Written and Media by Brianna Anderson.
As the seasons begin to change and the weather starts to cool off, the Greenville College Baseball Fall Season has come to an end. With weekends full of games stopping, the players begin work toward their spring season. For some of the players, this is just another season, but to five of them, it is their last. Seniors Mike Hardin, Phillip Reedy, Shane Olmsted, Devin Mayfield, and Max Gabriel will have to say goodbye to GC Baseball. Over the past four years, baseball has been a major part of their lives.
Shane Olmsted
Olmsted is a right handed first baseman from Florissant, Missouri. He has been playing baseball since he was 7 years old. His favorite singer is G-Eazy and his favorite color is baby blue. Olmsted’s favorite part about baseball is that there can be a new hero every game. “The most unexpected guy can come up with the clutch hit,” states Olmsted. His advice he would give to kids who one day wish to play college baseball is to “realize baseball is a game of failure. The only way to be successful in this game is to learn from your last at bat or error you made, then erase that play from your mind. Once you start to worry about your batting average or how well you are doing personally, you are no longer playing for the team but for yourself instead. When you can master this you will be successful in the game of baseball.”
Phillip Reedy
Reedy is a right handed pitcher from Brighton, Illinois. He has been playing baseball since he was around 5 years old. His favorite color is dark green and his favorite bands are Twenty One Pilots and Underoath. His favorite part about the game is how it can make you hate it and then fall back in love with it in the same day. It can also make a grownup act and feel like a little kid again. His advice for future players is, “work hard, ask for help, constantly learn, and know that failure is necessary for success.”
Max Gabriel
Gabriel is an outfielder from Edwardsville, Illinois. He has been playing since he was 5 years old. His favorite band is Adventure Club and his favorite color is smaragdine. His favorite part about baseball is the competition. Advice he would give to others who want to play college baseball is, “work your hardest and things will work themselves out one way or another.”
Devin Mayfield
Mayfield is a right handed pitcher from Effingham, Illinois. He has been playing baseball since he was around 3 years old. His favorite color is blue and his favorite band is One Republic. His favorite part about baseball is that,”there’s no ties and there is no running out the clock if you have a lead. No matter what, you have to get twenty-seven outs and at the end of the game whoever executed better wins.” Advice he would give to future college baseball players is if you are going to do something, give it your all or you’re just wasting your time.
Mike Hardin
Hardin is a right handed outfielder from St. Louis, Missouri. He has been playing baseball since he was around 5 years old. His favorite color is blue and he can’t decide what his favorite band is because there are too many good ones! His favorite part about baseball is the atmosphere. Advice he would give to younger players is,”to know that it’s a grind and you must be fully committed.”
When asked who they wanted to win the World Series, it was a unanimous decision between all five seniors, the Cleveland Indians.
As the GC Baseball team prepares all winter for their final spring season, these five young men will be working extra hard to get that SLIAC Conference Championship to end their baseball careers on a high note.
