By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The sad reality in baseball is that pitchers rarely hit their intended target.

Collegiate Baseball ran an in-depth story about why U.S. Navy SEAL snipers can hit targets up to a mile away while pitchers struggle to hit their mark from 60 feet 6 inches in the Feb. 6, 2015 edition as the SEAL Sniper Training program was explored.

According to Inside Edge, which compiles data from Major League games, pitchers on this level missed their target 76 percent of the time during the 2014 season. Inside Edge defines hitting a target as the catcher’s glove didn’t move or it was within one baseball width from the glove.

A big difference between the two disciplines are that snipers look through a scope with crosshairs to target with precision, and their rifle is completely still along with the sniper’s body and head.

A pitcher has many moving body parts as he throws a pitch, including his head, which obviously includes his sighting mechanism with his eyes.

There has never been a method so pitchers could visually train with precision like a sniper until now.

In part one of this series, internationally known archer Doug Besherse explained how aiming small and missing small must be utilized by pitchers from the time they are eight years old to train the mind properly. Anything less will not allow the pitcher to tap into his maximum control.

In this final article of the 2-part series, Tim Nicely, inventor of V-Flex, has introduced a training aid that could revolutionize the way pitchers throw strikes with more precision.

It essentially is a product that assists the brain in processing visual information more efficiently for pitchers. It allows pitch control through spatial learning.

Nicely said that he became intrigued with the brain after his first cousin was seriously injured.

“My first cousin suffered a serious brain injury in 1999,” said Nicely.

“I was working on the Tennessee Smokies’ baseball stadium in general contracting work and was coaching high school baseball and softball at the time as well. My first cousin fell from the roof of the stadium and suffered a massive brain injury.

“For the past 16 years, I have devoted my time to studying the brain. I didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to design a baseball and softball product. Fate chose me. I sure didn’t choose the path.”

Nicely said that through his research, he found a number of areas that could help his first cousin.

“I knew a lot about how the mind works after extensive research on the brain, building exterior confidence, visual strengthening and having a positive self image, among many areas that you hear today from vision experts and mind experts in the game.

“That really didn’t alter the brain’s internal network like I wanted it to. When a person has a brain injury, they may not cognitively be able to do anything. You have to strengthen neural pathways without the mind’s help. That was my first order of business.

“Could I exercise the brain so that it can show some progress? I didn’t look at it the way I normally looked at things. My first cousin was mentally tough. There wasn’t a more mentally tough person than this girl who had fallen. But she couldn’t pull herself mentally out of the brain injury. It took stimulation of the neurons.

“The devices I began to think about and contemplate were original. I had an epiphany moment four years into the research. I wanted to know how electricity acts inside the brain. Does electromagnetic energy hold the same properties inside the brain as outside the brain? I wanted to create a better conductivity ratio in the brain. I knew if we could increase the electromagnetic forces within the brain, then the brain could physically exercise.

“It wasn’t with external stimulus such as placing electrode pads to your head that sends pulses deep into your brain. It wasn’t that at all. It was using the electromagnetic energy that passes through the eyes. That goes to the visual cortex and stimulates ocular motor function. For instance, if we see something, we might move our hand, feet or some part of the body in response. I simply wanted to strengthen those pathways.”

Brain Training
Nicely, a former pitcher in high school who played shortstop and second base at Middle Tennessee State University, said he is aspiring to strengthen the brain of pitchers in the quest to throw more strikes.

“Right now, we are setting double digit improvement with pitchers hitting their target. Obviously, the ability to throw strikes will be different on the Major League, college and high school levels. But we are seeing anywhere from 10 percent to 20 percent increases in strike throwing. Keep in mind we are in the infancy of our data collection for pitchers.

“On the hitting side, we know batters can improve with pitch recognition because we have 20,000 swings logged into app for taking strikes and swinging at balls. On the pitching side, our app is a few months away from being finalized. Our preliminary numbers are better than the hitting numbers which we anticipated would happen.”

After Collegiate Baseball ran the article last year about U.S. Navy SEAL snipers and the level of success they have at hitting their targets, several coaches called us to inquire if there were any glasses that a company made that had crosshairs in it so pitchers could look at their target like a sniper.

We weren’t aware of anything on the market like this, but we inquired with several scope manufacturers. And in each case, they didn’t have anything that remotely resembled this.

Ironically, the V-Flex system for pitchers was introduced shortly after the story appeared.

“Our product funnel’s a pitcher’s eyesight into a specific area you are trying to hit.”

The system for pitchers includes three progressively smaller circles strategically placed in line from the the pitcher’s rubber to home plate.

The smallest circle is on home plate. The next largest circle is 12 feet from home plate. And the largest circle is 20 feet from home plate.

Depending on the height of the pitcher, usually the only circle that will move is the largest one if necessary.

