Entry #5 - 9/26/03

I want to thank everyone for the positive comments and encouragement I've received about the Baseball Digest thus far. Although it adds another item to my "to do" list, I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts about our baseball program at ETSU. I will do my best to keep the entries coming on a regular basis.

As we head into the last few weeks of our fall season our staff is trying to learn as much about our team as possible. Our intersquad scrimmages have been very productive and all the games have been played at a very high level. I hope we continue this high level of play through our Fall World Series, in order to gain momentum as we go into our winter workouts and individualized skill sessions.

I don't know if it's good hitting or poor pitching, but we have really swung the bats well this fall. We have hit more homeruns already this fall then we have the last two years of fall ball combined. I believe the speed and strength of our players as a whole is the best it has been since I have been here. But the area that has impressed me the most is the competitiveness of our players. Every time we have rolled the ball out to play these guys have really gotten after each other. This group loves to compete. They are not afraid to challenge each other and they do not wear their feelings on their sleeves. Scrimmaging against each other all the time can get monotonous, but not for these guys. I fully expect our World Series next week to be a war. It will be fun to watch.

Last weeks "Player's of the Game" were Shane Byrne, Andy Howdeshell, Troy Moock and Tim Turner. Before I go any further I have to comment on one particular players performance yesterday in our scrimmage. It may be the single greatest performance I have seen on a baseball field in all of my days as a player and as a coach. Andy Howdeshell went 5 for 5 with a homerun, two triples, a double, a single and seven rbi's. He also made every play at shortstop along with a couple of "web gems" which were unbelievable. Andy was an all-conference shortstop last year, but he is so much more of a complete player this year than last. He has really taken his game to another level. When he takes the field he takes pride in believing he is the best player on the field.

Our Scout Day was last Tuesday and I was pleasantly surprised. We had a great turnout with over 20 major league organizations represented. Many of our players performed well and had very good days. Tim Turner may of established himself as one of the fastest players in college baseball as he turned in a 6.32 sixty yard dash. Tim actually ran the sixty twice for the scouts. Out of the twenty two stop watches which were on him, I had the slowest time at 6.44. Shane Byrne wasn't far behind as he ran a 6.48. We had more than half of our players run under seven seconds (13). Our pitchers also threw well with four guys hitting 90mph on the radar gun. Caleb Moore's last pitch was 92mph. Jeremy Hall, Michael Bauer and Steven Calicutt all pitched from 89mph - 91mph, while Josh Kite and Tim Turner were 87-88mph. Offensively Shane Byrne put on a show hitting homeruns from both sides of the plate with a wooden bat, and during batting practice Matt Traylor proved he is well on his way back from surgery as he hit seven of ten pitches out of the park also with a wooden bat. This performance was a far cry from our Scout Day my first year when only one scout showed up and he ended up leaving before our workout was completed.

I will leave you with a story which I like to share with my players from time to time. Baseball is such a game of adversity, you must learn to deal with failure. The lessons you can learn in baseball parallel the lessons you will learn in life in the real world. It is human nature tha> t when we have struggles or things don't go our way, we instantly look for the easy way out. Whether one is homesick, struggling academically, not happy in their job, or in a slump we always think there may be greener pastures someplace else. The worst disease of life is quitting. Nothing ever good comes from it and once you start, its will always be easy to do it again. Struggles and adversity are the what defines us. Find someone who has become successful, who always seems to get the breaks in life and there are good odds that individual has had to conquer adversity and struggles. It may seem like things always come easy for that person, but in reality things come easy for them because of the struggles and adversity they've conquered without quitting or giving into them. Here is the story.....

When things go poorly and not your way, the easiest thing to do is quit and start looking for greener pastures . One day when your old like me, you will look back and realize the greatest accomplishments in your life will be the accomplishments you attained after you have struggled and had to endure some hardships along the way. The things that come easy never seem to mean as much.

There is a true story that I would like to share with you. It has an ageless moral. The story was about a farmer who lived in Africa and through a visitor became tremendously excited about looking for diamonds. Diamonds were already discovered in abundance on the African continent and this farmer got so excited about the idea of millions of dollars worth of diamonds that he sold his farm to head out to the diamond line. He wandered all over the continent, as the years slipped by, constantly searching for diamonds, wealth, which he never found. Eventually he went completely broke and threw himself into a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, the new owner of his farm picked up an unusual looking rock about the size of a country egg and put it on his mantle as a sort of curiosity. A visitor stopped by and in viewing the rock practically went into terminal convulsions. He told the new owner of the farm that the funny looking rock on his mantle was about the biggest diamond that had ever been found. The new owner of the farm said, Heck, the whole farm is covered with them - and sure enough it was.

The farm turned out to be the Kimberly Diamond Mine... the richest the world has ever known. The original farmer was literally standing on "Acre of Diamonds" until he sold his farm.

The moral of the story is, each of us is right in the middle of our own "Acre of Diamonds", if only we would realize it and develop the ground we are standing on before charging off in the search of greener pastures. I sincerely believe we are sitting in our own "Acres of Diamonds" when it comes to our baseball program.

Remember, opportunity does not just come along - it is there all the time - we just have to see it.

Have a great weekend! Until next time...

Coach Skole