Busy Weekend Ahead at Schoonover

Sawyer Polen
Junior, Infielder

Another year of Flashes baseball is underway. It has been great to get back on campus and begin our next quest for another MAC championship. It’s always exciting to meet the new freshman and watch them transform before our eyes and quickly learn how we play baseball here at Kent State University. We have great talent and leadership on our team this year. There is a mixture of returning starters and guys who are now getting their opportunity to show their abilities to a fresh new coaching staff. Our new coaching staff is great. They see the greatest potential that lives in each of us and continue to light the fire of competitive spirit that is a key component in a championship team. We are working extremely hard, having fun, and ready to close out the fall season with our annual Blue Gold World Series.

As a captain of the Blue squad this year I have been asked to write some thoughts about this closing weekend of fall baseball. We have a couple events going on this weekend. The first event is the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the new baseball and softball complex. This ceremony is going to include members of the university administration, athletic department, and both softball and baseball teams. The complex is going to consist of indoor batting cages, dirt pitching mounds, training equipment, and offices. This is a project that is sure to keep both of our programs with top-notch facilities to allow us to continue our excellence not only in the classroom but also on the field. I would just like to say on behalf of myself and the baseball team, thank you so much to all of the donors that have made this complex possible.

The main event for this weekend is the legendary Blue vs. Gold series. The coaches have selected myself and TJ Sutton to be the captains of this year’s team. I will be the captain of the Blue squad and TJ has been chosen as the Gold squad captain. I cannot wait for this series to get underway. TJ and I are great friends and have been playing with each other for three years now. We have both selected our teams and are ready to take this competition to the field. This series is going to be great. The winner of this three game series will get a steak dinner to enjoy while the loser will get hot dogs and also be responsible for closing the field for the winter.

The final event of this weekend will be the ring ceremony. This is a ceremony to recognize last year’s team for winning the regular season MAC championship. Members of that team will receive their ring for all of their hard work from last season. I can remember watching my first ring ceremony as a freshman. I thought to myself how cool would it be to have a championship ring. I was jealous but it made me work as hard as I possibly could to get on that travel roster the next year and to earn my first ring. This will be my second ring now and I refuse to let it be my last. This team that we have has seen what it takes to win championships. Everyone knows that last year was a little bit of a disappointment. We all have high expectations for ourselves and for this team. We are ready to start our winter individuals and get ready for February 15^th when this team will be ready to make our mark in history for Kent State baseball. Get ready Kent State baseball fans, the Flashes are preparing to win another championship and get back to that magical city in Nebraska…OMAHA.

 Go Flashes

Coming to Kent State

Brandon Larson,

Volunteer Assistant Coach

I wanted to come to Kent State because of Jeff Duncan.  Jeff and I played our last year together and actually roomed together.  Mid-way through the season he retired and took a volunteer job at Auburn.  That was about six years ago, and I told him that was something I might be interested in some day.  He said when he became a head coach and had a spot open he’d call me.

So, six years later, the day after he was named head coach at Kent State, he called me.  I thought I had to come here and check it out.  In this day and age it’s very rare for someone to keep their word like that, and I’ve been loving it ever since.

Ball players never think about coaching when they’re playing ball because they want to play forever.  I miss being around it at a high level.  This afforded me the opportunity to be around it at a high level again and I’m having a blast doing it.

Championship Summer

This summer, John Birkbeck and Tommy Monnot won a championship with the Keene Swamp Bats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.  They took the time to answer a few questions on the experience:

What was it like winning a summer league championship?

Tommy Monnot: It was pretty fun.  It wasn’t as good as a Kent State one because we didn’t know everybody; we weren’t with each other as long.  But it was still fun.  It was good meeting a bunch of guys and doing well with them. 

John Birkbeck: It was exciting to get to win a championship with a new group of guys.  We weren’t as close to them as we are with the guys at Kent, but it was still great to put that much time in and spend a summer away from home and get to win a championship.

What was the difference in winning this championship compared to winning one at Kent State?

JB: Winning one here, it’s a huge process because you were together for eight months at a time preparing for it, whereas this was a snapshot of what we do here.  It was two months, we didn’t practice… it was kind of just a show-and-go all the time.  It was kind of like high school and little league: you just play baseball and have fun.

TM: We are expected to win them here, because we always have a good team every year.  Up there, we didn’t really know what we had.  We started out a little rough and came out and started winning ball games, and we ended up coming out with a ring.

After falling short in the Mid-American Conference Tournament last season, what kind of motivation does winning a championship with the Swamp Bats give you to go out and continue winning them at Kent State?

JB: A lot.

TM: Yeah, I’m hoping we can rebuild off that and I can carry on where I was going in the playoffs for that season onto the Kent State season.

Summer Update from TJ Sutton

By TJ Sutton

Senior, Outfielder

For Kent State baseball the 2013 summer may not have been as exciting as the magical 2012 summer, but it was equally important in the foundational changes of the program. As players, we are all excited to work with the new coaching staff. We are all excited that coach Birkbeck and coach Marconi are back on staff and carry familiarity from past seasons. We are also ecstatic to meet and work with our new Manager, coach Duncan and also our newest assistant, coach Larson. 

Summer is a busy time for us as student-athletes. It is a challenge to balance summer ball, training and getting the proper amount of rest for the upcoming season and school year. Although, it is always amazing how we instantly re-energize when we all arrive back in the clubhouse at Schoonover Stadium. Individually, it is extremely important to assess our performances from the previous season and use the summer to improve and prepare for fall ball. With the school year rapidly approaching, everyone is itching to get back to Kent and get started.

As a senior this season I am very excited to get back on campus and get in the clubhouse with the guys. Meeting the incoming freshman and catching up with the old faces is a blast all its own. Hearing about who had the best host-family, whose summer team had the best charter bus and who had the best off-day opportunities are always entertaining conversations.

For the upcoming fall practice season we Golden Flashes hope to compete everyday against each other and work towards the 2014 spring season. Keeping in mind the expectations that go along with being a flashes baseball player, and not forgetting how we fell a bit short of those in 2013. As coach Duncan has already stated, the expectations for Kent State baseball have not changed and "We will go back to Omaha."

GO FLASHES,

TJ Sutton