The Year That Was

Wow, where do I begin with this?? I feel like it would be entirely wrong to not start out by talking about the year that has lead up to today, June 26, 2012, when I actually put pen to paper and signed my first Uniformed Player Contract.

From Left: Coach Marron, who with the help of Coach Wyckoff
lead the Seawolves takeover of the Cape League. Me, Tanner
Nivins, one of our All Conference OF's and Tyler Johnson who
really needs no introduction.

So let's begin with last summer when the fun really began.  I was lucky enough to get to play for a second summer (first full one) in Orleans for Coach Nick and the Firebirds.  It was awesome to get to share that summer not only with the guys from around the country that I met, but with Tyler Johnson, our ace at Stony Brook. It may seem a little cliche but I feel like moments spent with teammates and friends are always a little better.  We had a great summer, we won the regular season title and then flopped in the playoffs and got sent home in 2 games.  I stumbled through the Cape League season, learning lessons the hard way, and picking up at bats when I could.  It was something I was not used to, and it was extremely humbling to feel the emotions and the stresses of being the 5th man in a 4 man infield.  There were times when it truly SUCKED!  I had never been relegated to bench duties and it was both mentally and physically taxing knowing that I was going to the ballpark every day to take BP and sit on the top step and watch. However, the most important thing was to maximize the return I could get, and so I spent hours working with our hitting coach Benny Craig trying to as he put it "polish" a machine that had already been years in the making.  I think that sets up my year at school pretty well.

When we arrived back at school for my Junior Year there was a real change in the way things were at practices, individuals, and pretty much everything we did.  Having won the Cape Cod League MVP Travis Jankowski (I may refer to him as Freddy so just bear with me) was attracting a lot of scouts attention, and that had a ripple effect throughout our team.  Gone were the days when rainy, crappy weather in the fall meant lazy, lackadaisical practices.  All of a sudden we had to be on our best behavior and playing our best every single day because scouts were constantly making the trip to Joe Nathan Field.  Having Freddy draw in all the scouts was a bonus to the rest of the draft eligible Juniors and Seniors because it meant we were getting free exposure.  The coaches were constantly in kill mode, making sure they ran a tight ship, it seemed to be a bit of overkill considering it was such a totally different dynamic than ever before but it worked for us.  We had our usual stupidity go on during the fall, with guys getting in trouble for being late to or completely missing classes, study hall, tutoring, practice, lift and anything else they could be late for.  We just couldn't seem to get it right all fall, be it on or off the field.  As Willie Carmona would put it at the end of the year we started out as "a bunch of F*** ups."

As we got closer and closer to the season the attention on our team was ratcheted up another level as we began getting votes in national polls, and had 3 players named Pre-Season All Americans by Louisville Slugger.  The Juniors and Seniors had meetings every week with scouts from all the different teams, Jim Bretz of the Padres, John Ceprini with the Cubs, the ball clubs were all represented at one point or another on campus of Stony Brook University.  The meetings were generally pretty basic, the scout told each of the two groups of 4 of us about the minor league system, the facilities, and what they liked and thought we could improve upon.  Every meeting ended with some form of the phrase "I hope we get lucky enough to get all of you, but in case we don't I wish you the best of luck."

Well the "best of luck" was what our team was all about all year.  When I think about luck, I find it hard not to notice that those who are well prepared and extremely competent get "lucky" more than those who aren't.  We started out well, sweeping our opening weekend at Nicholls State.  I had a good series by the numbers, but it was one of those weekends when weak contact found holes and I was rewarded for getting beat.  We rolled into conference with a very good non conference record, but we still felt as though we should have been a few games better than we were.  Our first 2 weekends of conference we lost a game, equaling our total from the entire 2011 season.  We only lost once the rest of the way en route to a 21-3 record in America East play, earning ourselves the #1 seed in the tournament.  We beat up on Maine in game 1, and then managed to finally beat Jake Lambert of Binghamton in game 2.  He was the only pitcher all year to beat us twice. The final game put us against a depleted Maine squad, as they had to fight through the losers bracket to get to the final and had used all of their pitching, including guys that were dealing with the flu.  We beat them in game 3 and were back on top, champions!  What a great feeling to avenge our loss from last season with a dominant performance in the tournament.

Me and Cole Peragine, our Freshman All American SS after making the final out to win the America East Tournament.

