May 22, 2010

Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending the 2010 Midwest Conference Baseball Tournament and calling the action for Midwest Conference Television all tournament long.  The whole weekend was one of the best times I’ve had since I graduated from Grinnell two years and three days ago.  And while it was great to be able to sit in the press box again after all these years while doing play-by-play for a baseball game for the first time ever, what really made the weekend special was the union of Pioneer baseball past and present.

The tournament got off to a rough start for the Pioneers.  The Ripon Redhawks, who had dominated the Midwest Conference Tournament in recent years with a 36-18 mark in tournament play, easily the best in the conference, pounded out seventeen hits in an 11-4 victory to move to the winner’s bracket.  Right fielder Nate Paul led the effort for the Redhawks, pounding out a singles, two doubles and a bomb in support of Redhawk ace Kurt Roeder, who was certainly short of dominant, but easily pitched well enough to get the victory, going the distance and giving up four runs on seven hits in the victory.  All-Midwest Conference South Division first-teamers Greg Suryn ’11, Mike Goldfein ’12 and Nate Pierce ’10 all went deep for the Pioneers, but those runs were all Grinnell could muster in Game 1, as they moved to the loser’s bracket for the fifth time in their five Midwest Conference Tournament appearances.

After the St. Norbert Green Knights defeated Illinois College, then proceeded to fall to the Redhawks, it was time for Pioneers and Blueboys in game two.  The Pioneers swept the Blueboys in the season series and were trying to do something they had never done before: finish 5-0 against one team in a season.  They tabbed ace Ben Pope ’12 as their starter in the must-win game, and while he surrendered twelve hits and six runs in easily his poorest start of the year, he kept his composure and did not give up the big inning until a four-run seventh, when the Pioneers already had a comfortable nine-run lead.  Dugan Knoll ’12 came on in relief to throw a perfect eighth and closer Chad Christoff ’10 tossed a scoreless ninth to preserve the victory and send the Pioneers to day two of the tournament for just the second time in the history of the program after an 11-6 win.  Grinnell’s considerable offense in game two was highlighted by home runs from Paden Roder ’10 and Mike Nodzenski ’12, along with Suryn’s second bomb of the tournament, equaling his regular-season total.

In game three, Coach Tim Hollibaugh made a rather unconventional move, sending Mike Bogard ’12, who had thrown just five innings the entire season, to the hill in what amounted to the most important game in the history of Grinnell College baseball.  Bogard did not disappoint, stifling a powerful St. Norbert offense for six full innings, giving up ten baserunners but only two runs before turning things over to Ryan Harris ’10, who rebounded from a difficult start against the Redhawks to slam the door on the Green Knights.  Harris recorded the final nine outs to record the save, allowing just one hit and retiring St. Norbert’s Tony Jandron, the nation’s leading hitter at .538, on a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded and nobody out.  That turned out to be the last at-bat in Jandron’s college career, as he was on deck representing the tying run when Harris knocked down a line drive with two outs in the ninth, then recovered and threw on to first to send the Pioneers to the Championship Round for the first time in the history of the program.  Roder went deep one last time to set both the single-season(12) and career record(23) for most home runs by a Grinnellian, and Goldfein went 4-for-5 as the Pioneers jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead and never looked back in the 5-2 victory.

That win placed the Pioneers in a rematch with Ripon for the championship.  Pioneer starter Andrew Myers ’12 pitched capably, giving up three earned runs in four innings of work, but in the end the Pioneer bullpen could not contain a powerful Ripon offense, as the Redhawks repeated their 17-hit effort in defeating the Pioneers 13-5.  Grinnell had its chance in the sixth, when Nodzenski missed a grand slam by less than three feet, which would have put the Pioneers ahead 7-5, and instead had to settle for a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-4 Redhawks.  Things looked good for the Pioneers even then, with Ben Pope available for three innings of work, but Grinnell would get no closer as the Redhawks scored eight runs over the final three innings to put the game out of reach.  Chad Takabuki ’10 led the Pioneers offensively in his final game in a Grinnell uniform with three hits, but Ripon starter Jason Wierschke and reliever Steven Blader were able to hold the Pioneers to two earned runs on only nine hits, all singles.  Zach Bayreuther committed four errors for the Redhawks in their clinching game, but the Pioneers could not take advantage as the Redhawks claimed the eighteenth conference title in program history, while Grinnell will enter next season still looking for its first.

Even though the Pioneers were unable to secure the elusive conference title, the tournament was still a great event to cap off the year.  In an unprecedented show of support that one would be hard-pressed to find at most other schools Grinnell’s size, alumni traveled from all across the country to witness the Pioneers’ run at history.