If a pitcher has an big breaking curve, the two largest circles can be moved slightly to accommodate the trajectory of that pitch. But the smallest circle remains in place on home plate as the curve ball ends up at home.

“Pitchers will get a great feel for breaking their curve ball at a specific spot so that it breaks into the strike zone at the ideal spot they want,” said Nicely.

“They will know if they should have their curve ball break at 15 feet, 20 feet or what precise point along the path to home plate. If you know that, then you can set the device in that particular location and can become consistent with that pitch.”

To read more of this article, purchase the Feb. 26, 2016 edition of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE. Nicely explains how advanced depth perception is attained for pitchers with this device as the strike zone becomes darker and brain recognition is achieved in 4-D. He explains how professional pitchers are having great success with it and why the “feel system” of throwing is simply not effective. Nicely feels that pitchers will ultimately be able to throw 70-80 percent strikes because of this technology.

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball
(First Of A 2-Part Series)

FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. — In the not too distant future, pitchers may have better control than ever if baseball embraces the concepts of two men who are bringing innovative information into the game from the bow hunting and gun industry along with brain research.

The sad reality is that pitchers rarely hit their target. According to Inside Edge, which compiles data from Major League games, pitchers on this level only hit their target 24 percent of the time during the 2014 season. Inside Edge defines hitting a target as the catcher’s glove didn’t move or it was within one baseball width from the glove.

If the best pitchers in the world don’t hit their target 76 percent of the time, it makes you wonder how often college and high school pitchers miss their target.

Military snipers can hit their target with precision up to a mile away, but pitchers fail over and over again at hitting their mark from 60 feet 6 inches.

Collegiate Baseball ran an in-depth story about why snipers are so accurate and pitchers aren’t in the Feb. 6, 2015 edition as the U.S. Navy SEAL Sniper Training program was explored with key vision information as well as interviewing noted baseball vision expert Dr. Bill Harrison on the parallels between sniper training and pitching.

A big difference between the two disciplines are that snipers look through a scope with crosshairs to target with precision, and their rifle is completely still along with the sniper’s body and head. A pitcher has many moving body parts as he throws a pitch, including his head, which obviously includes his sighting mechanism with his eyes.

The game of baseball has never had a method to improve the strike percentage of pitchers until now.

Doug Besherse, inventor of The Strike Plate, and Tim Nicely, inventor of V-Flex, have introduced products in the past year that could revolutionize the way pitchers throw strikes with more precision. Both are from Tennessee and have been toying with concepts for these products the past 20 years.

In the first part of this 2-part series, we will delve into the vision concepts being taught by Besherse. This gentleman from Fayetteville, Tenn. has been involved in the disciplines of firing off arrows in archery as well as guns of every type for the past 45 years. He has shot and tested literally every type of bow that has been used for decades.

Besherse is internally known for firing arrows from bows without the aid of an aiming sight. Yet he is one of the most accurate shooters in the world. Since he was six years old, he has aimed and shot at small targets which has resulted in successful hits or small misses.

In fact, aim small, miss small is a well known saying among marksmen. By reducing the size of the area aimed at, the miss is reduced as well.

A former collegiate pitcher and catcher in Central Florida, Besherse came up with a product for pitchers called The Strike Plate which focuses in on this concept. It is a steel pitching target trainer which has rubberized target covers to protect thrown baseballs.

It automatically trains a pitcher to throw the ball precisely to the four corners of the strike zone and away from the middle of the zone. Each of these four targets is a square the diameter of a baseball.

This training devise takes away the illusion of accuracy. If you are missing the target even a little, you know it immediately.

“My background is very unique,” said Besherse.

“I started shooting BB guns when I was really young because I lived on a farm. One day I got my hands on a very inexpensive archery set, and I remember shooting arrows from it in the first or second grade. There was something about it that mesmerized me.

“From that point on, I spent a lot of time shooting some type of firearm or archery equipment. At the same time, I was playing sports as well. All of these activities go hand-in-hand because of the eye-hand coordination involved.

“One of the things I got stuck on was shooting archery equipment without sights. When you shoot an arrow without a sight, your brain programs the flight of that arrow. It becomes an art form almost for the shooter hitting his target.

“You lock into what you want to hit, and the arrow just goes there when everything is clicking properly. People simply don’t understand how I can accomplish this in archery without a sighting mechanism that most people use. But what I do isn’t as difficult as throwing a baseball and hitting a target as a pitcher.

“The question is this. Whether you shooting an arrow through a bow in archery or firing a baseball as a pitcher, how can you make it go where you want it?

“I have spent probably 40 years of my life being involved in baseball in one capacity or another. I was a former pitcher and also was a catcher during my playing days.”

To read more of this special report on the concepts archers have utilized for decades and why this will help pitchers become better strike throwers, purchase the Feb. 12, 2016 edition of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE. Doug Besherse explains some amazing concepts that will be new to pitching coaches and pitchers.

