It's That Season Again!

It’s hard to tell whether we had a spring or a summer in Nebraska this year. Meteorologists claimed 2009 was the tenth coldest summer on record. Pacesetter fans can vouch for that. We spent far too many tournaments in the month of June hiding beneath bleacher blankets, but that was good practice for the start of the 2010 baseball season…..in November!

Pacesetter 12s kicked off the 2010 season with fall agility and pitching practices this week. The team ended the 2009 season in July with a 7-0 sweep at the Global World Series tournament in Brooklyn Park, MN. They played a balanced game with consistent pitching and hard hitting, including homeruns by Jack, Will, and Q. They battled to win a semi-final game in extra innings against the home town favorite, Brooklyn Park, and shut out another Minnesota team to win the championship.

With an exciting tournament win under their belts, the Pacesetters wished good luck to former head coach, Rick Merrill, who will now focus on developing the youngest talent entering the Pacesetter organization. Coach Rick will continue to coach his State Champion 9 year old team and once again begin developing the newest Pacesetter recruits, the Pacesetter 8 year old team. The Pacesetters also said goodbye to Coach Cody, and are grateful for both coaches’ years of leadership and direction. There is much to come from their huge investment in these young boys turned pre-teens!

The Pacesetter 12s welcome new coaching leadership this year. Veteran Coach Pat Merrill “loves baseball and loves kids,” and he will leverage nearly three decades of coaching experience to continue to tap the boys’ talent and skills in the season to come. Coach Pat looks forward to helping every kid become a better baseball player everyday.

Complimenting Coach Pat’s team management and pitching expertise will be Assistant Coaches Drew Schwab and Jerrad Morrison, rounding out a sophisticated and balanced coaching scheme for the Pacesetter 12s. Drew graduated from Omaha Westside in 2004 and pitched for the University of Nebraska for three years. He had Tommy john’s surgery and transferred to UNO where he played first base and earned All Conference, All Region and All Nebraska honors playing for UNO in 2009. . Jerred is a graduate of Bellevue East High School and played ball for Iowa Central before transferring to UNO. He brings a decade of experience in select baseball as both a player and coach. Coach Pat is “excited about both of them,” because they bring “different things to the table,” Drew will be working on hitting and Jerrad will work on out fielding and base running.

Pacesetters 12s add three new strong, experienced, talented players to the roster. Jonathan, from Lincoln, and Michael and Lucas, from Omaha, are passionate about baseball and will contribute on both sides of the field with strong arms and bats.

It’s only November, but it definitely feels like a new year already. The days are cold and getting colder. But there are few things that make a gray winter day better than a day at the batting cages.
Remember, boys, great play in May starts today. Let’s play ball!