The Green Terror of McDaniel College invaded Lancaster, Pa on Saturday to close out the regular season of the Centennial Conference with twin bill against our Fighting Diplomats. I was puzzled as to what exactly constituted a Green Terror . Perhaps it is a masked polluter ? Regardless I have to give these guys a lot more points for this name than the twits at Haverford, who demonstrating how a decision made by a group is generally awful when they blessed us with the nickname of The Haverford "Fords". If these visionaries were at McDaniel “consulting” we might have been facing the McDaniel Dans or the better yet a team I could root for, the ladies teams " the Danica's". Helpful reader Jeff Carroll weighed on our recent discussion about the nickname of the Swathmore Garnet. Noting Swarthmore is frequently called "Swat", he opined their nickname ought to be the Sultans. Just imagine the uniform options this gives Swat! Petitioners are rushing there as we speak to make this happen.
The first game started with an omen when Shea, leading off for our homestanding Diplomats, lined a drive to left center field that was snagged on a nice diving grab by the Green Terror. You can see that catch for yourself here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJvgu7DaQKghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJvgu7DaQKg
I figured the baseball gods were lauding the fine play and had not yet conspired to impact the game. But in the next inning, McDaniel had runners at first and third and one out with a shallow fly hit to left center about 75 feet deeper than SS. The center fielder jogged in but did not call the ball and shortstop Tom Miller was forced to make an over the shoulder catch. The runner on third was able to score standing up. If the CF catches that ball facing the plate there is not even a throw as the runner would not challenge from 150 feet. After that play I thought I heard furniture being knocked over as the baseball gods brook no tolerance for mental mistakes. They are not especially forgiving for physical mistakes either and I feared the worst. Nor are the baseball gods reluctant to administered their justice swiftly. The pitch was a double and then a single made it 3-0 , Green Terror. They rang up 5 more in the next inning effectively sealing the game and your Fighting Diplomats went meekly as the GTs’ won their first game in 14 meetings with the Fighting Diplomats. The second game was a tad better but another loss 9-8, as a 6-4 lead quickly vanished as the Green Terror had their hitting shoes on and they took the lead 9-6 , and hung on to complete sweep. Two big wins for the Green Terror who moved to 9-9 in the conference and were understandably delighted at winning their final two games. But our now slumping Fighting Diplomats wait for the conference playoffs on a down note. Next Friday, in tournament action, the Fighting Diplomats host the Fords and the winner plays the winner of Hopkins -Muhlenburg in Baltimore Saturday morning . Your faithful correspondent will be there to bring you all the details.
But this weekend was also Senior day which occurs during the final regularly scheduled home game. Prior to the game eleven seniors were acknowledged and their contributions on the field and in the classroom were reviewed for the assembled. It was an impressive list of accomplishments including many Deans list mentions and various academic honors. It was a sad time for some as this ceremony signified the end of the ascent of their baseball career. This day signified that the highest level of baseball they will ever play . Perhaps 5-10 Div 3 baseball players will be drafted ( I think one player from JHU is possible this year and last year their catcher was taken in the 4th round by St Louis ). These young men and thousands like them across the country will reluctantly give up the dream to play professional baseball. A dream they may have nurtured for years and certainly a dream in which they have put an enormous effort. But shed not your tears for these fine young men. Endings are beginnings. They all are well spoken ,bright, energetic and competitors. I have met these kids over the past three seasons and I am very impressed with them. The tragedy would be if they did not go on and use their skills to achieve great things in every walk of life. It was clear to me these guys loved the game and we can be sure they will retain the passion and pass it on to their kids. These young guys are all headed to fine things -one is going to work at Bloomberg, another will get a graduate degree in history and teaching and a third has been working full time as a financial planer while finishing his senior year and playing baseball. You can not get more focused and determined than that. These are terrific young men and I have been blessed to see them play. As I noted last week , baseball reveals character and watching these guys for the past three seasons displayed their passion and determination to be successful. It will be the same for these young men off the field. So this ending is also a beginning –these kids are in their second inning of an exciting and productive game.
After the games the team had some individual awards to give players. Freshman pitcher Mike Duranti was rookie of the year. Senior reserve Jeff Lawrence won the hustle award while senior second baseman Mark Minutaglio won the fitness award. Senior Matt Kalos won the Cy Young award as the best pitcher. The winner of the MVP was ... Shea Moriarty.
Eileen and I were very, very proud to see Shea accept this and I suspect he was pretty pleased as well He had a breakout season leading the team in virtually all offensive categories. Coach Walkenbach added some very complementary words. Eileen and I were just delighted for Shea.
So on Friday our Fighting Diplomats will host the Haverford Fords who have played well since being swept by the Diplomats early in the season. The baseball gods never lift even an eyebrow to help a team that is slumping – hence the long streaks in baseball. Coach Walkenbach has proposed the team take a couple days off to rest and prepare for the weekend. They will need to focus on pitching and defense and make a clutch hit when they need it. But your faithful correspondent senses these kids will be focused and ready to play on Friday and perhaps thereafter. We know they will give it their best shot. And with that comment, I offer a little history on the man who gave us the phrase “Hey, I took a shot” none other than our Abner Doubelday.