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — In the history of college baseball, it is rare to see 300-pound pitchers perform during games.

In covering college baseball since 1971, I only recall this happening twice.

The first was when future pro football Hall of Fame offensive lineman Anthony Munoz (6-foot-7, 300-pounds) pitched for the University of Southern California and also played football for the Trojans. He was a part of the USC’s 1978 national championship baseball team.

He was a pro baseball prospect who could throw 88-90 mph on the mound and could hit a baseball with incredible power. He once hit a ball over 500 feet during a game for Chaffey High School (Ontario, Calif.). But his career path was firmly entrenched in football.

Another fabulous big athlete is gracing college baseball today in RHP Ben Ancheff, a 6-foot-2, 300 pounder at St. Thomas University in Florida.

This mountain of a man earned 11 varsity letters at Williams Valley High School (Tower, PA) playing football, baseball and wrestling. In baseball, he topped out at 92 mph as a pitcher and was 9-0 with a 0.76 ERA his junior year and hit .420 from the left side as he also caught games.

He was a member of seven All-State teams in those three sports and was an All-American wrestler who rarely lost.

This amazing young man has faced his share of derogatory comments about his size throughout his life — some comments absolutely brutal. Opposing players have fired questionable comments in his direction to get under his skin. But that usually stops when he shows them he isn’t some side show on the mound and can actually pitch.

Fans in the stands are a different story.

To read more about how nasty opposing fans can be in their comments toward Ben Ancheff and how he nearly died at birth, order the Feb. 12, 2016 edition of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE.

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Head coaches in NCAA Division I were ejected 35 percent more during the 2015 season than the year before, according to records tabulated by George Drouches, NCAA Division I Baseball National Umpire Coordinator.

It may have been the biggest spike in head coach ejections in the history of college baseball from one year to the next as 150 coaches were tossed last season.

Speaking at the American Baseball Coaches Assn. Division I Business Meeting, Drouches outlined an alarming lack of respect for umpires.

“Quite frankly, many of the ejections were caused by bad behavior from baseball coaches,” said Drouches.

“Arguments with umpires have escalated to being laced with profanity. All umpires try to do is call games to the best of their ability and enhance the game. And they aren’t perfect. But when a coach confronts an umpire with profanity, he isn’t leaving that official much of a choice other than ejecting him.

“Nobody likes to see ejections. It isn’t good for anybody. Umpires have been at fault too because in many cases they didn’t know how to handle situations that keep escalating. We are all in this together, and our goal is to minimize ejections in the game. I used to coach, and I understand when a coach gets ramped up because of a questionable call.

To read more of this article, subscribe to Collegiate Baseball or purchase the Jan. 29, 2016 edition by CLICKING HERE. Drouches explains a plan of action that should cut down on the alarming number of ejections for the 2016 season.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Coppell, Tex. is ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball’s 2016 National High School Baseball Pre-Season poll.

Headlining the team are five pitchers who all have signed or verbally committed to NCAA Division I universities. All throw 90 mph or higher.

They include RHP Charles King (Texas Christian, 6-0, 1.09 ERA, 47 K, 95 mph), RHP Ray Gaither (Dallas Baptist, 7 SV, 0.41 ERA, 21 K, 96 mph), junior LHP John Kodros (LSU verbal commit, 1-0, 1.47 ERA, 91 mph), RHP Hayden Kettler (Baylor, 3-1, 1.07 ERA, 91 mph), and RHP Chris Burdine (Oklahoma State).

The Cowboys (25-6) lost in the regional quarter finals last season, but return a seasoned team with 12 players who have been three-year starters. The only position with a new athlete is right field.

“We should have a strong ball club in 2016,” said Coppell Head Coach Kendall Clark. “In my coaching career which is nearly 30 years now, I have never had a pitching staff like this.”

“I was fortunate to coach Plano West High School to the 2008 5A state title in Texas. This staff is much deeper than that one with great arms. We also have 12 players who have been 3-year starters. Everyone on our team is excited to get the season going.”

Leading the offense are junior P/1B/DH Trey Becerra (.324, .500 on base %, 8 2B) and SS Jacob Nesbit (.354, 7 2B, 3 3B, 26 SB).

For information on all the top 30 teams in the poll, read the full story in the January 29, 2016 edition of Collegiate Baseball. This issue also includes the 2016 Pre-Season Louisville Slugger All-Americans and a state-by-state list of top high school players. You can subscribe or purchase a single copy of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE.
 

Collegiate Baseball’s Pre-Season National H.S. Poll
(January 29, 2016)

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

NORWALK, Calif. — Wally Kincaid, one of the greatest baseball coaches in college baseball history, died in mid-November at the age of 89.

The genius of his coaching system is being explored in this in-depth story on how he changed the game of baseball as no other skipper in history has.

