Well back to the blogging grind again after an extended hiatus. It has been about three weeks since I last checked in and since then a lot has happened and a lot has not happened. First off, the things that did not happen, like our scheduled series with the University of Mary, February 19-21. Mother Nature prevented Mary from traveling to Grand Junction from Bismarck, ND. Knowing that Mary was unable to make the trip we then scheduled two double headers with conference opponent Colorado School of Mines only to have those four games canceled due to weather as well. This meant that we had a weekend off to regroup and get ready for conference play.

So with a two week break we headed into our first conference series and home opening series against the Metro State College Roadrunners. We were scheduled for three conference games on Friday and Saturday and then a single non conference contest on Sunday. We fell in game one on Friday by a score of 9-7 before coming back to win game two 11-3 on Saturday. This meant that game two of the Saturday double header, game three of the series, would be the rubber match for the conference series. This game was a back and forth affair which Metro eventually took by a score of 11-9. We came back in game four to defeat the Roadrunners 33-7. This series left us at an overall clip of 4-6 and 1-2 in the RMAC heading into a series with New Mexico Highlands University.

After splitting with Metro we traveled down to the wonderful city of Las Vegas, NM to take on the NM Highlands Cowboys in a four game series, three of which would count towards our conference record. Highlands got off to a hot start this year so we knew that this series could eventually be a big one come the end of the season. This series was very similar to the Metro series in that we lost the opener, won game two, lost game three, and then won the fourth game. Highlands seems to throw out a solid lineup one to nine year in and year out and this year seems to be no different. All in all, splitting on the road at Highlands will not kill us when it comes to the regional polls later in the year. There are a lot of positives we can take away from this early season road trip. Lucky for us we were on spring break the week after the ten hour bus ride to and from Highlands. This meant we had a week off from class to prepare for another conference series against Colorado Christian University.

The series against Christian took place this past Friday and Saturday and saw us sweep our first series of the year. We won by scores of 13-6, 12-2, and 16-0.  As a unit we played well in all three phases of the game. Our starting pitchers each threw complete games, an impressive feat in itself. Overall we seem to be coming together as a team and we are learning how to win and close out games which will help us immensely as the season carries on. The three game sweep leaves us at 9-8 and 5-4 in the RMAC heading into a four game conference series with Regis University at home this weekend.

Okay enough jamming the last four weeks of our season down your throat. Let’s push baseball aside and look at March Madness for just a minute. As I stated in my last post this is a great time of year to be a sports fan and there are not too many sporting events better than the DI men‘s basketball tourney. Before I get into the tournament however; I would be remiss if I failed to give a shout out the Mesa State men’s basketball team who had the best season in school history. Yesterday (3/14) their season came to an end in the second round of the DII tourney at the hands of Augustana College. Back to the DI tourney, I want to give you guys my picks for this year’s tourney. My final four prediction is Kansas, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and Villanova. I have Scotty Reynolds and Villanova beating Kansas in National Championship game. My sleepers include BYU and Georgia Tech and a dark horse to watch is Cornell who may be able to outsmart their way into the Sweet 16. Anyways good luck to all who enter their local office pools (I of course must refrain from doing so or I might become good friends with Rick Neuheisal).

Okay that’s way too much for one post so I will be back next week to bring you up to date and recap our series with Regis. Until then, take care.

MR

GO MAVS!

Hello again and welcome back to my blog. Last week was a busy week so I didn’t have time for a post, but this week I will recap our first two series and look ahead at what’s next.

First things first, congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for their victory in the Super Bowl. Perhaps no city deserved this championship more than New Orleans. It was great to see the national spotlight shine on this city which has gone through so much.

Anyways back to baseball we go. We got off to a little bit of a rough start to the year starting the season 2-4. We opened the year with two losses to Dixie State. We were defeated in our season opener 7-2 and lost the back end of the double header by a count of 11-10. To provide you with a brief account of the series we got out to a quick first inning lead in both games, but could never seem to get the big hit to either get back in to the game or put the game away. Credit goes out to a salty Dixie State club who capitalized on their opportunities. We were slated to play another double header against Dixie but Mother Nature had other ideas.

