Break, Break, and Break

So I've come to realize that in the blog world you're supposed to give your title three successive words. Don't ask me why . . . I have no idea. Apparently it's a trend.

So in the spirit of being incredibly original I decided to let all you guys out in the virtual world know what is going on in the typical SWU baseball player's life - break, break, break. Enough said.

There's not a whole lot going on right now since we're on break. After the series against AUM this weekend, this time has been an amazing hiatus to regroup and rest. Those of you who came out to support us against the number 14 ranked team in the nation, hats off to you. We really appreciate your fanship (I don't think that's really a word but I'm over it). It's awesome to hear a crowd erupt when we score or when Kody and Dustin roll a pair up the middle (that's baseball lingo for a double play).

Just so you know, Guy Howard pitched an incredible game Friday night. If you haven't read the write-up, make sure to do so here.

Props to Coach G for hacking away at his Photoshop Elements. He's starting to get the hang of things and making his article pictures really pop.

Weekend to Weekend

So I promised last weekend that I would post at the end of the weekend . . . and then I had a ton of stuff come up. Talk about a busy week! So here it is:

I have to give a shout out to my man Coach Pollock over at Toccoa Falls. He's doing some great things over there trying to turn that program around and I just want him to know that his efforts are not going unnoticed. Toccoa played us in 3 tough games last weekend, and although we weren't on the top of our game, we barely squeaked by with 3 wins.

This weekend, after some butt-ripping, running, and hard work I think we're ready to begin playing like we know we should. We came out last night a little shaky against North Greenville, but in the bottom of the fifth we exploded scoring nine runs. It was great to finally hit the ball the way we are capable of doing. If you want to read the article just click here.

I think we are finally getting the swagger back, as coach termed it. I'll update you after today . . .

Pack it out!

Tomorrow's the first home game! Come check us out at 4:00pm. Saturday's double header starts at 1:00pm.

It's gonna be a good weekend. We have the rest of the team back and I think we're really going to start meshing as one unit again. Look for posts about the games after this weekend.

I think we're getting the bling tomorrow. It's one of those things that many aspire to but few actually accomplish - a national championship. Everyone wants a ring, and starting tomorrow we're all going to be sliding that bling right over our anticipating knuckles.

Until next time . . .

Team Component #3

The third component that I feel is characteristic of every successful team is that there are no superstars. There may be some people who feel that they can point out superstars on a given team but if you talk to those "superstars" they would likely tell you the key to the success of the team are the people around them. That's the difference between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Kobe points everything back on himself and MJ pointed out his supporting staff. Did MJ get all kinds of publicity and notoriety for his success? Yes . . . but in post-game interview after post-game interview you will see MJ give the credit to his teammates. He was masterful at dishing out the limelight and making his teammates look good. That was bigtime! Check this video out . . .



Perry Noble, lead pastor of Newspring Church preached on that very thing today. (Check this link out to listen to the sermon). He is not the gears and switches behind the operation over in Anderson and, coming later this year, Greenville. If you ask him, he's not even a synapsis in the brain at Newspring. He has surrounded himself with killer people who are passionate about the same vision that he is passionate about and that's why they are successful. Sure . . . Perry Noble is a recognizable figure and the vision-caster for Newspring. He's even been listed with seven others among Willow Creek Association's "Faces to Watch in 2008". But the key is that he knows that the entire thing falls if it were to rest on his shoulders.

We used to joke around with a guy who played for SWU . . . Skinny. He would come into the locker room and tell us that his back hurt from carrying this team. We would all cut up and laugh whenever he would make that statement. Skinny was our captain, and he was good. But he knew that he couldn't carry the team, because that was everyone's responsibility.

Superstars don't win ball games . . . teams win ballgames.

An unexpected situation and unparalleled success

So yesterday we had our first games and I could explain everything that happened but really here's the only thing that is important: Kellen Kmeicik (a utility infielder/outfielder) pitched a no-hitter!

THAT is a big deal. First of all, someone who had no business being on the mound except for a series of circumstances achieved what few pitchers have ever achieved and what most could only dream of doing. That is not to say that Kellen doesn't have good stuff on the mound, but if you would have told him 4 years ago that he was going to pitch a no-hitter his senior season in college he would have laughed his way back out to right field.

It got me thinking . . . unfortunately I do that way too much . . . that there are a lot of circumstances that can be thrown our way. Sometimes we may be put in situations where we don't feel adequate of worthy. We could let fear or self-doubt paralyze us, which I know almost every athlete has experience at one point or another OR we could step up, rise to the occasion, and give it our best effort. Nobody was expecting Kellen to pitch a no-hitter but he exceeded any of our expectations because he put aside his self-doubt and did the job that he had to do. Good for you, Kellen! You kicked some serious tail yesterday!!

By the way our record is currently 1-1 and we play Weber International tonight at 6pm - just in case you wanted to know.