He coached 22 seasons (1958-77 and 1979-80) at Cerritos College in California. His teams won six California Community College state titles, more than any other coach in California history.

Even more amazing is that his ball clubs produced an incredible 60-game winning streak that spanned three seasons – the longest in baseball history.

Kincaid compiled a record of 678-163 for a .806 winning percentage which is astounding considering the quality of teams his ball clubs went against in California.

He sent over 150 former players into professional baseball. Additionally, former players for Kincaid have gone on to enjoy great coaching careers, including George Horton (Oregon), Mike Weathers (Long Beach St.), Dave Snow (Long Beach St.), Bob Apodaca (major league pitching coach), Ken Gaylord (Cerritos College), Don Sneddon (Santa Ana College, the winningest California JC coach in history), and Butch Hughes (Colorado Rockies) to name only a few.

 “Coach Kincaid was simply light-years ahead of everybody else when it came to coaching,” said Oregon’s Horton.

“My respect for that wonderful man is immeasurable. When he was coaching, he had the model program to study if you were a coach. Everyone wanted to know what his secret was to coaching just as basketball coaches wanted to know what Coach John Wooden was doing at UCLA when they were winning all those championships.

“Coach Kincaid had a simple approach to his offense, defense, infield and outfield practices, as well as pitching.

“While there was a simplicity involved, he would demand quality. But he also coached his players in having a complete offense which meant the short game (bunt, push bunt, fake bunt and hit, etc.) was essential to learn and execute.

“His organizational skills were off the charts, and he created an atmosphere of excellence which required repetition every day. But prior to a practice, he would spend hours and hours to make his practices efficient. Early in his career, he would spend two hours organizing every hour of practice. He adhered to that through the years.”

Horton said practices were much tougher than games.

“They were a lot tougher because of the demands put on us. I suspect Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers was like this. I understand he had a small number of plays on offense, but everyone knew them extremely well, and the execution was superb. So nobody could stop them. Coach Kincaid didn’t believe in any shortcuts to making his teams perform well. We spent many long days with quality practices designed to make our players the best they could be.

“When we got into the state playoffs or a championship game, we were not overwhelmed at all. We had been there thousands of times on a daily basis with the precision needed to perform for Coach Kincaid.”

Horton said Kincaid was so heavily involved in his program at Cerritos that he rarely gave talks at clinics or marketed himself via camps.

“He was a little shy and not fond of public speaking. That probably prevented him getting his name out there more nationally. That wasn’t his comfort zone.”

Horton said Kincaid never yelled or screamed in practice or games.

“He did coach with the fear factor, but not as you may think. If he became mad or was disappointed in your performance or you were not working as hard as he expected, Coach Kincaid had no qualms about taking the opportunity away from you.

“If he ever felt that the integrity of the game was being compromised or the grand tradition of his program at Cerritos, that person would sit. He never got us on a line and ran us or ever cussed and screamed. He would calmly say in a face-to-face meeting that the performance was not up to speed with what he had envisioned and the standards he expected.

“Once he got the tradition rolling, he didn’t have to prove what he was doing. The respect was immense from his players because of the opportunities that were presented to us. His word was gold, and we trusted the manner in which he gave advice and coaching.

“If you saw him put his head down or take his hat off in disappointment, you were embarrassed you let an icon like him down. There was great tradition and pride in the program. The older players would coach the younger players. It was wonderful the way the peer coaching would take place along with peer expectations as the bar was raised very high.

“If you went to Cerritos at that time, you welcomed it. You were expected to be on a team as good as any in the state.”

Horton said Cerritos under Kincaid had a mystique that UCLA had in basketball and Notre Dame and USC have had in football over the years.

“During our pre-game infield just prior to contests, no words would be spoken. It was dead silent as the outfielders would be hit balls and threw them in to the proper bases as well as infielders. When you watched the pre-game infield, it was like a well oiled machine. Rarely would mistakes take place because Coach Kincaid demanded good fundamentals in practice on a daily basis with good execution.

“Possibly our players were not the most talented in the state, but they were the most fundamentally sound. They could really catch and throw with precision. Infielders and outfielders were always at the right spot and had a sixth sense to throw to the proper base during games.

“The silent pre-game infield intimidated a lot of teams. It wasn’t necessarily the quietness that made other teams nervous. It was the quality with which we took our pre-game infield.”

To read more of this in-depth story, purchase the Jan. 1, 2016 edition of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE. Coach Kincaid taught his teams how to execute every type of bunt on offense as his system for bunting was the first thing he taught his players. Every player, even the biggest and slowest runners, could bunt which caused problems for defenses. John Herbold explains the four simple rules that Kincaid had, Kincaid’s special play with a runner on second base and two outs that was pure genius. This fabulous coach also had another play with a runner on second. If the batter struck out on a wild pitch as the ball went to the backstop, the batter/runner would sprint to first. When the dust had settled, one run usually scored with the batter/runner now on third on a strikeout! If that wasn’t enough, Kincaid’s pitching system is also explained. On defense, he would hit thousands of ground balls and fly balls to make his players better as practices lasted 4 1/2 to 5 hours.

