with the best hitter (according to batting avg.) in Emory history, Will Carr.

I would like to divulge the starting lineups, but I feel as if that would give the position players time to develop a strategy in order to give us a competitive game. The first pitch will be thrown at 1 p.m., but due to a scheduling conflict will not be available on Teamline.

In my opinion, the best way to forget about this season is to get out on the field and have some fun, which is what this game will do for the team. Next year, I expect this team to bounce back with a lot of energy and put Emory baseball back on the top-shelf of Division III baseball programs.