The Dixie State series left us at 0-2 heading into a non-conference match up with conference foe Colorado State University-Pueblo. We traveled to the great town of Pueblo, CO and split a four game set with the Thunderwolves. In game one senior, left-handed pitcher Scott Bachman threw a complete game shutout to lead us to victory by a score of 8-0. We fell in games two and three by scores of 12-5 and 12-0. We answered the two game skid by winning game four, 4-0 behind another outstanding pitching performance by senior Chris Shea.

The split in Pueblo leaves us with a record of 2-4 heading into this weekend’s series with the University of Mary. The opening game of this series on Friday afternoon will mark the home opener for us and it will be the season opener for the Mary Marauders. We are not all that familiar with the University of Mary, but they are in the Central region so this could end up being an important series come NCAA selection time. They will undoubtedly be very excited to get their season underway so we will need to come to play starting Friday afternoon. We will get back to work today and look to have three great days of preparation before we take the field this weekend.

Moving away from baseball, as an overall fan of sports we are moving into some of the best few weeks and months of sports each year. The college basketball season is winding down and conference tourneys and March Madness are just a few weeks away. Pitchers and catchers report in a couple weeks which means spring training is right around the corner. And this year we are lucky enough to be in the midst of the Winter Olympics, which means the always interesting sport of Curling will be on television.

That’s all for this week, as always thanks for following my blog. Talk to you again next week. Until then, take care.

MR

GO MAVS!

Well back at this blogging thing again, we are now a matter of hours away from our season opener against Dixie State College. We will load up this afternoon (Thursday 2/4) and make the trek to St. George, UT. We had a great week of preparation and as you may guess we are very excited to get out on the field and lay it on the line this weekend.

To preview this weekend’s series, we look forward to the challenge of facing a tough and talented Dixie State Red Storm ball club. Dixie State is a program which had great success at the Junior College level before moving to Division II about four years ago. In years past they have been a fundamentally sound team with some pop in their order. On a side note, Dixie’s field is one of my favorite places to play each year. They take great care of the playing surface and the overall setup of the stadium is rather unique.

Moving away from the sport of baseball for just a minute, as promised I will provide you with my pick for Sunday’s Super Bowl (not that anyone really cares). The easy pick is the Colts, but for some reason my gut tells me to go with the Saints. Perhaps this is because I feel as though as I have some small connection to the Saints because their long snapper, Jason Kyle, (yes long snapper, all he does is snap on punts and field goals) graduated from McClintock High School in Tempe, AZ some fifteen years before I did. He and his father happen to be family friends as well. Anyways, enough name dropping for one post, I also think it would be great for the city of New Orleans if the Saints were to come away on top. Saints 27 Colts 24, Garrett Hartley game winning field goal as time expires (snap courtesy of none other than MHS grad Jason Kyle).

Hope you liked what this week’s post had to offer and I will be back next week with a recap of our series with Dixie State.

Until then, take care.

MR

GO MAVS!

To give everyone a quick update on where we are at as a team, we are just over a week away from our season opener at Dixie State on February 5. We have been faced with some adversity, thanks to Mother Nature, since returning from break, but we have not allowed the weather to get in the way of our preparation. Over the past two weeks we have had some very efficient and productive practices. We were lucky enough this past weekend to get out on the field and have two upbeat scrimmages (I never thought 35 degree days could feel so good). We were blessed to receive another snow storm last night which will give us the opportunity to build chemistry and camaraderie by dispersing the precipitation today. The good thing is that we have experience dealing with the snow and it is important that we use the next week to continue to improve as a team as we prepare for our four game set with Dixie State. We are a week and a half into classes and everyone has seemed to settle into their routines as student athletes.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a few more things. I want to give props to one of our outfielders, Kevin Becker, for his Preseason All-American and All-RMAC honors. This is a tribute to his hard work and overall baseball savvy. I also want to give a shout out to the Mesa State Men’s basketball squad who is having one of the best seasons in school history. They are an all around good team that never seems to get too high or too low emotionally.