We were selected as a #4 seed and sent to Coral Gables to play Miami in the Regional. What a cool way to begin the playoffs, to return to a ballpark that I had spent a bunch of nights during Toronto Mets Spring Training trips, this time as a player.  We whipped the Canes on Friday night, 10-2 and we gave birth to our Twitter sensation #ShockTheWorld.  It was also here that our "ok" hand gesture took on new life.  Every time we got a key hit we all put up the sign that would become a talking point on ESPN just a few days later.  It was pretty cool to have this "sign" that unified us and got us all fired up.  We tripped up against UCF in game 2, and I was quiet sure I had blown our season by making a throwing error in the 1st inning, allowing 2 runs to score.  We ended up losing 9-8, it was an extremely deflating feeling, and it was something that no doubt inspired me to come back and have big games.  We knocked off Missouri State, in our 1st elimination game, then we beat UCF in the nightcap of the double header to force a winner take all game 7 on Monday night.  We were beat, mentally and physically exhausted and scorched from the heat.  Our athletic trainer Roy had us do a morning pool workout to get our bodies reconditioned for the final game.  TJ went out and dealt for the 2nd time in 4 days giving us enough to get a lead and beat UCF, clinching our first even Regional Title.  We had shocked the world, but the best was still to come.

One of the Facebook Banners created by some the creators of ImASeawolf.com

We headed to Baton Rouge to take on the Fighting Tigers of LSU in a 3 game Super Regional.  We were going to face Ryan Eades, the Cape League Pitcher of the Year and Kevin Gaussman, the 4th overall pick in the draft.  Did I mention we had to do this in one of college baseball's most home team friendly stadiums, one in which the Tigers had never lost a Super Regional, or a playoff game?  Such was the case as Alex Box Stadium was rocking for 30 consecutive innings.  We outplayed LSU in game 1, only to have the game suspended, and then only to lose after having leads in the 9th, 10th and 11th innings.  Talk about deflating.  We also were now faced with game 2 starter Kevin Gaussman.  We were locked in, and we controlled their offense with phenomenal pitching and defense en route to a 3-1 win.  Kevin Courtney got the big hit, a solo shot off of Gaussman and we again staved off elimination.  Sunday's game was delayed until 7 pm a start time that LSU just happened to be perfect for the last 5 years playing at.  It was 1-1 in the 3rd and then the world was dumped on its head.  I hit a double to give us a 2-1 lead, the Kevin Krause and Steve Goldstein followed with 2 out RBI's and we went ahead 4-1. In the 4th I got hit on the wrist by a 2 strike curve ball, but it was ruled foul.  I hit a sinking liner to center and it got past a diving Mason Katz for another double and 2 more RBI. 6-1 Seawolves.  To say there was stunned silence was an understatement because it was the first time we could hear ourselves think all weekend.  Frankie Vanderka pitched an absolute gem, and struck out the last hitter to punch our ticket to the Big Dance.  For the first time since 1986 a team from the Northeast Region was headed to Omaha! Going back to the actual quote from Willie as put to our Athletic Director, Jim Fiore "not bad for a bunch of F*** ups huh?"

Stony Brook vs. UCLA at the College World Series.
Pregame introductions and the National Anthem.

Omaha was magical, a place that every baseball fan should go at some point in his or her life.  It is a place that just gets what baseball is all about, family, friends a great hot dog and an afternoon in the sun.  The city really captures everything that a person could remember about going to big league games as a kid, it has a youthful innocence that makes everything so much fun.  We had nothing left and were gone as quickly as we had arrived.  Though our time was brief in Omaha we all made lasting memories.  Whether it was receiving the bag full of brand new Nike gear, or the first trip out of the tunnel and into the dugout, the smell of ballpark food or the celebrity status feel of taking BP in front of 5000 fans it was a special few days.  Pat Cantwell our catcher, captain and the soul of our team summed it up best in a very heartfelt tearful speech after the game.  "I want to thank each and every one of you guys for making this the best senior season anyone could ever have.  I love you all like brothers and will always do anything for you guys.  I can't imagine finishing my career with a better group of guys."  It was truly representative of the journey we had been through together as we went from that misfit group of late for everything ball players to one of the greatest teams in Northeast baseball history, and certainly the greatest team in Stony Brook history.

And completely left out of that whole rundown was draft day.  We had 7 guys picked by 6 different teams:

1. San Diego Padres
• Travis and Me (1st and 11th Rounds)
2. Texas Rangers
• Pat Cantwell (3rd Round)
3. Philadelphia Phillies
• Willie Carmona (11th Round)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
• James Campbell (12th Round)
5. Chicago Cubs
• Jasvir Rakkar (26th Round)
6. Oakland A's
• Tyler Johnson (33rd Round)

So that was our year.  Pretty nice for a team and a program that had never won more than 1 playoff game.