Adam Genn

March 3rd, 2008

As a freshman last year, I watched with reverence towards the ten seniors who led our team to the College World Series and the best record in school history.  Two days after the season ended, we said our goodbyes and went home for the summer.  On my drive home, I couldn’t help but think of the faces I would see again in the fall, and those I would not.  I couldn’t imagine a better group of guys to play ball with than those with whom I had shared the previous year.
           
This year, we have four seniors at the helm who hope to accomplish the only thing last years team did not: win a national championship.  Just like last year, we worked hard in the fall and formed our new squad.  Just like last year, we lifted and conditioned hard in the winter.  And just like last year, we came together after winter break to begin final preparations for the season.
           
Our opening weekend split with Millsaps College mirrored last season, as did wins over Greensboro and York leading to a Rawlings Southern Classic Championship, our third in as many years.  After six games at Chappell Park, we left the familiarity of home for a three game set on the road against Maryville and Huntingdon.  Our first campaign away from Emory proved as successful as we could have hoped for; 3-0 with a weekend sweep over Huntingdon College-the only team to beat us twice last year, the only team to beat us at home last year, a team we had not beaten since 2005.  

As the season goes on, our team continues to define itself.  This year we have twelve freshmen, ten sophomores, two juniors, and four seniors; a young team.  But just as we learned from the seniors last year, so to do we learn from this year’s leaders.  It is important to know that this team is not the team from last year, but our goals are just as lofty.  We now have only one task left incomplete.

Currently we sit at 7-2 with a full week in which we face off against LaGrange, Oglethorpe, and UAA competitor Case Western.  Looking forward, we have UAAs coming up next week, a huge opportunity for us to take one step towards our ultimate goal of gold and mahogany.  We look forward to the heat and familiarity of the Altamonte Springs Holiday Inn, the “Why Not” Bar and Grille, endless games of Yahtzee by the pool, and of course, good baseball.  Joining us at UAAs are most of the team parents which of course means food not made by Emory Dining Services.

Going into this week and our conference championships leads us to “what to watch for” (stolen completely from ESPN).  Freshmen Elliot Coor and Matt Ryckman will take the mound for the Eagles in the coming weeks and will look to improve on their combined five wins in as many starts.  On the offensive side of the spectrum, look for our offense to continue on its current hot streak.  After a slow start in the first three games, our team batting average has gone from .151 to .311 in the following six.  Our hot bats have been lead by the senior trio of Frank Pfister, Joe Roth, and Dave Hissey who are batting .462, .483, and .432 respectively.  The three seniors have combined to drive in 35 runs, over 50% of our offensive production.  Other big contributors are freshmen Sam Schrieber (.350) and sophomore Dan Molnar (.314, 6 RBIs).

All those statistics aside, baseball is a team sport and our team will continue to work hard and support each other. We hope to get on a roll this week and take it to Florida for UAAs. Until then, see you on the field here in Atlanta and in Sanford, FL.

Adam Genn is a sophomore from Baltimore, MD. He would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.