The JCCC baseball team is getting ready to start their 2021 season after months of practice and preparation.
(Matt Ronnebaum) “With us having so many guys on the roster this year we’re kind of split up due to Covid so it’s normally like pitcher will have their own practice and then I’ll let them talk about what they do but pitchers obviously get there get our temperature checks and all of that and then we kind of warm up together as a team.”
(Nick Iannantone) “Usually in the fall we just hit it hard five days a week with lifting this fall since we weren’t able to play outside competition, we pretty much just inner squad in five days a week so those are actually a lot of fun and we got to see what all the new guys looked like and who got better over the summer and everything like that.”
Lately it has been difficult for many to leave the house and safely go to an event. This is why support from the community, even over social media, is important.
(Brevon Lee) “It’s important just because we don’t see anyone at the school like we don’t have in person classes so we don’t get to walk around campus flexing all our juco baseball stuff.”
(Ronnebaum) “It’s just nice to have support because you know we don’t really have fans or anything probably this year so it’s nice to have that the dean of Johnson County and all of the administration is rooting for us and has our back.”
JCCC baseball has been ranked in all four major JUCO polls this year while finishing last semester with a team GPA of 3.29 and Coach Horner intends to uphold all of these accomplishments, on and off the field.
(Eric Horner) “Just staying safe getting our work done on the practice field and as far as expectations go I’ve been at the college for 17 years and nothing really changes we’re trying to get after it in the classroom trying to get after in the fifth on the field trying to chip in to the community we’re just trying to do the best we can with the situation we have and all we can do is work hard and do our best and follow the guidelines and get ready to go whenever were able to get out and go.”
With the season ending early last year it’s great to see JCCC baseball continue to focus on keeping players safe while being able to get out on the field this year.
(Iannantone) “We did a really good job this fall and we didn’t really have any cancellations except for like the first week we were here and we can all agree with Matt that you know we have to really enjoy what we have because I think that one week we had off it sucks because you’re just like I’m just sitting here doing nothing I’d rather be at practice but I think will be fine this year I’ve heard a lot of good things we just have to be smart off the field to make sure that no one gets sick on our team for sure especially.”
(Horner) “We’re just really thankful for the administration we have from the top down to the president they’ve been really supportive and say they’ve also said they have guidelines to keep our kids safe to show without their help and without their understanding and they’re backing we wouldn’t have even been able to have a fall this year so we’re really grateful hopefully we won’t disappoint in the spring.”
Reporting from The Campus Ledger, this has been Paige Winters.