Blohowiak is back for his third season of blogging, while Porcaro gets his first go at it. Today is their sixth entry for the 2012 season.
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It was nice to open conference play with a couple wins and a series victory. Although we let a game get away and couldn’t finish the sweep, we accomplished the weekend goal of winning the series.
Once again the pitching was fantastic this weekend. They continue to keep us in ball games and put us in great position to win. The bats definitely showed signs of how good we can be as an offense. Especially in game two when we had three guys go yard. We had some big 2-out RBI hits, something we haven’t got much of this year. So it is good to see the bats coming around. We just need to continue to work hard and make every at-bat competitive.
Like Blow said last week, it’s hard to keep you guys entertained every week. Most of you reading this probably know all about the games this past weekend so it would be pretty boring to get a play-by-play of the games all over again. With that being said, it is my turn to introduce some of the guys on the team. This week I’m going to introduce the middle infielders. The guys I spend most of my practice time with.
This is the veteran of the group, Jimmy Lundstrom, AKA Jimbo Slice. Jimmy is a fifth-year senior and a second baseman. Jimbo went to Madison College before taking his talents here to UWM. In the off-season you can find Jimmy doing work at the basketball games running stats. Jimmy is one of two guys on the team from the state of Illinois and unfortunately that makes him a Bears fan.
This right here is junior Nick Lingvay. He is a man of many nicknames. Ling-a-ding, Ling, Linger, Lenny, whichever one you choose he will respond. Ling spends a lot of time in the classroom. That is because he is taking on the daunting task of being an engineering major. Ling is a member of the “Mustard House” with Jordan Guth, Drew Pearson and Jon Capasso. If you ever need help with your math homework, hit up Linger, he is a numbers whiz.
You see that guy screaming his lungs out with the mullet? That’s sophomore Tell Taylor. Tell is known for his unique ability to imitate Domingo Ayala (he is no semi-pro at it). He is also known for the ability to grow out a mullet, as you can see in the picture. His mullet is considered one of the best in the Midwest and is up there with the best of them in the nation. I know Panther Nation is wondering when we will be seeing this mullet again. Well, I have great news (Mike Poll voice). Tell is currently in the process of growing out his mullet and we should be seeing it in about month.
And finally to round out the middle infield here we have Trevor Theissen. He sure looks good in pink doesn’t he? Trev is a freshman this year and can play both shortstop and second base. Trevor is an avid tweeter. You can follow him @ttheissen. He is from Franklin and when he has time he enjoys making the short trip home to visit his girlfriend.
It was fun introducing the middle infield to you guys, next week we will continue the introductions as well as sharing some thoughts from the Valpo series. This week is all baseball as we get a week off from school due to spring break.
Paco Thoughts… Chipotle has the slight edge over Qdoba in my opinion… It seriously feels like summer in Wisconsin with this weather… My bracket got busted real quick (thanks Mizzou)… Congratulations to Emily McClellan of our swim team for a great season and her performance at the NCAA Championships… Fear The Deer!!!
Here’s Blow…
I can definitely start my portion of the blog out by saying I will not miss traveling to Youngstown, OH. Ever since I started playing here I never really heard good things about the surrounding areas. Our stay in Warren, OH (city close to Youngstown) was quite entertaining. The hotel was vintage, seriously, having been built around 1880 and utilized as a hotel (Park Hotel) in 1895. I'm convinced that the hotel has not seen any upgrades other than technological advances between the 117 years between when it opened and when we stayed there. It was an experience, to say the least, with plenty of scenes to be had from the convention there to the water quality warning. Thanks Youngstown for your hospitality over the years, however I’ve seen better days.
Conference play is always intense. No matter who you are playing, in the Horizon League or in baseball for that matter, you cannot let up at anytime during the game. That was our problem in game three of the series. I feel as though we kind of let out a sigh of relief and got complacent and before we knew it we were in a dog fight.
Unfortunately, they put together a few hits and ended up winning the game. It was such a sour taste in our mouths following that loss, however, we mustn’t forget that we achieved our goal of winning series. In our minds though we should never lose to that Youngstown team, and I’m not saying that to be disrespectful towards them but to give you a gauge on how high our expectations are as a team. Winning series’ are the main objective each and every weekend and if we do that we will walk away with a Horizon League championship.
Since it is spring break I’m going to take a little bit off my blogging and get strait to introductions of some of the pitchers. This week the two lucky fellas are seniors Kaleb Engelke and Kyle Spurley, who are also suspected of being bromantically involved.
This guy right here seen surrounded by pumpkins and with his girlfriend Molly in hand is Kyle Spurley (@kspurley1). He is a transfer from MATC who was held out of his transfer year with a torn ACL. Since this unfortunate accident, pitchers have not been trusted to so much as look at a basketball. Although he doesn’t necessarily look like the guy in this picture I assure you that man is hiding underneath his mop of a hairdo and his extremely large muscles. He is known for causing ruckus and getting people “riled” up on long bus trips. One time he was confused for a megaphone-wielding construction worker, but little did we know he talks that loud. The only way to mum his loud voice is to make sure he is around his girlfriend Molly.
I don’t even really know where to start with his guy. Kaleb Engelke (@theREALgulk), a senior, is one of a kind, not to mention his dad has the most outrageous hat/hair combo. His body temperature reaches as high as 102 degrees normally. When that happens his cooling off method is to just simply take his shirt off. It is a rarity to see him with a shirt on, so if you see him around campus make sure you snap a picture of him as it is comparable to picturing an eagle.
To answer all the questions you are posing, no. No, his two front teeth are not “blacked out” they are actually missing. Unfortunately, he found something that was harder than teeth to fall onto. Some of the best times are when he pops out his retainer with the two teeth on them to mess with people. He is truly a character and will make your life better by just being in it. Not to get all emotional but it is great to be surround by people from all walks of life, puts things in perspective. Who wouldn’t wanna wake up next to this smiling face? I can think of two people who would, and one involves a slipknot jersey.
Lastly, to continue the tradition of introductions, I’ll introduce a diehard Panther baseball fan as well as an alumni. This man here pictured with our very own Nick “Linger, Lenny, Ling-a-ding” Lingvay is no one other than Kyle Mayer (@KThomas38). He was actually on the team a few years ago as a pitcher. He lives in the very famous “Mustard House” and is a frequent follower of the blog. He is very supportive of his housemates as well as Panther baseball as a whole. You can see him ripping around campus on his moped or on the balcony of the “Mustard House”. We miss his antics as a team and are always looking forward to seeing him around. We appreciate the support and look forward to seeing him out at the Hank for our games, even though he is a proud supporter of the Vikings, I can bite tongue and let that slide for a few months.
Quick thoughts from Blow....
Love the weather....50,000 population to a 20,000 population is not a good thing Warren....I hope the people involved in the motorcycle/SUV accident we saw on our way to dinner one night are ok...The Bucks are fun to watch....Tim Tebow will NOT be a Packer, shut it Shefter....you too Bayless...Spring Break was much needed..please follow me on twitter @gbloho15 haha....Congrats to Tennis on a victorious match in Florida, I’m sure they’re enjoying the weather down there as well...Luke Meeteer is a boss and he knows why....The Walking Dead is a great show...I recommend it, however that show also shapes hatred towards a few characters on the show...Breaking Bad and Mad Men are a must as well! See yaaaa next week! #GOPANTHERS #BEATVALPO
Love to hear about the players off the baseball field. Good job guys!
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