CB’s NCAA Div. I Fabulous 40 Pre-Season Poll

CB’s NCAA Div. 2 Pre-Season Top 40

CB’s NCAA Div. 3 Pre-Season Top 40

NAIA Top 25 Pre-Season Poll

NJCAA Coaches Assn. Div. I Top 20 Pre-Season Poll

NJCAA Coaches Assn. Div. 2 Top 20 Pre-Season Poll

NJCAA Coaches Assn. Div. 3 Top 10 Pre-Season Poll

Northern California J.C. Pre-Season Top 20 Poll

Southern California J.C. Pre-Season Top 20 Poll

Northwest J.C. Pre-Season Top 10 Poll

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

MOUNT EVEREST — In four short months, Harold Earls and his U.S. Expeditions and Explorations (USX) climbing team will attempt to summit Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world at 29,035 feet.

If everything goes as planned, the former infielder with the Army baseball team and team captain in 2015 will reach the summit of this incredible mountain.

While it will be the thrill of a lifetime, it also is one of the most dangerous quests in the world.

More than 200 people have died trying to climb Mount Everest.

Many deaths have taken place due to avalanches, injury from ice collapse or falls, exposure and health problems related to the high altitude.

Last April, a 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal and triggered an avalanche that swept through the South Base Camp as 19 people died. Two weeks later, a second quake measuring 7.3 damaged several of the trails leading to the Base Camp as they required repairs.

This trip is hardly for the faint of heart.

Earls, who was a senior at the U.S. Military Academy last spring, came up with the idea of summiting Mount Everest in November of 2014.

He felt it would be a golden opportunity to shine a spotlight on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which has impacted the lives of many U.S. soldiers.

PTSD is a mental health condition that is triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

Earls said that several big companies have come on board as partners to make the climb possible.

“We are very close to having the entire trip funded,” said Earls.

“All of our gear has been donated, Expedia will donate flights for all the climbers and film crew.”

USX has partnered with Sebastian Junger and Goldcrest Films for a documentary on the climb.

A four- to five-man film crew will travel to Everest with the USX team with fewer filmmakers accompanying climbers as the altitude increases.

A documentary on the climb should be ready for release by early 2017.

Earls, who now is heavily involved in Infantry School in Fort Benning, Ga., said he will leave for China on April 7.

“Once we get to China, it will take 10 days to two weeks to arrive at the base camp on the north side of Mount Everest. Our goal is to summit in late May and return home June 1-7.”

To read more about this story, purchase the Jan. 1, 2016 edition of Collegiate Baseball by CLICKING HERE.

Summer Instruction Series
Focus: Jim Schlossnagle Of TCU

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball
(From Oct. 1, 2010 Issue of Collegiate Baseball)

FORT WORTH, Tex. — Hustle is one of the most important elements in the game of baseball.

However, way too many players walk or slowly jog to their positions defensively and do the same coming back to the dugout.

This lack of respect for the game causes the blood to boil with coaches who strive for hustle.

No team hustles more than Texas Christian University under the direction of Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle.

For baseball purists, it is beautiful to watch.

Let’s say a fly ball is hit down the right field line with the rightfielder, second baseman and first baseman chasing the ball to catch it.

After the play, each of these fielders sprints back to their normal defensive positions when the play is over if it is less than three outs.

On every ground ball to an infielder, TCU’s catcher sprints from home plate to back up first. Once the play is over, with less than three outs, he runs hard to home to get ready for the next play.

TCU also hustles on the off the field with tremendous intensity. None of this is for show.

It simply is the way baseball is played at TCU under Schlossnagle, one of the top skippers in the business who has seen the value of hustle up close.

“If you see us play a game, then you have also seen us practice because that’s the way we do it every day,” said Schlossnagle.

“That’s been a staple of our program during the seven years I have been with TCU. We believe that the two things you can control are your attitude and effort. One thing I tell my players is that I refuse to coach your effort. That better be a given to play the game with energy.

“We believe whether you are winning or losing, you can always play hard. Sometimes when things aren’t going well for you, you can create something positive by just playing the game with energy. That’s part of hustling on and off the field. We don’t allow our pitchers to walk on and off the field whether they are coming in the game or out of the game. They are expected to sprint to the mound and back to the dugout after the inning is over.”

Schlossnagle said that every throw must be backed up by defensive players.

“When a play is to be made, everybody has a responsibility for backing up. So our guys sprint to those positions. Then we sprint back to our positions and throw the ball around after outs. I don’t think that’s too much to ask during the course of a baseball game when there normally is a lot of standing around.”

Not Enough Hustle
Schlossnagle was asked if he has ever seen another college baseball team hustle the way his ball club does every game.

