Urck and Messina take a swing

We spent half our practice inside, and the second half we hit the turf field until sundown. Despite the cold after the sun went down, energy was good.

Here Dan Greco catches up with Sean Urckfitz(right) and Chris Messina (left).

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Here is some action on the turf.

Youth Clinic

A major fundraiser every year is our Youth Winter Clinic Series. Saturday, the team hosted over 40 youngsters to teach skills and participate in competitions to accumulate Scrapper Points. The Points will carry over to next week's clinic when the C.O.D. (Camper of the Day) is announced. Here, assistant coach Chad Bongiovanni interviews a veteran clinic participant, Michael.

The team enjoys doing the clinics, and you can see it on the kids' faces. One thing I try to instill in our players is to enjoy what you are doing. I'm not exactly sure what is going on in the background, but you give the players a camera and a little leeway...

Friday's practice saw Kyle Koslowski take home the Hammer. He won the hit-and-run competition. In his speech he spoke about how he appreciates being around teammates that not only come to practice and work hard, but how everyone looks forward to coming to practice everyday. Everyone wants to be there and is all in.

Just like we stress in our clinics, there is a lot of satisfaction in making the decision to show up with a positive attitude everyday and enjoying what you do.

I'd like to give a shout out to Jordan Hibbard. His speeches were legendary, and it was great to see him develop into the ace of our staff in two years at Fredonia State. We have had a lot of great speeches by different players this semester, and every great speech is compared to one of Hibbard's. He set the standard!

The Great Outdoors

The Blue Devils had their first outdoor workout today. Fly balls, pop ups and pregame routine. Temperature was in the low 40's, but no wind. Will we go outside tomorrow? Be over-prepared.

Here Dan Fetes is interviewed by Dillon Lowe and Ian Gallagher. As usual, Dan was positive. He described it as "hot" out.

Following practice, we checked out the infamous Brian Roberts video. Hoping it sets the tempo for the next two weeks and gets us going in Florida.

Live pitching/hitting continued in the cage. Had a couple local umps stop by. Minor League arbiter J.J. Bilinski called the pitches on Monday. He'll be heading south for Spring Training in Tampa. Will be doing a bunch of Yankee organization games. He's been assigned to the New York Penn League this summer following his southern swing. Interesting to hear him talk about umpire expectations at the different professional levels. Hope he makes the big time some day!

Team photo

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Wellsville, Sutherland, Maryvale, Lockport, Arlington, Brighton wrestling ... some of the finest HS programs in New York State represented at Saturday's practice. State Champs in the front!

Vote on the poll in the right-hand menu for the best HS gear.

Josh Gascon in Livonia throwback gear

Tommy Morris knows something we don't

Maryvale Flyers -- strike a pose

High School Spirit Day

Today was our annual High School Spirit Day. Players donned gear from the Glory Days when they were all big-time stars. Myself, I was a two-time Second Team All County player back at Harborcreek. A high school star.

Here are a couple of players recalling the good old days.

Dillon Lowe 

John Bennett

The last two days were productive and got the team focused.

Friday, Zach Hugg took home the Hammer. He has been diligent about improving his game in several area and worked on some things when he threw live. He gave a great speech about not taking his opportunity to play lightly and what it means to him to have the opportunity to keep playing after two seasons at Corning C.C. He got a rousing applause afterwards.

John Bennett opened Saturdays practice with a pre-practice Hammer. He canceled his dental appointment to keep his 7-year streak of not missing anything alive. He spoke about a little talk he and Connor had around the batting cage recently. Playing is great, but championships create memories.

Zach Murray took home the Hammer after practice. He has been helping his teammates a lot the past week -- everything from change ups, to pickoff plays -- he's taken time for some other guys. A happy-go-lucky guy, but a tenacious competitor.

Also, a big shout out to Al Schoeneck who stopped by today. Made my day. Al played for the Devils a few years back and is assisting at his H.S. alma mater, West Genesee in Syracuse while teaching as a long-term sub at Central Square.

Happy Birthday, lil' fella!!

Guess who's 1 today? Future slugging firstbaseman?

