Preseason Polls- Prediction or Fact?

Practices have started, and the preseason polls are out. The Mount baseball team is picked to finish 4th in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. To me, preseason means nothing; all that matters is where you finish. After finishing 1st in the conference the past 3 years, we know what it takes to win. According to the preseason poll, they are expecting us to be worse than last year. Although, people do not realize that we have a stronger and better team than last year. We will have to go out and prove ourselves, and show everybody that we are for real. I believe that this could be a special season for us. It will not be easy, and it will not come to us. We will have to work harder and harder each practice to prepare ourselves for competition.

We are not out to JUST win the conference. Every team says "we're going to the World Series this year!" It may or may not be realistic, and most of the time it is not. For this team, it is realistic to say we CAN go that far. With a team like we have, we expect to win every game. Realistically, however, it is rare to see a baseball team go undefeated. Although, we do expect to win, and we have a team that puts us in position to win any game no matter who we are playing.

The preseason poll to me is just motivation. When you are picked 1st, you have to work hard to prove you deserve that notoriety. Other teams will be motivated to work harder, to show that they deserve to be recognized. We were only recognized as the 4th best team in the conference as of preseason. It will be up to us to prove that this was only a prediction and not a fact.

Former Red a coach at MSJ

Chris Sabo, a former Major League Baseball Player for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and the St. Louis Cardinals, is now an assistant coach for the MSJ baseball team. Sabo was drafted out of high school, but opted to attend the University of Michigan, and later was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 1983 in the 2nd round. In 1988, Sabo would win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. One of his greatest achievements in his career, however, was leading the Reds to a World Series Title in 1990. Sabo was recognizable by his protective eyeglasses which were commonly known as "Rec Specs."

Chris will be a bench coach as well as the infielders coach for the Mount this upcoming season.

The team looks forward to working with, and learning from a former Major Leaguer, also hoping that his knowledge will factor into another great season.

MSJ Baseball '09

The MSJ Baseball team is about to start practices Monday, the 26th of January. After another strong season in '08, the team looks to improve on every aspect of the game in '09. 2008 had a lot of ups and downs. The team had a low start, but gradually got better, ending up with a 24-18 record, with a conference record of 16-5; good enough for sole possession of the regular season title. The '09 team comes into this season with many returners from the previous season, with a lot of new talent from the freshman class as well as transfers.

The '08 season showed a lot of promise for '09, and this could be a special season for th Mount baseball program.