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LaGrange warms up in the field on the day before the D-III World Series is set to begin on Friday when Marietta takes on Catholic at 10am.
Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com |
It feels like it did back in 2019 before anyone heard of Covid. Last year we reported from our isolated box as Salisbury swooped through the World Series with no contact as everybody stayed in their bubbles. Because there was limited contact, we might as well just stayed at home and saved the travel. That was last year. This year there are no bubbles. In person press conferences are back. We have got an opportunity to talk to all eight head coaches as they prepare for Friday's Series openers.
Marietta head coach Brian Brewer said, "It is awesome to get to see all these coaches and talk to them face to face, it was awesome to get to play in Florida, to get to play outside our conference. If this is really behind us, it is pretty refreshing, it breeds a new life in you and it has in our program.
Salisbury head coach Troy Brohawn said, "Last year we got the whole experience because we won but the other teams did not. This year every team will get to go through the experience."
Catholic and LaGrange are making their first trip to the World Series as they continue their magical seasons.
"We are thrilled for the opportunity", said Catholic head coach Ross Natoli. "I will not pretend I have been here before, but I am going to act like I have been here before and hopefully our players will do the same. All I can ask for is for them to give me their best. I am thrilled to be in the top 10 seeds and will take a top eight seed. I tell my team that you might be the underdog but their are just eight teams here and you earned it."
We are excited but for us, it is baseball. That's how we are treating it," said LaGrange head coach David Kelton. "We have been able to win year-in and year-out and we like to believe that the consistency that we have played in the uSA South and with the older guys that we have in our program will be important in the big games we will play."
Although UW-Stevens Point has been in the World Series before, that was in the Pat Bloom era and it is only in the last few years that the Pointers have gotten back to the national stage. UW-Stevens Point head coach Nat Richter played for Bloom was in the D-III World Series.
"As a coach I have a lot more responsibility, as a player you just kinda enjoy the ride," said Richter. "The routine is a little different and I knew what to expect with the hotel stuff each but eachexperience is a little unique and I will let the players enjoy it."
The long history of Championships for Eastern Connecticut State is well documented but that was under legendary head coach Bill Holowaty. Current ECSU head coach Brian Hamm takes his experiences from another sport - soccer. Hamm helped Middlebury to an ECAC Championship as a goaltender.
"The [playoff] experiences [with soccer] are not dissimilar to this in terms of the overall experience," said Hamm. Last year none of our guys have been to the LEC tournament, and this year they have not been through the NCAA tournament so everything is sped up. The challenge was for them to figure out their landscape and perform and we struggled with that."
Baldwin-Wallace is coming into this years series with another appearance in the books and their head coach hopes that the experience in Appleton Wisconsin pays off in Iowa.
"The first time we were a little naive, just excited to be here," said Brian Harrison. "It helps [to have been here before]. We have had enough success since but our conference is so good that it prepares us for this."
Brohawn, Brewer, and Trinity's Tim Scannell all have taken a team to the D-III World Series and won the Walnut and Bronze.
Brewer down played the experience factor. "I don't think it helps. Experience is good but it is about the everyday preparation. The key to being good in the postseason is that you don't change anything you do in the regular season. Here it is a different hotel, different downtown, different people, but the structure is the same and that goes back to Battle Creek when I was a player. If we were going to have any advantages it is because we know what to expect."
Scannell did the same. "I don't this helps us prepare. We feel like that we can play good baseball, and that turns into another game, and maybe you win the whole thing."
He did credit the trips to Birmingham-Southern that brought his team closer together. "It was phenomenal [to play in the February tournament], it was tough to get there but long worth it. Our club learned a lot about themselves early in the year. It brings a team close if you have to go on the road.
No matter if this is your first or your 20th trip to the World Series, all the players will remember the experience for the rest of their lives.