The Last Stand

Contributed by Senior Tim Ernst:

Four years ago, I was attending Georgia Perimeter College not playing baseball, when I got a call from a parent of a baseball player at Oglethorpe. You might know this man as “Pound for Pound” or just Mr. Sims, but Mr. Sims told me that Oglethorpe needed an outfielder and that I should contact Coach Popp. I acted on the incredible opportunity to play baseball again and poof, I am here.
Three years have past while I’ve played for the Petrels and the years were not the only things changing around the baseball team. I have had nineteen players in three years leave the Oglethorpe baseball team without finishing their careers here. I am the only remaining player of my recruiting class that I came in with. Scott Casey, being a sophomore transfer was the only one who finished his career at Oglethorpe from our recruiting class. I’ve also played under three head coaches at Oglethorpe even if one only coached for two weeks. Some would say that I have trudged through the worst times of Oglethorpe Baseball. It’s true that we as a team have not won as many games as anyone would hope for, but I am a Stormy Petrel and Oglethorpe will always be a special place for me. The fact that Oglethorpe gave me an opportunity to play baseball, when I thought that I was done playing competitively, still echoes in my mind.
With all the gushy stuff taken care of, my Petrel life has one last year left. I am excited about this year more so than the past two years as far as the team goes. The first year, I was just a naïve little freshman (swinging at any pitch thrown to me) so I had no expectations for the team. With twelve new players, which brings depth and the best fielding infield Oglethorpe has had in the past three years (maybe ever), everything looks ready for the Stormy Petrels of Anderson Field to take flight again. I am thrilled that I can play my last season with this group of guys and I don’t think I could ask for anyone else to go into baseball war with. Not only do we have a full roster we also have a full coaching staff with 4 coaches and one trainer “coach”. There is only nine days remaining before we open up the season with La Grange and I’m too excited to write or wait for it. That game will be the last first game for Bob and me. Let’s get the show on the road. Next stop conference tourney…..

To Infinite and Beyond !!

Earlier we were chatting about how the addition of three assistant coaches were going to help us in 2007...well I forgot about one. I'm ashamed I forgot about him because he does so much for the baseball program. Jeff Klein is a performance specialist with the group Infinite Sports Performance. Infinite is an elite sports training company that specializes in the enhancement of serious athletes and uses a group of special regiments that are designed to increase first step quickness, lateral mobility, explosiveness, and overall performance.

When Jeff first saw the baseball team two years ago, his exact comments were "This is the worst shape team I have ever seen." Today the baseball team is one of two teams on campus that uses Infinite all year round. The teams have been dubbed the "Hardest woking teams on campus." Jeff can now look at the team and see actual athletes. We refer to the transformation as being " INFINITIZED"

Your asking how does an Infinite regiment differ from most workouts? The pace and intensity... During a 45 minute workout your heartrate goes up and it never drops. The pace is crazy fast, you are constantly moving. Usually a certain station has two to three different moves so the only down time is walking to and from the stations. Ask a few of the guys what they thought of the workout when they first started? At the end of most workouts Jeff puts them through a very tough core routine. Usually consisting of a 2 minute bridge, 30 seconds of crunces, six inch scissors, 30 seconds of bicycles and then another timed bridge. Sound like fun? Throw in a Arby's Special (5 sets of 4 court length sprints in 5 minutes), a few 10 pound ball tosses, a full set of lunges with the ankle bands and some stability excerises.....you got yourself one heckuva a workout.

During the fall the guys went 7am - 8am, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays...But during the season we'll require them to attend just twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Dorough Delinquents

For those of you not lucky enough to witness the basketball games last night, let me fill you in on the events. The girls team stormed out to an early lead and never looked back. The guys team had hot shooting from Tulowitzky and Dickinson to blow past Sewanee. But the real story was about a toilet bowl, a man in a dress, leopard print pants, way too tight leather pants and a golden spike. Continuing a 5 year tradition the baseballers came out in full support, and in full costume for the BB squads and cheered them onto victory.

Timmay came out in a cape and a golden spike attached to his belt... Tex wore a size 7 women's pair of red leather pants and a skeleton t-shirt...Stats donned a "Vote or Die" shirt from P Diddy and a 'neat' pair of sunglasses...Slongs... gulp, wore a short blue dress with a white flowery pattern and sported a pink umbrella...JJ lit up the arena with a casual pair of teal velor pants three sizes too small and capped it off with a fur hat...and there were plenty more. But the winner goes to Aut, who showed up in a life size, cloth toilet bowl! Yes, a toilet bowl...The best part about his costume was the nice young lady that escorted him to the gym.... Now that's devotion. Can you hear her mother on the phone the next day?

Mom: So, how was your date last night?
Girl: Great, Aut took me to a BB game in a toilet bowl suit...

Classic!


Back to the Diamond...

Saturday we saw live pitching and hitting for the first time in '07. I was most impressed with the pitchers abilities to throw over 85% strikes in the controlled setting. Well done. The hitting will catch up as it is always behind this time of year. No worries.

Today, assistant coach Justin Bach made his debut with the Petrels. That rounds out the coaching staff along with Scott Casey and David Wolensky. We are very lucky to have three assistants this year. It will only make the team and program stronger. Thank you in advance for a great season.

Stay Tuned this week as we will have first guest blogger...

Have a Great Petrel Day!!