From the east coast, Mark Wilcox ’09 (Baltimore, MD) and myself, Justin Abramson ’08 (Washington, DC) made the trip, though not without incident, barely arriving in time for the first pitch after missing a connecting flight at Chicago O’Hare.  Coming to our rescue were former Pioneers Kevin Byrne ’06, James Bird ’07, Andrew Colver ’07 and Joe Reth, who drove us from their hometown Chicago to the tournament just in time for the pregame ceremonies.  The four of them make up the nucleus of the Pioneer alumni baseball team, the Chicago Pioneers, who began their 30-game season last week with a 2-1 loss.  Joining in the festivities all the way from the west coast was Ben Mendoza ’09 (Portland, OR), whose suggestion of a Dunkin’ Donuts trip on the way to Grinnell was critical to keeping spirits high throughout the journey.

Elsewhere, Mike Rosenbaum ’08 and Julia Meisler ’09 (St. Louis, MO) made the long drive, leaving their homes at 12:30 AM the day of the tournament and traveling all through the night to witness the Midwest Conference Tournament firsthand.  Rick Berdelle ’09 (Clarendon Hills, IL) also drove in to watch the Pioneers and former rotation co-anchor Harris take their shot at history.  And all of this does not even count the support from Pioneer alumni still in Iowa, including Peter Leo ’06 (West Des Moines), brothers Mike Maloney ’06 and Brett Maloney ’09 (Des Moines) and Jim Malewitz ’09 (Iowa City), who joined me in the booth and provided excellent color commentary for our viewers on MWCTV, which included among others, Daniel Dee Clark ’08 (Dallas, TX), Sam Eaton ’07 (Austin, TX) and, from across the pond, Gary Kahn ’09 (Ostrava, Czech Republic).

The weekend culminated with the end-of season baseball party, where Pioneer alumni and students gathered at The Titty Bar, home to Roder, Takabuki and J.P. Prouty ’10, among others, for one last night of drinking in honor of Grinnell College baseball.  For the alumni in the crowd, it undoubtedly provided a welcome reminder of what a wonderful place Grinnell College is and can be, especially when one is surrounded by good friends, beer and baseball.

On Sunday morning, the Pioneers of the present woke up to prepare for final exams as they wrap up Hell Week in Grinnell.  Also waking up after the final baseball event of the year were the Pioneers of seasons past, who headed back to their lives, wherever they may be.  Mendoza heads back to Portland, where he lives with longtime girlfriend Gabriela Maldonado-Bell ’09. Byrne drives home to his wife, Lauren Meredith ’06, and the next day he heads back to his job at AllState Insurance.  Wilcox, once called Max Walcott during his time as a Pioneer catcher, now goes back to being Mr. Wilcox as he returns to his high school chemistry classroom in Baltimore.  Malewitz makes the one-hour drive down to Iowa City, where he’ll be finishing up his first year in journalism school at the University of Iowa, while Colver, Reth and Bird resume their own lives and jobs as they look forward to the Chicago Pioneers’ next game and, of course, rooting on the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL playoffs. Rosenbaum and Meisler head back home to St. Louis, where they look to extend their stay atop the standings in the Denslow Cup.

And finally, I, too, return to life after Grinnell, where I work as an analyst (actually, as of yesterday, a Senior Analyst) at the Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC.  Once known as Young Towel, the voice of Pioneer athletics, I step out of the broadcasting booth for perhaps the final time and return to my life as Justin Abramson, a man who sits behind a desk in an M-Street office building looking at Excel spreadsheets for a living.

One week later, it’s life as usual for this Pioneer alum, as it is for all Pioneer baseball alumni across the country and the world.  But for one weekend, the Pioneer baseball community came together in pursuit of a dream.  And although the dream wasn’t realized this year for the Grinnell College baseball team, it was a weekend that this writer will never, ever forget.  So keep the dream alive, Pioneers.  The ghosts of Pioneer baseball past will always be with you.

Much to the delight (and to some, the disbelief) of the Grinnell College baseball community, it became official late Saturday afternoon: the Pioneers are a perfect 10-0 in Midwest Conference play and South Division champions for just the second time ever.  They’ll be hosting the Midwest Conference Tournament beginning on Friday, May 14, and despite what the Chinese calendar might say, the team could not be more confident that this is finally the year of the Pioneer.

On the mound, the Pioneers have arguably the best one-two starting pitching tandem in the history of the program.  Ryan “Don’t touch the” Harris ’10 takes the ball in Game 1 with a 4-1 record, a 2.41 ERA and a K/BB ratio of almost 3:1.  The big lefty from St. Louis will look to do something on May 14 that no Pioneer has ever done before: advance the Pioneers to the winner’s bracket with a Game 1 victory.  Backing him up is Ben Pope ’12, whose numbers are even better at 6-1, 1.39.  He has also finished five of the eight games he has started, and will take the hill in Game 2.

