Spring weather has final hit West-Central Indiana. I could actually enjoy baseball weather without having to wear gloves and four layers of clothes to head out to the ball park for once.

With the turn in the weather we've already seen the planting season hit full force. Now I am a city boy through and through. Planting a garden was a big deal for me growing up, so I'm not about to pretend to know anything about working in a farm field. But I got a little feel for it last week on campus.

Walking by Hollett Little Giant Stadium, you might have thought Wabash had become an agricultural school, or we gave land to Bon Appetit to grow fresh vegetables for the students' meals. That's because this big red tractor kept moving up and down the football field. With each pass from north to south, another section of field would disappear.

Well, the College is actually growing something at Hollett Little Giant Stadium.

New grass!

A professional company came to campus and placed all new sections of sod from endzone to endzone of the field in preparation for the 2007 football season. After the rain and wear and tear to the field over the past few season, next year's Little Giant team will have a new surface to scamper across during Saturday afternoon home games.

It's hard to believe that first game is less than five months away. So make plans now to see a home game at Hollett Little Giant Stadium. But leave your corn seed at home, because planting season on the field has been completed. Now we're ready to harvest the hard work of the players as they battle for the 2007 North Coast Athletic Conference title.

Posted by Brent Harris at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since we seem to have hit a theme with sports cliches (and anyone who knows me has heard me fire a few out in my day!), I thought we would add one more --- act like you've been there!

That's what the Wabash baseball team did Sunday afternoon (probably better than the guy doing the radio broadcast --- me) when they defeated the number one ranked team in the nation, Wooster, on the road. The response of each player on the team was just what you want as a coach. They acted like it's just what they expected to have happen.

If you look at the entire series for Wabash, it was the validation of years of effort. I mentioned on the broadcast that the foundation for this win was set by former head coach Tom Flynn. Tom always talked about earning respect in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Wabash didn't have respect in the baseball world because it hadn't done anything since joining the NCAC to deserve it. We've never qualified for the league tournament, despite coming close on a couple of occasions.

I like to think of earning that respect like climbing stairs. One step would certainly be making the NCAC tournament. But we took a big step with the way we played this weekend at Wooster, including the two losses. The Little Giants never looked like they didn't belong on the field with Wooster. The Scots are the best college baseball team I've seen play in my time at Wabash. So for the Little Giant players to take everything the Scots threw at them and be able to take one of the three games tells me that the players listened to what Coach Flynn told them and continue to listen to what current head coach Cory Stevens is telling them.

It also tells me they believe in what they can be. I certainly saw it in the game Sunday, and in their reactions after the game. There was no jumping in the air, no big pile up around Joey Niezer after the last out. Just handshakes with the Wooster players and challenge to play that same way against Franklin and Ohio Wesleyan this week.

Because that's the next step on the stairs. If Wabash plays that way against Wooster, then struggles against Franklin and OWU, it's not ready to make that next step.

But my money is on the Little Giant baseball team. They've shown me they what they know what they can be. After the next big win they won't have to act like they've been. With the win against Wooster, they have been there.

Photo - Wabash players celebrate after a come-from-behind win earlier this year against Anderson.

Posted by Brent Harris at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"There is no 'I' in TEAM" is one of the great sports sayings of all time.

Honestly, is there anyone who has played sports as a kid that didn't have a coach or parent remind us that the effort is about the group and not one person's achievements.

But I've seen some individual efforts lately that have shown me there is an "I" in TEAM - when that "I" is one person pursuing excellence on behalf of the team.

Last Saturday the Wabash tennis team was on the verge of losing to Elmhurst. The match was tied at 4-4 and senior Nathan Mullendore was the only player still on the court. He had lost the first set of his singles' match, and was trailing 5-2 in the second. If you're not a tennis fan, that's the same as being down a run with the bases empty in the bottom of the ninth inning with an 0-2 count against the best reliever in the game.

Nathan proceeded to mount the comeback. He hit shot after shot, dominated the service game, and eventually rallied to win the next five games to take the second set. But he didn't stop there. Nathan took over the third set, winning 6-2 to give Wabash the victory. And that's what his effort was all about. He and his Little Giant teammates celebrated the win. In fact, the Wabash team spent more time concocting a plan to dump a cooler of water on head coach Jason Hutchison to celebrate the win and his 30th birthday than celebrating Mullendore's amazing effort. That's because Nathan didn't do it for himself. It was what he could offer the team that day.

I saw another instance of this Tuesday night at the Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana. If you've been to a home Wabash baseball game, you've seen Mike Schultz. But you probably don't know him. An injury has kept him off the pitching mound for the season, so he works as the ground crew chief before and after every home game. He drags the infield, prepping the diamond so his teammates can go out to try and capture another win.

Mike learned last week his injury was bad enough that he would be unable to pitch the rest of this season, and it's doubtful he would be able to comeback for his senior year next season. He will be back, but as a student coach instead of a player. But he got one more chance to take the mound.

