Summer League Baseball: Matt Werner

Well it has been about three weeks since we arrived in my home state of Colorado and it feels great to be back playing a high level of baseball close to home. We started our stay at my parents home and by picking up another player at the Denver airport who flew in from South Carolina.

After spending a couple of days at home we headed up to Greeley and after getting a little lost we met the team at one of our sponsors restaurants. Not wanting to waste time we quickly found out who and where everyone was from. We have players from Alabama, South Carolina, Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri and even two other countries, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Surprisingly, it feels very natural to be playing with players from other countries just like the pros do.

After the introductory lunch we all meet and headed to the homes of our own host families. Matt Krueger and I were split up due to limitations on cars and I headed off to meet the rest of my host family and my roommate. Eric is a junior college baseball player from Louisiana transferring to a college in Ohio. My host family is a multi-generational family. I share a room with my roommate and the rest of the family is housed in the room next to us and the basement. They are a very nice family with many kids who are very active.

Since being here I have gotten a gym membership and started working out at Ross. We are about 15 games into our schedule now with more losses than wins but our team is really starting to come together and the signs of improvement in our hitting and pitching are significant. I can't wait to write again when we are the league champs and I hope Alex, Steve, Cory, and Nathan will be doing the same. Good luck everyone!

- Matt Werner

Summer League Baseball: Cory McCullick & Nathan Marlowe

It has been roughly 3 weeks since the both of us have been down here in Fulton, KY and it has definitely been an enjoyable and eye-opening experience. The drive time was about 8 1/2 hours for Mars (pictured, below right) from Milwaukee, WI and about 5 hours for Cory (pictured at left) from Bloomington/Normal, IL, so it wasn't really as bad as the 32 hour trek for Hoss and Binder.

We are staying in a trailer, yes I said trailer, behind the baseball field with 7 guys from the team, including ourselves. The town of Fulton is relatively small, about 1,500 or so in population and the square mileage to the city isn't all that big either, but it clearly doesn't show the extraordinary welcome we've received from the people in the town. We've never seen anything like the passion these people have for a single baseball team, it really is something.

Our record currently stands at 11-8, 3 games behind first place. We are currently in the 5th day of a 7-game/day road trip that has seen us take the first 3 out of 4 on the road including a 15-inning marathon last night (Wed.) in Farmington, MO that we were able to win 7-4. We didn't get back to Fulton until roughly 4 am this morning, so needless to say we were a bit tired. We travel in a big white school bus with orange and brown stripes (our colors) and the Fulton Railroaders logo on it. The seats are not comfortable at all while trying to sleep but we have to make do with what we have! The team consists of mostly Division I baseball players with a couple Division II, Division III, and Junior College players also. The team is from mostly Kentucky and Tennesee, with a couple kids from Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

We have had great weather, about 87 and really humid on average so we hope that we'll be able to continue to avoid any rainouts that could come our way. Hope everything is good back in Madison and we'll be writing again soon.

-Cory McCullick- Sr. CF
-Nathan Marlowe- Sr. P

Summer League Baseball: Alex Berta

Senior second baseman Alex Berta is keeping a journal for the Edgewood College Eagles blog from Seaside, Oregon where he and teammate Steve Binder are playing for the Seaside Wildcats. Read his first entry below...

We set off for the west coast on Friday, June 6th. After an uneventful stop in Kearney, Nebraska, we made our way all the way to Ogden, Utah which was a very nice city with some cool views of the mountains and the Great Salt Lake. The next day we made it to Pendleton, Oregon. It was probably the best stop on the trip. It was a big rodeo town and we managed to pick up some fine western-wear there. I got myself a nice belt with a buckle. After four days of driving we finally made it to the west coast and to Seaside, Oregon. Needless to say we were ready to be out of the truck after 32 hours of driving time.

