Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Daily Deuce #1: The season begins

Edgewood College pitchers Tony Ales and Glenn Nowell will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Eagles 2011 baseball season.

Another season; another blog: brought to you by us, and we are Tony Ales (upper left) and Glenn Nowell (lower right), two pitchers on the Edgewood College Eagle baseball team that you’re probably intending to read about right now.

So, sit down and enjoy your Daily Deuce.

Before we unload, we’d like to pay tribute to last year’s blog writer, Blake Hunt, the vivacious personality that was the Sidearm Scoop. Although one of us (Glenn) is a side arm pitcher, we hope to continue the informative tradition of his posts while branching off to shed light on aspects of Eagle Baseball life that have remained in the shadows. Thank you Blake for your service to our team and the general public. May your flame always light our torch, paving the way to success.

The team has a much different look than last year. After losing some key seniors, Edgewood is seemingly in a rebuilding year; however, the baby Eagles Coach Brisack recruited to join our flock have shown us that a baby Eagle can hunt for its own and help the flock feast mightily. With 13 Freshmen and three transfers, the Eagles are proving to be a synthesis of old and new: where old social mores dictating the amount of affection a player with seniority ought to give to a younger player stood between a team and its success has now been fully replaced with unity and synergy.

Not only has the barrier of seniority been overcome, but since the beginning of Fall, we have made great improvements as a team. Thanks to Hitter’s Sportsplex, we are able to practice indoors all winter and prepare for the season ahead. The team from Day 1’s practice is no more. A team that once was lost on what to do with runners on 1st and 3rd now could do the variety of bunt defenses blindfolded. We have fine tuned our skills, whittling every facet of our game, finally peaking just in time for our spring trip down to Florida.

We don’t just speak for the two of us when we say that we are excited to go south. The team is more than ready to take our talents to the field, and actually play against an opponent. Not to mention playing outside in warm weather! We leave Wednesday morning with our destination being Tennessee where we begin our trip playing against Christian Brothers University. We are eager for the completion that this Division II school will have to offer. (Watch Live Stats here)

We have some highlight games on our schedule this year. First off, playing larger schools will be a great challenge for us. Christian Brothers will be our first game against a bigger school. Soon after we return from our southern trip, we also play against University of Illinois-Chicago. They are a Division I school that earned a pre-season regional rank. The Eagles can’t wait to prove their skills against these two schools in particular. We also get an opportunity to play UW-Stevens Point again, who last year played two very competitive games against us, and received a bid to the NCAA tournament.

This season is a special one. We have an opportunity to defend our conference championship, which is a task that we are determined to complete. Being a champion once is great, but to prove that you are a real champion, you have to defend your title. Our conference season is just around the corner, and The Eagles are a team that everyone in the NAC wants to beat.

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