Getting a senior move-in to your baseball program rarely works out as well as you would hope. As we started to hear more information about RJ, the 6’3” left-handed pitcher that was going to enroll last summer we were cautiously excited about what he might bring to the program. You can’t teach someone to be tall and you can’t really teach someone to be left-handed. RJ has used those 2 attributes to be a fantastic addition on the field for us this season. He has pitched well in many big moments and added a great deal of depth to our pitching staff. However, his greatest contribution to the program may simply be his personality. If I’m being completely honest, before the season started I was concerned that RJ might not fit in with our program. I watched his high-energy, outgoing persona on the football field, basketball court, and on the morning announcements and wasn’t sure that would work with the expectations that come with being on our baseball team. I was relieved of all those concerns from day 1. RJ has been a hard worker, great teammate, and most of all, a positive influence. RJ started the season opener on the mound against Rossville. It didn’t go well by any measure. We ended up with a sloppy loss and RJ had his shortest outing of the year. 2 days later we picked up a preseason 4A ranked McCutcheon team and were fortunate enough to come out with a win. That night we dressed 16 players and RJ was the only one that didn’t see the field. But if you were in our dugout, you would have had no idea. He was hanging on every pitch, the first one out of the dugout at the end of every inning, and the happiest looking guy after the game. I even mentioned it to our coaches after that game…that’s when we knew RJ really belonged in our program. A couple of weeks later, RJ was pitching against Kokomo at Memorial Stadium. It was a tie game and he was throwing pretty well, but was in a bases-loaded jam. He was able to induce a 1-2-3 double play to get out of the inning and as he ran off the field he was pointing to the seats above our dugout and “pumping them up”. I stepped out to the field from my dugout to see who he was pointing to….it was an entirely empty section of seats. I’m not sure I can really explain why, but that was one of my many favorite “RJ moments”. Even though RJ was only in our program for 1 year, he leaves a legacy that he and his parents should be proud of. He has been a positive influence for many of our younger players and our manager, he has been an energy source for our dugout, and pitched well in most of his many appearances on the mound. But most of all-he works hard, does what he’s asked, and has more fun than anyone while he’s doing it!