However, no other pitcher with an ERA below 5 has logged a start for the Pioneers this year.  Candidates to take the ball in Game 3, should the Pioneers make it that far, are Chris Peconga ’12, who has logged the most starts of anyone not named Pope or Harris and compiled a 1-3 record with an 8.42 ERA, or David “Have another beer” Platt ’10, who has started just one game but holds a 5.16 ERA and a 1-0 record, both the best on the team among pitchers not named Pope or Harris who have thrown five innings or more.  In addition, closer Chad “You don’t need a bottle opener, that’s a” Christoff ’10 (2 SV) may be called upon before the ninth inning in a tight ballgame.  As someone who has attended three College World Series and seen his Miami Hurricanes bow out on elimination day all three times, this writer can testify that although two stud pitchers can get you to the dance, it takes more than that to win it all.  It will be very interesting to see who steps up for this Pioneer pitching staff on Day Two of the tournament, when all teams’ Conference starters will be used and games are likely to be much higher-scoring.

On the other side of the ball, the Pioneers are led in nearly all offensive categories by sophomore sensation Mike “Smile and” Nodzenski ’12, whose sizzling .453 batting average and mind-blowing 1.367 OPS makes him an offensive force like no Pioneer lineup has seen since the days of Jason Anderson ’02, whose walk-off grand slam catapulted the Pioneers to their only other South Division championship all the way back in 2001. However, some say Nodzenski is having the greatest season of anyone ever to don the scarlet and black, already with ten round-trippers and the season not over yet.

Hitting right in front of him in the Pioneer lineup is Greg “All Present and Accounted for” Suryn ’11.  Suryn currently owns a torrid .446 batting average and an other-worldly 1.180 OPS while leading the team with four triples.  While his power (2 HR) does not approach Nodzenski’s, one of those home runs will be counted among the most important in the history of Grinnell College baseball.  Suryn’s crucial blow came in the bottom of the eighth inning of the eventual division-clincher, tying the game up and forcing it into extra innings, where the Pioneers eventually won, 10-6, on Nate Pierce ’10’s walk-off grand slam, who two seasons ago was not even wearing a Pioneer uniform.

Finally, no account of the Pioneers’ offensive abilities would be complete without mention of senior Paden “End of the” Roder ’10, whose team-leading total of ten home runs more than justifies his other team-leading total of 23 free passes.  Roder’s uncanny ability to both get on base consistently and find the other side of the wall, along with leadoff hitter Chad Takabuki ‘10’s disruptive power-speed combination (11 XBH, 8 SB) helps this offense strike some serious fear not only into opposing pitchers, but catchers as well.

Regardless of the Pioneers’ chances (and most think they are very real), the alumni response to the team’s achievement has been nothing short of remarkable.

“Congratulations on the two big wins!” said former all-MWC pitcher Gary “Wrath of” Kahn ’09 via facebook all the way from South Africa.  “I know I had nothing to do with it, but I am so proud of this team,” remarked 2003 second-team all-MWC outfielder Peter Leo ’06, currently a Drake University law student. Jim Malewitz ’09, currently in Iowa City studying journalism and author of his blog, the Iowa City Digress, is “stoked beyond belief” to come back and watch the Pioneers vie for their first-ever conference title.

Former All-MWC second-teamer Robbie Unsell ’08 proclaims that “his spirit will be with” the Pioneers as he studies veterinary medicine in London, England.  2008 MWC South Division pitcher of the year Rick “Everybody knows about the” Berdelle ’09 (Clarendon Hills, IL) will be coming to the tournament and is “willing to accept any sleeping accommodations” to watch the Pioneers next weekend.  Golden Sombrero founder and former Pioneer captain Mike Rosenbaum ’08 will be making the trek in from St. Louis, having already taken in a Pioneer doubleheader sweep of Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL.  Former Pioneer ace Sam Eaton ’07 (Austin, TX) and all-MWC first-teamers Kevin Byrne ’06 (Chicago, IL) and Baylor dental school first-year Daniel Dee Clark ’08 (Farmington, NM) also may be in attendance to watch the Pioneers make their run at history as part of what will undoubtedly be a raucous crowd come May 14th.

The Pioneers are three games—just 27 innings—away from history, as they’ll look to capture Grinnell’s first-ever Midwest Conference title next weekend on the North Diamond.  And if you can’t make it, that’s no problem whatsoever—2008 first-team all MWC South Division catcher Jim Malewitz ‘09 along with myself, Justin Abramson ’08, the one-time voice of Pioneer athletics, will have the call for you for Midwest Conference Television, with coverage starting ten minutes before first pitch.  You can catch all the action at www.pennatlantic.com.

So come on out to the ballpark with us for the Midwest Conference tournament!  From Honolulu, Hawaii all the way to Durbanville, South Africa, Pioneer baseball fever has struck the globe, and the only cure may be a conference championship.  The Pioneers lit the fire this fall as they do every year, and while sometimes that fire is nothing but a few glowing embers after the first week of May, there is no doubt now that it will be a roaring blaze at the North Diamond come tournament time.