“To be honest, no…not really. We take a lot of pride in winning the energy game. We feel like when the talent level is equal then that side of the game from an energy level will push us over the top most days. If we are on the field with a team that might be a bit more talented than we are, then we feel we have to play that way to have a chance.

“Hustle is what we want to be defined by. We have been doing that for a long time.”

Schlossnagle was asked how he came up with the concept of extreme hustle.

“When I was the head coach at UNLV prior to coming to TCU, we didn’t do as good of a job with hustle as we probably should have. But this whole concept has kind of evolved as I have coached at TCU. With Bryan Holaday catching and a guy named Matt Carpenter who was with us in 2009 who is now in AA with the Cardinal organization, those guys were the ultimate energy players.

“Any time I had my back turned or I was in the cages while other players were doing work in the infield, you could hear those guys yelling at the rest of the team about playing with energy and hustling back and forth. To answer your question, we have always done it. But we have definitely done a better job with it the last couple of years because the players have begun to police themselves in practice, and they also take a lot of pride in it.

“They stick their chests out when they look on the other side of the field and see a team not hustling or playing hard.

“There were many times during the 2010 season when our catcher Bryan Holaday would beat the batter running to first base when he was backing up the throw to first. What is amazing is that he would run just as hard back to home plate as he would to first base. I can’t take credit for Holaday that way. That’s his parents and his will to hustle. From a leadership and catching position, he set a precedent here that is very high.”

Schlossnagle said when infielders threw balls to first base, Holaday wasn’t the only one backing up first base. The rightfielder would sprint as hard as he could to back up first on throws from the third base side of the infield. This would prevent the runner from advancing to second on wild throws to first.

“All of our outfielders hustle to back up bases to prevent runners from advancing on wild throws. As coaches, we simply don’t have any tolerance for non-hustle. If you were to come to one of our first few fall practices, you would see me either stop practice, end practice or kick a guy out of practice the first time he didn’t do what he was told.

“We have a fungo drill where we throw to bases. And I tell the person who is receiving the throw at any time to simply let the ball go. For instance, if a rightfielder is throwing to third base, at any time I want the third baseman to purposely miss the ball even if it is a great throw. The leftfielder and pitcher had better be standing in back of third base to back up the play. Those are things that are worked on from the first day of fall practice. For the most part, players police it.

“If you were to ask any of our guys what it means to be a TCU baseball player, they would talk about their energy, playing hard, hustling on and off and all the things we are discussing.”

Hustle Can Be Huge
Schlossnagle said hustle can mean the difference in a win or a loss.

“You never know if you back the throw up how vital that may be in a game. When it actually works, and the runner doesn’t advance a base as the force is kept in order and the next guy hits into a double play, that previous hustle play becomes huge.

“That hustle play could be the difference in winning or losing a tight game. And that might be the difference in qualifying for a regional or hosting a regional or getting to the College World Series. We talk about those things from day one.”

Schlossnagle was asked what he does to new players in his program who don’t hustle at the outset of fall practice.

“If he is new to the program, he might be given a break early in the fall. We will tell them they have a job to do and get on them a bit. But it all depends on the attitude of the kid as well. We may make him run back to his position and then run to the backup position behind a base they are expected to be at so he fully understands where he must be.

“If it’s a recurring problem, and I think it’s a team issue, then I might not be so nice. Now we have gotten our program to the point where I might call out a veteran player and say, ‘It’s your fault.’ If you are a veteran leftfielder and have a rookie leftfielder next to you, and he has done it wrong once, I will take care of that.

“But if he does it wrong twice, I expect the veteran player to police that. But like I said earlier, I refuse to coach effort. That better be a given every day. I have no problem sending a guy home. I might tell him, ‘We’ll call you when we need you.’ If it is an extreme case, we will simply end practice that day.”

Schlossnagle said when his ball club came back from the College World Series in 2010, he received close to 200 e-mails from high school and college coaches across the nation who noticed TCU’s extreme hustle.

“We feel pretty good about that. That is stuff we do all the time, and it is great when people compliment us on that. I think there should be more of that in baseball. That’s the right way to play the game. There is so much inactivity in baseball. When the game is being played, everyone should go about their business with their greatest effort.”

Pickoff Plays By Pitchers
Because of all the players being highly aware of backing up bases on every play, TCU pitchers are ultra aggressive when it comes to making pickoff attempts with runners on base.

The Horned Frogs take the opposite stance of most teams which step off to keep runners close or toss the ball slowly to a bag to prevent errors from occurring.

It is no coincidence that TCU pitchers and catchers picked off 29 runners during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

“I am not a big believer in gadget plays at all,” said Schlossnagle.

“The two or three pickoff plays we run, we try to be really good at it. So we practice them a lot. Our philosophy is that we don’t have any halfhearted pickoff plays. If we put one on, the intent is to get an out. We understand that you will not always get an out. The secondary effect of not getting an out is to shorten the runner’s lead or preventing a great jump.