Pickin' things apart

We've had some good practices and determined some areas we need to work on the past few days. Thursday Tommy T took home the Hammer. Tommy saw some things in our pitchers mechanics that were giving away some things. We'll make the adjustment as a team and be better for it. Tommy has his head in the game as much as anybody and does a great job of picking up other team's tendencies, etc. He'll be back next year as a member of our coaching staff after he uses up his eligibility this year.

Ronnie Mannella and Brian Sheehan got thier first Hammers this week. Sheehan has been taking control of things behind the plate -- running the show. Ronnie has been "Executing the Routine" consistently. Nothing special, just getting the job done.

We also worked in some PFP (pitcher's fielding practice). On Wednesday, coach Sully got fed up with the pitchers and ran them. Thursday it was my turn to chew out the staff. I spoke to coach Benim over at Penn State Behrend on Thursday night. He was all over his pitchers the same day. "Must have been the full moon," he said. If anyone sees a pitcher today -- remind them fielding is a big part of the game.

To cure this, Saturday's practice will be two hours worth of boring pickoffs, boring fielding and other boring things.Can't wait!!

Thursday also saw our pitchers throw live in the cage vs. our hitters. Lars and Zach Jordon threw first. Next was a couple of freshmen lefties -- Ramsdell and Tommy Mo. Making progress. First up Friday will be Murr-dog and Joey Tingue, followed by a couple more lefties -- Grey and Ace. Time permitting, we'll get a few more arms rolling.

I'd also like to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of "The Kid", Gary Carter. The Hall of Fame catcher was one of the most popular players in all of the MLB in the 80's. He was known for his enthusiasm and being a big part of the powerhouse Expos team and the catcher on the '86 Mets. RIP, Gary.

Ending the week on a good note

Due to home basketball games in the afternoon (Saturday), the team was limited to practice in Dods Hall. That usually means a lot of ground balls, conditioning and pitchers finding something else to do (throw of the mounds in the corner of the Fieldhouse).

Prior to practice, freshman Adam Bronson attempted his run at the dips record. His form was ruled improper when he put up 71 in an earlier practice. Using proper form, he was able to pump out 47 dips -- a few shy of the record 57 Conor Lorenzo put up this winter, but something to shoot for.

Check out his form here.

Atta boy, Bronson!

Jake Nowak took home the Hammer for the group in Dods Hall. He won the ground ball tournament and competed strong in the conditioning. Second Hammer in about a week.

Evan Carmello took home the Hammer from the pitcher's practice. According to coach Sullivan, he had another outstanding bullpen session and is shwoing that he will be a very effective arm on our staff this year. He is also getting some work at second base and swinging a good stick.

Swinging away in the new cage

Tuesday's practice was a lot of hitting. After a couple of weeks, some of the players are making some adjustments. Adam Bronson and Justin Burns took home the co-Hammer Tuesday for making hitting adjustments from the fall.

Afternoon pitching sessions began this week. A strength of the team will be the deep quality of our staff -- which also makes it competitive for each pitcher. We have added three more lefties to go along with 'Ace' this year in addition to 14 quality hurlers overall.

We are looking at beginning hitters throwing live to hitters a little earlier this year. Usually we wait until about two weeks before we go to Florida. Late next week we'll roll out the mounds in the new batting cage.

Here junior catcher Brian Sheehan speaks to Jake Nowak about the new cage.

A big THANKS to A.D. Greg Prechtl and Assistant A.D. Megan Valentine for making this happen. New bleachers last year, new press box (replacing the 'O'Dell Hotel') this summer. Things keep getting better!

Time to catch up on some Z's

The team finished its final 6 a.m. workout today (Friday). We have a number of early games (9 a.m. starts) in Fort Myers during Spring Break, so hopefully this helps our players compete that early in the day. A 9 a.m. game means up at 6:30 or 7 a.m. We also have some early departures for some afternoon road trips.

 

Here, senior captain Josh Greco talks with sophomore Conner Lorenzo following the two weeks of morning workouts. With Tommy Dee and Joe Kephart graduated, Lorenzo hopes to battle for a starting spot in the middle infield.