Steve Binder and I are staying with the same host family about 5 minutes north of Seaside in a town called Gearhart (you can drive onto the beach here). We live with the Truax family who owns their own candy shop in a town south of Seaside. It's a pretty sweet place. We have a host mom and dad, brother, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. It's a pretty big family so we are always on our toes. But everyone is very nice and made us feel welcome in our new home. We had a couple days to ourselves where Steve and I found a gym to workout at and saw the sights of the town before we had an official practice. We ran into some players at the workout place and at some shops downtown and everyone was excited to be here.

We had our first workout as a team on Thursday and another on Friday. The weather has been unexpectedly cold. For the past week we have only seen the sun a limited amount of time and the rest of the time it has been kind of cloudy and rainy. We are told that will change, and Steve and I are banking on that because we weren't thinking about bringing warmer clothes since we were going to be on the "beach".

Opening day was Saturday and we traveled to Portland in two 15 passenger vans through some thick forests and big hills. We won the first game 11-0 against the Pacific Javalinas and 5-1 against the Portland Titans. Steve and I both played both games at our respective positions (3rd and 2nd) and did well. It was nice to start the year 2-0 before opening up at home tonight against the Aloha Warriors.

We have a good mixture of players on our team. About half of the team is from the Oregon area, and the rest come from Arizona, California, Nebraska, Illinois, and even a "mate" from Australia. Everyone is getting to know each other and it looks like it should be a fun and successful summer out west for us. We'll write again in about three weeks I hear. Hope all is well back in Madison, and try to stay dry!

-Alex Berta- Sr, 2nd Baseman

Three Freeport student-athletes set to join Eagle women's soccer team

Three members of Freeport High School's (Ill.) girls soccer team are set to join Head Coach Tim Alexander's Edgewood College women's soccer team. Read below for more coverage courtesy of the Freeport Journal-Standard:

2008 Freeport Players of the Spring: Jessi Ditzler (courtesy of the Freeport Journal-Standard)

Oryall attempts the 3-3-3 challenge

Watch in horror as Edgewood College track athlete Dan Oryall attempts to eat 3 cheesburgers and 3 orders of chicken nuggets in 3 minutes. You'll laugh, you'll cry, Dan may hurl. I swear he tried this of his own free will.

You can see more Edgewood College Videos at our YouTube site

Four from Heartland Community College to play for Eagles

According to this article from the Pantgraph, four baseball players from the Heartland Community College (Ill.) plan to play ball for Edgewood College next season. Read the full article here:

HCC stars move on to four-year institutions (from the Pantagraph)

Eagle Baseball Players in Collegiate Summer Leagues

A number of Edgewood College baseball players are particiapting with Collegeiate Summer League baseball teams this year. Be sure to check in on their summer team's web sites from time to time to see how your favorite Eagles are doing...

Fulton Railroaders (Ky.) - KIT League
Cory McCullick, Junior, CF
Nate Marlowe, Junior, P

Seaside Wildcats (Ore.) - Northwest Collegiate League
Steve Binder, Sophomore, 3B
Alex Berta, Junior, 2B

Greeley Grays (Colo.) - Mountain Collegiate Baseball League
Matt Werner, Junior , C
Matt Krueger, Sophomore, C

Madison Shoe Box - Rock River League (South Division)
Darren Besch, Sophomore, IF
Zach Gura, Freshman, P
Kyle Lode, Freshman, P
Blake Hunt, Freshman, P
Justin Dahmen, Junior, SS
Ricky Martinez, Junior, OF

Stampfl Field construction project approved

The final approval for the upgrades for Stampfl Field, Edgewood College baseball's home stadium, has been received from the Verona City Council. The construction of a grandstand, concession stands and a new scoreboard should be complete by the end of the summer.

Construction Photo Gallery

Rest of Stampfl Field improvements approved (from the Verona Press)

May 29 construction photo

Sauk Prairie soccer player to attend Edgewood College

Good morning folks! Here is an article from the Holmen Courier which mentions a soccer player from Sauk Prairie High School who plans to attend Edgewood College.

Strikers shut out in finale (from the Holmen Courier)