The doctors told him he could not do any more damage to the arm, so he could pitch an inning on Tuesday if he could tolerate the pain. So just a few miles from his home in Crown Point, Indiana, Schultzy took the mound for what may be the final time in his career. He retired all three batters he faced, including a strikeout against the second hitter of the innings. Coming off the field, you would have thought the Little Giants just won the World Series. Every player and coach had a big hug for Mike in appreciation of his effort.

How did his teammates reward him? By playing what may have been their best baseball of the season. Wabash scored three runs in the first inning, another two in the second, and one more in the third to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Reliever Joey Niezer kept the combined no-hitter in tact until the sixth inning, and the Little Giants cruised to the victory over a North Park team that had defeated the sixth-ranked team in the nation twice just a few days before playing Wabash.

The effort was inspiring. But Mike wasn't celebrating his moment in the sun (or under the lights). He went back to his now-familiar role of supporting his teammates, lifting the team's morale on the bench, and providing a few moments of levity along the way.

The old saying is right --- there is no "I" in TEAM. But without individuals who are willing to give of themselves and provide great individual effort, there are no WINS in TEAM either!

Posted by Brent Harris at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While it doesn't quite have the same ring as "We're number one!" I'll take the number five spot.

The official results from the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) judging committee for football media guides were released today. Each year SIDs from around the country submit their media guides and game programs to the organization's publication contest. It's a chance for each SID to get feedback from experts regarding what is useful in the publications and what could be improved.

I've entered the contest the past few years and have received some great ideas on how to improve the Wabash guide. I spent a little extra time this summer incorporating those suggestions into the 2006 guide.

I haven't received the comments regarding this year's guide yet. But I did get the big news --- the football guide was judged to be the fifth-best in the nation among Division III and NAIA schools. My counterparts at Kenyon College, Marty Fuller and Dain McKee, took the top spot. Kevin Lanke's Rose-Hulman guide was named the third-best in the nation. Forty-one schools submitted entries this year, with the top-six guides earning honors.

The recognition for the 2006 guide actually goes to several people. Jim Amidon and Karen Handley proof, re-proof (if that is a word!), and re-re-proof (I'm certain that's not a word!) the guide all summer long. Dean of Students Tom Bambrey and number-one Wabash sports fan Sherry Ross also peruse the guide in a final effort to assure its accuracy. Once the guide is done, it's off to Bluffton, Indiana where Dave Moss and the rest of the Rem Johnston Printing staff spends a few weeks in August cranking out final copies of the guide.

The history of Wabash football has been kept by Max Servies, Amidon, and countless other members of the athletics and public affairs offices over the years. So while it may be my name that goes on the certificate I'll receive in San Diego this summer, it takes an entire team effort to produce what has now been declared one of the best football media guides in the nation!

Check out the online version of the 2006 Football Media Guide.

Posted by Brent Harris at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Can you think of anything that tastes better at the ballpark than hot dog?!

How about a hot dog off the grill of a Wabash parent!!!

After a four-hour rain delay and two baseball games Saturday night in Springfield, Ohio we were right back at it Sunday afternoon. The Little Giants picked up an 11-7 victory, scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning to take their first North Coast Athletic Conference victory under head coach Cory Stevens.

I decided it was time to check out the concessions stand before I got ready to broadcast game number two between the Little Giants and Tigers at Carleton Davidson Stadium. On the way I ran into trainer Mark Colston with a couple of hot dogs of his own. But these were no concession stand hot dogs.

It seems Tom Siple '85 and his wife, Deedee, had brought their camper to Springfield for the weekend to watch the games. There they were with the rest of the Wabash baseball parents, grilling away in the parking lot. When I reached the camper, there were hot dogs, cookies, sports drinks, and potato chips for all of the players, coaches, and support staff. I grabbed two dogs and some cookies after chatting with several of the other parents there during the weekend.

This was not a special event, however. Wabash parents, regardless of the sport, have always been a special part of the program. And not just because of the food they provide (although I'll never turn down another bit of salsa at the Rico's after a game in Arizona!! Or the cookies and cupcakes I enjoyed last week during the Kerry Seward Memorial Tennis Tournament!!!).

I had a wonderful conversation Sunday with Penni Rush, the mother of freshman left fielder Kyle Rush about the web site. Ron and Lisa Metz and traded dog stories and photos in Arizona.

I could go on and on about all the wonderful support every Wabash athlete receives from their parents. At the various sports banquets I attend the coaches ask the parents to stand for a nice moment of recognition from their sons and the other fans of the program. But it's a small token of the appreciation we all have for the sacrifices those families have made to allow their sons to attend Wabash, and the sacrifices they continue to make to follow their sons' careers.

Truly they are Some Little Giant Parents!

Photo - Raul Rico (I know, just call me 'Rico'!) works the grill in his backyard while some of the baseball parents gather around for more of the wonderful food Rico and his wife, Mary, provided the baseball team during their trip to Arizona this spring. 

Posted by Brent Harris at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)