Week Four

Week Four is now complete and the weather has finally caught up to us. I must have jinxed it by talking about how weird the weather has been this winter. Last week we had our first snow storm dropping a lovely six inches of snow. Now we are looking at another five to six inches this week. On the bright side the forecast for Fort Myers today was 88 degrees and sunny so Florida can’t come any sooner. Not being able to go outside this past week allowed all position players to get plenty of hacks in. If you weren’t facing a pitcher you were lucky enough face coach Doorey in the cage. No he wasn’t pitching, he was behind the pitching machine feeding curve balls and making most hitters look a tad silly. I think he was having a little more fun watching us then we were trying to hit. Defense once again was a main focus of the week. We continued to work on run downs, 1st and 3rd defenses, as well as bunt defenses. All of these situational drills are extremely important for our first games because from my past experiences these are the first things we, as a team, slip up on. It’s the little things like bunt defenses and situations that we are going to have to excel in this season to succeed.

With Florida being only one week away you can see the excitement of the freshman’s faces. Then again you can probably see it on all of our faces because I know, myself included that all the older guys are excited that they will be stepping on a plane not a bus come Wednesday. Come Friday I hope the new guys can keep up the excitement and try to push aside the nerves. The first game of the season is always nerve racking but we are going to have to look past that and strive for a win that Friday. Wish us luck and I hope to see lots of cardinal fans down there. On a final note I believe coach Doorey is only 7 or 8 wins away from his career 200th win at Plattsburgh. So if it’s a successful Florida trip coach will be coming back with that accomplishment under his belt

Week Three

Week three is now in the books for the Cards and it’s certainly been an unusual spring training so far. I’ve never experienced a winter quite like the one we are having here in Plattsburgh. In the past, we were lucky if we went outside three times before heading to Florida. Two of those three times typically would have been Coach Doorey forcing us outside while the snow was still flying. Doing this would get us prepared to what the regular season really feels like in Plattsburgh. Nothing like that can be said this year that’s for sure; once again we had three practices outside this week. All week the coaching staff stressed on the importance of defense and the affects it can have on our season. Coach Doorey emphasized “that we are only going to be as good as our defense”, and that one of our goals should be to be the best defensive team in the country. With that you can only image what practice must have looked like. Infielders worked on ground balls to our left and right focusing on doing every little step correctly. The outfielders focused on the significance of hitting all their cuts and the proper techniques on fielding fly balls. The pitchers continued working hard on establishing their fastballs early in the count. When doing this it allows the pitchers to be more effective and it takes more pressure off of them. The overall goal is to have our pitchers working ahead and our fielders playing the best defense they can. When you put those two together, you can guarantee that you will always be in every game.

With only two weeks remaining until Florida a sense of seriousness can be felt in the gym. Everybody is working hard and to top it off Coach Bulter has recently pulled out his coffee lid hitting drill. When this happens we all know the regular season must be really close. 17 days remain until our first game and there are still many opportunities out there for starting positions. As I say each week the new comers continue to improve, and being a senior as I am it’s really nice to see these kids improve so much on a weekly basis. Don’t be shocked to see new faces on opening day because all of newcomers have worked hard to get ready for March 9th. With that I’d like to give a shout out to two of the new guys and that’s Brain Latulipe and Mike Vargues. Both men come to practice each day, work hard, listen, and improve day in and out. Plattsburgh State Baseball has a bright future ahead of them and it will take all nine of the freshman to continue the success of this program. Only 16 days now till departure, Hope to see you all in Florida!

Former Cards now coachinghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

One of the joys of being a head coach for so long (13 seasons, 10 at Plattsburgh) is watching the players you coached become coaches themselves.

Here are the former modern-era Cardinals that are now coaching:

Mike Bergman, SUNY Plattsburgh, Assistant Coach
Billy Davis, SUNY Plattsburgh, Assistant Coach
Matt Kelley, Union College, Assistant Coach
Zack Welch, Sul Ross State University (Texas), Graduate Assistant Coach
Matt Burns, SUNY Oneonta, Assistant Coach

Week Two

Week two has now come and gone for the baseball team. This week we were introduced to “Timed Mile Tuesday’s” and “What the Heck Beep Test Wednesdays”. Wednesday turned into a competition beep test because you had to beat your unknown competitor. The victors would happily move onto hitting stations while the losers would stay and run another test. The unlucky ones were left running four beep tests. As the week progressed so did the drills, pitchers continued to work on their arm strength while the outfielder’s and infielders were once again lucky enough to go outside. It was surprisingly in the 40’s again in the tundra of Plattsburgh and the coaches took full advantage of it. We were able to go over game like situations outside which are usually very difficult to do inside. Having these outside practices are great because it gives us a chance to throw the ball across the diamond and let’s face it, there’s only so much you can do in the gym.

As the weekend came the pitchers were ready to throw live for the second time this year. Instead of the strict fastball only schedule like last week the pitchers could now throw their full arsenal. We were lucky enough to have an umpire join us on Saturday giving us all the most game like situation we could have at this time. Overall the week was very productive; it’s nice to see the freshman grow from week to week because we are really going to need them this spring. Florida is coming fast and hopefully in three weeks we will be in full stride and fully prepared for our first games.

Welch traded to Abline

Former SUNY Plattsburgh standout Zack Welch was recently traded by the Alpine Cowboys of the Pecos League to the Abilene Prairie Dogs of the North American League.

Welch batted .336 last season with five doubles, a triple, a home run, 26 runs batted in, and 17 stolen bases for Alpine.

Welch has played independent league baseball for the past three seasons with Texarkana (Continental League, 2009), Alpine (Continental League, 2010; Pecos League, 2011) and Shreveport-Bossier (American Association, 2010).

Welch is currently is his first season as an assistant coach at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, TX.

15 Baseball Cards That Could Get You Through College

Came across an article that some of you might enjoy!

http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/02/07/15-baseball-cards-that-could-get-you-through-college/

Week One

The first week of practice was a welcome back to reality for us all. As to be expected the first couple of days were used to shake off the cob webs. If you happened to walk into practice on Monday or Tuesday you would have seen something that looked more like a track practice. There wasn’t the sound of the bat connecting with the ball but the sound of 32 guys gasping for air. Monday also included the first competition for the team, a conditioning contest was held for the first time against the Lacrosse team. It wasn’t a pretty first game for us; we were out manned and dominated by Lacrosse. With that I’d like to tip my hat to them, they handed us our first loss of the season. This event definitely opened the eyes to many players, were going to have to out work teams to be the best we can this year.

As the week continued we finally pulled out the gloves and bats. Position players were taking as many hacks as they could, while pitchers were preparing to throw live later in the week. When Friday came along every pitcher had a chance to face a live batter for the first time this season. Pitchers were on a strict fastball only schedule, while the hitters practiced situational hitting. As the week concluded you could see the affects of a productive week of practice. Everyone seemed to be hobbling or grabbing some part of their body that was sore. Week one was a good one for the baseball team and its hard to believe that in a little more then a month we will be headed to Florida. If you haven’t heard yet we will be flying to Florida this year. The newcomers don’t know what they are missing out on with that joyful 27 hour bus ride. I can personally say that after making that trip three times in my career I will not miss that ride.

Now that the first week has past us, we are going to have to make some big strides in the next few weeks. With the loss of five starters, the newcomers are going to have to fill in some big shoes. I’m excited to see what we can do this season and with everyone on board we can definitely make it back into the Playoffs. Week two is now in action and with some of this warm winter weather we got a chance to get outside. Lets cross our fingers and hope the warm weather continues. We can now let the countdown begin, 32 days till our first Game. Go Cards!