By the start of the Civil War, Abner was a captain and second in command in the garrison at Fort Sumter. He aimed the cannon that fired the first shot in answer to the Confederate bombardment on April 12, 1861, starting the Civil War. When questioned why he didn’t hit anything Abner replied “ Hey I took a shot” .
more videos of this season are at :
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=amherst23&search_type=
The first game started with an omen when Shea, leading off for our homestanding Diplomats, lined a drive to left center field that was snagged on a nice diving grab by the Green Terror. You can see that catch for yourself here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJvgu7DaQKghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJvgu7DaQKg
I figured the baseball gods were lauding the fine play and had not yet conspired to impact the game. But in the next inning, McDaniel had runners at first and third and one out with a shallow fly hit to left center about 75 feet deeper than SS. The center fielder jogged in but did not call the ball and shortstop Tom Miller was forced to make an over the shoulder catch. The runner on third was able to score standing up. If the CF catches that ball facing the plate there is not even a throw as the runner would not challenge from 150 feet. After that play I thought I heard furniture being knocked over as the baseball gods brook no tolerance for mental mistakes. They are not especially forgiving for physical mistakes either and I feared the worst. Nor are the baseball gods reluctant to administered their justice swiftly. The pitch was a double and then a single made it 3-0 , Green Terror. They rang up 5 more in the next inning effectively sealing the game and your Fighting Diplomats went meekly as the GTs’ won their first game in 14 meetings with the Fighting Diplomats. The second game was a tad better but another loss 9-8, as a 6-4 lead quickly vanished as the Green Terror had their hitting shoes on and they took the lead 9-6 , and hung on to complete sweep. Two big wins for the Green Terror who moved to 9-9 in the conference and were understandably delighted at winning their final two games. But our now slumping Fighting Diplomats wait for the conference playoffs on a down note. Next Friday, in tournament action, the Fighting Diplomats host the Fords and the winner plays the winner of Hopkins -Muhlenburg in Baltimore Saturday morning . Your faithful correspondent will be there to bring you all the details.
But this weekend was also Senior day which occurs during the final regularly scheduled home game. Prior to the game eleven seniors were acknowledged and their contributions on the field and in the classroom were reviewed for the assembled. It was an impressive list of accomplishments including many Deans list mentions and various academic honors. It was a sad time for some as this ceremony signified the end of the ascent of their baseball career. This day signified that the highest level of baseball they will ever play . Perhaps 5-10 Div 3 baseball players will be drafted ( I think one player from JHU is possible this year and last year their catcher was taken in the 4th round by St Louis ). These young men and thousands like them across the country will reluctantly give up the dream to play professional baseball. A dream they may have nurtured for years and certainly a dream in which they have put an enormous effort. But shed not your tears for these fine young men. Endings are beginnings. They all are well spoken ,bright, energetic and competitors. I have met these kids over the past three seasons and I am very impressed with them. The tragedy would be if they did not go on and use their skills to achieve great things in every walk of life. It was clear to me these guys loved the game and we can be sure they will retain the passion and pass it on to their kids. These young guys are all headed to fine things -one is going to work at Bloomberg, another will get a graduate degree in history and teaching and a third has been working full time as a financial planer while finishing his senior year and playing baseball. You can not get more focused and determined than that. These are terrific young men and I have been blessed to see them play. As I noted last week , baseball reveals character and watching these guys for the past three seasons displayed their passion and determination to be successful. It will be the same for these young men off the field. So this ending is also a beginning –these kids are in their second inning of an exciting and productive game.
After the games the team had some individual awards to give players. Freshman pitcher Mike Duranti was rookie of the year. Senior reserve Jeff Lawrence won the hustle award while senior second baseman Mark Minutaglio won the fitness award. Senior Matt Kalos won the Cy Young award as the best pitcher. The winner of the MVP was ... Shea Moriarty.
Eileen and I were very, very proud to see Shea accept this and I suspect he was pretty pleased as well He had a breakout season leading the team in virtually all offensive categories. Coach Walkenbach added some very complementary words. Eileen and I were just delighted for Shea.
So on Friday our Fighting Diplomats will host the Haverford Fords who have played well since being swept by the Diplomats early in the season. The baseball gods never lift even an eyebrow to help a team that is slumping – hence the long streaks in baseball. Coach Walkenbach has proposed the team take a couple days off to rest and prepare for the weekend. They will need to focus on pitching and defense and make a clutch hit when they need it. But your faithful correspondent senses these kids will be focused and ready to play on Friday and perhaps thereafter. We know they will give it their best shot. And with that comment, I offer a little history on the man who gave us the phrase “Hey, I took a shot” none other than our Abner Doubelday.
By the start of the Civil War, Abner was a captain and second in command in the garrison at Fort Sumter. He aimed the cannon that fired the first shot in answer to the Confederate bombardment on April 12, 1861, starting the Civil War. When questioned why he didn’t hit anything Abner replied “ Hey I took a shot” .
more videos of this season are at :
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=amherst23&search_type=
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