“When we practice and talk to the players and pitchers about it, the intent is to get an out. We want them to be aggressive. But we also practice it all the time to the point where I’m sure the players get tired of it. But when you are in need of an out with the bases loaded or a runner on third with nobody out, it can be an awfully big play if you can get a pickoff.

“You can really take the wind out of the sails of the other team if they have runners on first and second and you pick off the runner at second.

“With pickoffs at second, the centerfielder must know what is going on because we want the pitcher throwing aggressively knowing that the centerfielder will be there to catch a wild throw so the runner won’t advance unless it hits the runner in the helmet or kicks off in another direction. Our outfielders definitely have a role in pickoffs as well.

Schlossnagle didn’t want to divulge every detail of how TCU’s pickoff plays are done since they have been so successful against opponents. But he discussed several techniques that pitchers use at second base.

“The pickoff plays we use at second base have worked extremely well. One is prior to the pitcher coming into the set position just as he is getting his signal from the catcher.

“The others are when the pitcher comes into the set position. It’s all about timing and how many times he looks at second base, how many times he looks home. Practicing the timing off that with the middle infielders is crucial to getting outs on those plays.

“The best time to pick off a runner is when he is feeling good about himself. After a big hit or a big stolen base, it is a great time to run a pickoff play when the runner isn’t paying attention.

“The runner doesn’t have to be that far off the base to be picked off. You can get them when they aren’t paying attention, are too relaxed or not in a good, athletic position. We are constantly looking for these things from runners. It might be one thing or all of the above. Once we see that, if we run it correctly, we feel that we will get an out.

“There are signs in the dugout and on the field that let everybody know what is going on. Our pitcher is 100 percent picking to a base or 100 percent throwing a pitch. That way our pitchers are totally committed one way or the other.”

Great Catcher Essential
Schlossnagle said having an All-American catcher in Bryan Holaday during the 2010 season helped tremendously. He personally picked off seven runners that season and threw out 23 more trying to steal.

“When Holaday came to TCU, I had to change my philosophy when it came to catchers trying to pick off runners on base. I have always been a coach who was very aggressive on offense but very conservative on defense. I didn’t want the ball being tossed around the field, which could lead to errors, unless we knew we could get an out.

“In the summer of 2006, I coached with Team USA which was a year or so before Holaday came here. We had two remarkable catchers on that team in J.P Arencibia and Preston Clark. Those guys were really aggressive with their arms during the summer.

“I asked J.P. if his coach at Tennessee let him be so aggressive during spring games. And he said yes because he did it all the time in practice. I came back that fall and told our catchers that I didn’t care how many balls they threw away in the fall. I wanted them to be aggressive with their arms. So it started then. Once Holaday came, he won me over because he knew when to do it and was very, very accurate.

“Last season we were playing Texas Tech at home in a 1-run ball game in the top of the ninth with two outs. They have a kid who was really fast that hit a ball to the top of the fence for a triple. He was on third with two outs. With a lefthanded hitter up, our pitcher throws strike one, and we watch the base runner walk back to third with his head down.

“We put the play on. Our closer then throws strike two. We now have two strikes and two outs with our closer on the mound.

“Every rule of baseball says you don’t try to pick with two outs and two strikes at third. You throw it away, and they tie the game. With a lefthanded batter, there is no way you are going to pick off a runner at third.

“But Holaday picks the runner off to end the game at third base. When you have a great player like him, you have to adjust as a coach. The worst thing you can do is limit him when he has a great tool.”

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Virginia Head Coach Brian O’Connor has been named National Coach of The Year by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

One of the most respected coaches in college baseball, O’Connor led the Cavaliers to their first national baseball championship at the recent College World Series with a 4-2 win over Vanderbilt.

In the process, Virginia became the first Atlantic Coast Conference team in 50 years to win the College World Series.

It simply was one of the greatest coaching jobs in the history of college baseball. Virginia lost five position player starters off the 2014 ball club and seven key pitchers as a number of new players were brought in. The Cavaliers started the season well with 10 straight wins.  But then due to injuries and inexperience, Virginia lost 5 of their next 6 and 8 of 11. They went through periods where they lost 4 in a row twice and 3 in a row three times.

OF Joe McCarthy underwent back surgery in January and didn’t play until mid-April. John La Prise suffered a hip injury four games into the season. C Robbie Coman injured his knee, catcher Matt Thaiss had an ankle injury. And No. 1 starter Nathan Kirby sprained a lat muscle in mid-April and wasn’t able to pitch again until the Cavaliers’ third game in Omaha – a stretch of two months. If that wasn’t enough, pitcher Derek Casey started 4-1 but suffered an elbow injury on Aril 21 and didn’t pitch since.