Anyways, thanks again for following my blog. I will check in next week and provide an update before our season opener as well as provide my prediction for next Sunday’s Super Bowl. Until then, take care.

MR

GO MAVS!

It’s official, as of the 2010-2011 baseball season the maximum number of regular season games for Division II baseball teams will be 50 games. On Saturday (1/16) at the NCAA Convention in Atlanta delegates voted to pass an initiative that decreases the maximum number of games in the sport of baseball from its current mark of 56.

This proposition to decrease the number of games first came to my attention last September. As a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) we are required each year to vote on every proposition and report our votes to our conference who then reports a consensus to the National SAAC who played a large role in the convention this past weekend. As a senior I realize that this change will not directly impact me as this year is my last year of eligibility, but at the same time I did not want my teammates to have the number of games reduced in future seasons. I did some research on the initiative and came to find out that the Division II President’s Council, made up of fifteen Presidents of Division II institutions across the country, believed that Division II athletics in general was getting away from what it was intended to be and that by limiting the number of competitions in certain sports including volleyball, golf, field hockey, soccer and basketball, student athletes could have a more “balanced” college experience.

To give you my thoughts on this issue when I learned yesterday that it had passed I was extremely disappointed and rather upset. I want to begin by saying that I respect the delegates who ultimately voted on this initiative, but I strongly disagree with the decision they made. Here are a few more of my thoughts on this issue:

1. What will taking away six baseball games a year really mean?
It will mean freeing up six more Sundays which of course will mean more studying Saturday night, right? Not exactly! You get the point. If by balance the President’s Council meant freeing up six more Saturday nights for college students then perhaps they will get the balance they desired, but I highly doubt this is what they had in mind.

2. Limit the number of hours we can practice, don’t take away GAMES!
I have come to understand that Division II athletics is built on the idea of balance. With that in mind if you want student athletes to have more time off the field to have balance in their lives, than limit the number of hours we can practice a week but do not take away the number of games we can play. Now if you’re a freshman you will miss out on almost half a season over the course of your four year career. I must be careful what I wish for though because as rumor has it next year’s legislation may be geared towards decreasing the number of hours we can practice per week.

3. Did the current economic situation play a role?
There is no denying that the current state of the U.S. economy has impacted people far and wide and the impact on institutions of higher learning is undeniable. However all throughout the debate over this issue it was made clear this proposition had nothing whatsoever to do with the state of the economy. If the economy was truly an issue fueling this legislation (as I believe it was) then the Council should have come out and say so. If this were to be the case this would be an easier pill to swallow as I understand that when it comes to money these days certain sacrifices must be made.

4. Who’s making these decisions?
I can only hope that the ladies and gentleman who voted truly cast their vote in the best interest of the STUDENT ATHLETE. I have my doubts however when I read things like this:

“Division II Presidents Council chair Stephen Jordan from Metropolitan State said the passage of the                package was ‘an absolute positive manifestation of presidential leadership’ and a clear indication of the        division’s intent to align its athletics policies with its strategic position.”
-Gary Brown, The NCAA News (ncaa.org)

When I hear the words “an absolute manifestation of presidential leadership” I cannot help but wonder if decisions are being made by the right people and for the right reasons. As previously stated I respect those in charge of making these decisions and I understand they have a very difficult job when it comes improving the student athlete’s college experience. With that said I wonder how many of those ladies and gentleman making these decisions have ever been college athletes themselves. In my opinion you can talk to as many athletes and coaches as you want to, but until you actually know what it is like to put in hours upon hours of work you may never truly understand what it is like to have the number of games you can play reduced.

Okay I will try not to fall when I get off my soapbox, but this has been an issue that I have been very passionate about over the last four months. Hopefully the council will continue to monitor whether or not this decision truly improved the college experience for Division II baseball student athletes and reconsider the decision in future legislation. Thanks again for taking the time to read my thoughts on this issue.

MR

GO MAVS!