Entry #34 - 10/04/04

Our fall season is winding down. We have two more weekends left, finishing with our Blue/Gold World Series on the weekend of October 8 and 9th. It has been a very busy first month of the school year. We are full speed ahead as far as practicing and weightlifting/conditioning are concerned. We are also in our busiest time of the year with recruiting. This is also the time of the year when all arrangements must be made for the 2005 season such as travel, hotels, scheduling, ordering of equipment, etc. I do my best to try to make it home by 8:30pm to tuck my boys into bed, but it didn’t happen very often in the month of September.

I have been very pleased with our club so far this fall. I have seen a lot of positives which have our staff excited about next season. We obviously have a lot of work to do over the winter months, but our players are very committed to being the best they can be. From their standpoint I believe their expectations for next season are very high. I can’t say it enough, but we have such high quality young men in our program. Nobody knows whether or not we will win a championship next season, but one thing I know for sure, is that if these kids keep doing what they are doing, five, ten years down the road, the sky will be the limit as far as them being successful in their lives outside of baseball.

We have had some great performances so far this fall. We currently have seven of our 19 hitters batting over .300. Leading the way is senior second baseman, Nick Crowe. Nick transferred from Tennessee for his senior season and I am sure glad he did. During the summer when I was speaking to Nick about coming to ETSU, I wanted to make sure he understood how our program was run and what we expect out of our players. I also wanted to make sure that if he came here, he understood that I was going to push him to make him the best possible player he could be. Nick has adjusted and fit in so well, almost like he has been here his whole career. I’m sure he and his family had the normal apprehensions about being at a new place and how our players would receive him, because honestly, he has flat tore us up when we played against us while he was at Tennessee. He is such a great competitor and is always looking for ways to beat you. In many of mine and Nick’s conversations, he has told me he feels right at home and is glad he is here. On the field it didn’t take long for Nick to make an impression. He currently is hitting .545. Nick has been very coachable. Early we made a few adjustments with his swing and he is executing very well. In his first twelve hits, five have been doubles, one triple and three have been homeruns. He has scored twice as many runs as the next highest player in that category. There is no doubt that he is a special player.

Stephen Douglas is next, hitting .423. Not to shabby, but if you would ask Stephen I’m sure he would not be satisfied with it. Stephen is very talented and also very stubborn. He tends to make the game more difficult than it needs to be. When he figures this out, he will be even more dangerous than he already is.

Matt Traylor is currently hitting .385 and looks as healthy as I have seen him since his freshman year. Matt has played great defense thus far and I look for him to have a breakout season this year. It is nice to have him back on the field at 100%.

Caleb Moore is off to a slow start…he is only hitting .364. I guess something is wrong with Caleb? Last year Caleb had one of the greatest seasons I have ever witnessed. Not only did he lead the nation in hitting and doubles, he also had his best defensive season behind the plate. He was also “lights out” for us as our closer. Caleb hasn’t missed a beat as he has continued to “square the baseball up” in almost every at-bat. How he is not playing professional baseball right now is an enigma to me, but I’m sure glad he will wear the Blue and Gold one more season. I know Coach Mac; our new pitching coach was excited to see what Caleb play for the first time. He had heard all of the hype about Caleb and the year he had. After our first weekend of scrimmaging Coach Mac could not believe that Caleb was here for his senior season. Everything happens for a reason and I know Caleb is going to make the most of this opportunity.

Blake Church is next hitting .360. Blake had a tremendous year last season and with everything Caleb accomplished last season, sometimes Blake’s numbers go unnoticed. He had an all-conference season. Physically, Blake may be one of the strongest players in the Southern Conference. He is a monster in the weight room. He has hit a few “mammoth” homeruns this fall and a few line drives which could have killed someone if they were in the way. He is also playing great defense and taken on a vocal leadership role on the field.

Greg Roberts and Ryan Spriggs round out the rest of our top hitters with Greg hitting .333 and Ryan .316. Greg is playing at a very high level and is just a scrappy, hard nosed player. Greg is fun to coach and is working very hard, every single day to improve as a player. Ryan has been very “hot” as of late. He is also extremely strong and can hit for a lot of power. Both of these guys are much improved players from last season.

As far as pitching goes, Caleb Moore, freshman Jonathon Stoudt, Trevor Smith, Jeremy Hall and Brian Lovett have been the most consistent thus far. Out pitching staff is going to be much better than it has been because we have some good, live arms and because of Coach McClarrinon, our new pitching coach. He has brought a lot to the table and is making a huge impact in our program. His has a great feel for how to run a pitching staff and I think he is one of the bright, up and coming pitching coaches in the country. His presence has freed up Coach Goulet and I to spend a lot more time with the hitters and position players.

We have also had some very good performances this fall by others I did not mention. I am basically just looking at the top of the stat sheet, but I realize that there are many others who have had performances worth mentioning. We are a much better program because every one of our returning players has gotten better in the off-season and all of our new players are making very rapid improvement. I’m really looking forward to the winter, when our players will begin to make their most improvement. The Blue / Gold World Series will be exciting and fun to watch. I know our players are looking forward to it. Until next time…

Coach Skole