At one point, Virginia was only 10-14 in the ACC and in serious danger of not even qualifying for the ACC tournament entering May.

When they made the ACC Tournament, they suffered through a 1-3 record. Overall in ACC play, Virginia was 15-15 and had the seventh best record in the league.

The coaching staff never lost faith and kept hammering home the point that a late season run was possible. The Cavaliers were a No. 3 regional seed and were shipped out to California where they won three straight against Southern California, San Diego St. and Southern California again. Then at its Super Regional, Virginia swept Maryland two straight. At the College World Series, they won their bracket and won two of three over Vanderbilt for the national title as the team went 10-2 in NCAA tournament play.

The five-time ACC Coach of the Year, O’Connor continues to lead Virginia to unparalleled levels of success. Now in his 12th season as head coach of the Cavaliers, O’Connor has built his program into a college baseball powerhouse with a national championship this year and second place finish in 2014.

The numbers during O’Connor’s first 12 years are staggering:

• Four College World Series appearances
• 12 straight NCAA tournament appearances
• Seven NCAA regional championships
• Two ACC championships
• Four 50-win seasons

Virginia is one of just eight programs in the nation to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament in each of the last 12 seasons. This success has led to record crowds, excitement and national exposure for Virginia baseball.

O’Connor is the second fastest ACC coach to reach 500 career wins (558-201-2). His UVa teams have racked up ten 40-win seasons and played host to eight NCAA regionals and five NCAA super regionals.

UVa has ranked among the top 40 in the nation in total home attendance and average home attendance in all 12 years of O’Connor’s tenure. Virginia finished a multi-million dollar stadium renovation in the spring of 2010, pushing Davenport Field among the elite in college baseball facilities.

Twelve former Cavaliers have reached the major leagues after playing for O’Connor, highlighted by Washington Nationals’ all-star and Gold Glove third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Mark Reynolds (Cleveland), Joe Koshansky (Colorado), Brandon Guyer (Tampa Bay), Michael Schwimer (Toronto), Mike Ballard (Baltimore), Sean Doolittle (Oakland), David Adams (New York Yankees), Phil Gosselin (Atlanta), Kyle Crockett (Cleveland), Chris Taylor (Seattle) and Jarrett Parker (San Francisco) also have made it to baseball’s highest level after playing under O’Connor while at UVa.

During O’Connor’s tenure, Virginia players have garnered 18 All-America honors.

O’Connor brought a wealth of baseball experience to Charlottesville when he arrived. He came to Virginia after spending nine seasons at Notre Dame (1995-2003) under current LSU coach Paul Mainieri, for whom he served as an assistant coach from 1995-2001 before earning a promotion to associate head coach in 2001.

While at Notre Dame, O’Connor worked with the Fighting Irish pitchers and served as the program’s recruiting coordinator. As Notre Dame’s recruiting coordinator, he led the effort that landed a nine-member group ranked as the No. 1 recruiting class in the country in 2001, as well as the sixth-ranked recruiting class in 2003.

During O’Connor’s nine years at Notre Dame, the Irish compiled an overall record of 399-160-1 (.713), won six conference championships and made six trips to the NCAA Tournament.

O’Connor, who pitched on Creighton’s 1991 College World Series team, tutored 17 eventual professional baseball pitchers, including 13 Major League Draft selections, at Notre Dame.

Previous Collegiate Baseball National Coaches of The Year include:

• 2014: Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt
• 2013: John Savage, UCLA
• 2012: Andy Lopez, Arizona
• 2011: Ray Tanner, South Carolina
• 2010: Ray Tanner, South Carolina
• 2009: Paul Mainieri, Louisiana St.
• 2008: Mike Batesole, Fresno St.
• 2007: Pat Casey, Oregon St.
• 2006: Pat Casey, Oregon St.
• 2005: Augie Garrido, Texas
• 2004: George Horton, Cal. St. Fullerton
• 2003: Wayne Graham, Rice
• 2002: Augie Garrido, Texas
• 2001: Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.)
• 2000: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.
• 1999: Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.)
• 1998: Mike Gillespie, Southern Calif.; Mike Batesole, Cal. St. Northridge
• 1997: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.
• 1996: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.; Andy Lopez, Florida
• 1995: Augie Garrido, Cal. St. Fullerton
• 1994: Larry Cochell, Oklahoma
• 1993: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.
• 1992: Andy Lopez, Pepperdine
• 1991: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.
• 1990: Steve Webber, Georgia
• 1989: Dave Snow, Long Beach St.
• 1988: Larry Cochell, Cal. St. Fullerton
• 1987: Mark Marquess, Stanford
• 1986: Jerry Kindall, Arizona
• 1985: Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.)
• 1984: Augie Garrido, Cal. St. Fullerton
• 1983: Cliff Gustafson, Texas
• 1982: Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.)
• 1981: Jim Brock, Arizona St.
• 1980: Jerry Kindall, Arizona