When game day comes, Kory Pollard, senior sports management major and pitcher for the Union Bulldogs baseball team, makes a stop at Do Dahs for his “game day doughnuts and chocolate milk” before heading to the locker room. Pollard’s pregame ritual hasn’t changed, but Union’s baseball team has, and it’s for the better.
Change #1: Energy
Pollard and Scott Shearer, senior sports management major, laugh and agree that Do Dahs doughnuts are authentic. Both players transferred to Union after their sophomore years.
The three of us sat in the Lex on Union’s campus. Both of them wore their team’s logo with pride. It set them apart from the rest of the students hanging around. One booth behind me erupts in laughter as too many people try and crowd around one table.
Pollard and Shearer have to be fueled and ready, not just for the moments on the field when the ball is flying.
“From the get-go, we’re going to be loud,” Shearer said.
It reminded me of the scene from “Remember the Titans” when the team came out of the locker room in perfect rows. They got out to the field and performed the pregame “dance” routine. Immediately, the atmosphere of the crowd shifted. In the same way, Union wanted to have that effect on both the other team and the fans.
They want the opposing team to know that when they play Union, they’re in for a long day.
For the dedicated fans who attended games during the team’s 2018-19 season, they might be able to remember the quiet team that sat in the dugout waiting for their chance at bat. Fans remember excitement only coming when the sound of the ball hitting the bat rung out over the field or the umpire called that third strike. Not this year.
Change #2: Community
Last year they were disconnected; there was a lack of community.
“We aren’t going to do that again,” Shearer said. “One of the things we wanted to change was how close we are. We needed to get back to what we’re used to doing.”
The thing they’re used to doing is winning.
“This is probably one of the close-knit teams I’ve ever been a part of, and the culture we’ve created this year is that we have to be close, we have to have chemistry,” Shearer said.
The dynamic of the team has changed from the last season. That chemistry and community with each other have helped them to play better on the field.
Union’s team last season struggled to find its groove, but this year has been different. The group has changed and developed from individual guys with different talents and skills into a team.
As freshmen and transfer students come to Union, making friends and building community can be challenging because of the time commitment needed to play well.
“With baseball and school, there’s not that much time,” Pollard told me.
The team is their community. They practice together and do life together. The senior’s endeavor to create a community was successful.
“We have some of the best camaraderie I’ve ever seen,” said Grayson Jerke, left-handed pitcher and freshman mechanical engineering and computer science double major.
Change #3: Leadership
Dr. Chris Hail, a math professor at Union, has been helping walk with the team in their spiritual journey. He has noticed the change on the team too, even though he doesn’t have a direct connection with the players while they’re on the field.
“The seniors are really close,” said Hail. “There is a large group of seniors, and they seem to really enjoy being around each other.”
The team’s season began two days before school started in the Fall of 2018 when Head Coach Lee Driggers called the senior players together.
“Coach Driggers said we have to have leadership,” Shearer told me, and Pollard shook his head in agreement.
“Learn how to be a man and learn quick,” Pollard said. The team is learning how to take lessons from the field and put them into their everyday lives.
Jerke has felt led to be a leader on his team. Though it’s hard for freshmen to be leaders because there are others who are older and have been on the team longer, he feels as though everyone has a place to lead and influence the team.
“When one of my team members gets hurt, I always offer to pray for them,” Jerke said. “Sometimes they’re shocked that I would do that. I know that they’ll be there for me, and I’ll do my best to be there for them.”
Change #4: Christ-Centered
The team also has a commitment to participate in Bible study together. It has been something the team has done for years, but this year they started something a little different. Currently, they are going through a book called “Finishing Strong.”
A group of seven seniors meet with Hail and are coached differently than they are on the field. Those seven seniors then hold Bible studies every other week, building community.
“It’s about committing and staying in your faith,” Jerke said.
When he came to Union University, he had high expectations for the faith of the team. While at the beginning there was a lack of the outpouring of leadership and faith, he has seen the development of the strength of faith in the team.
Hail has had leaders tell him that they get texts from the players in their small groups that tell them, “This is what I was really hoping to find here at Union.”
Union’s commitment to being Christ-centered is not something that stops at the threshold of the classroom; it walks straight onto the field. Hail leads a devotion with the team before warmups begin on game days. He offers it to the other teams as well, extending the culture of the university to those who come to play the team.
“You’re not going to earn God’s blessing by being a better ballplayer or his love by being a better ballplayer,” said Hail.
He hopes that the team knows that their identity comes from Christ and not from the score at the end of the games.
Change #5: Accountability
“Accountability,” Pollard said. “Coach Fabre preaches on accountability. He has really instilled in us to keep each other accountable.”
Graduate Assistant Coach Fabre has had a significant influence on the team, bringing experience from previous positions at Lee University and Louisiana State University at Eunice.
Shearer talked about the meeting that Driggers held and told me how Driggers had said, “We put you in a position to win, and we want you guys to take on the responsibility to keep everyone accountable.”
Though the coaching staff is there to push the team and to help them improve their skills, they know the importance of pushing the team to take ownership.
“Everyone needs to control what you can control,” Shearer said.
He explained that you can show up to practices, but if you don’t show up and give 100%, then you’re wasting your time, and beyond that, you’re wasting the team’s time. You can control your attitude, but you can’t control other people’s.
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While some of these changes have been gradual and others have been overnight, they all have been implemented.
“Middle of the fall last year, like we could feel the change,” Pollard said.
The 2018-19 season is going to be different from last year because a lot has changed, including the culture and leadership not only from the coaches but also from the team themselves. The team recognizes this, and Shearer has a positive outlook on his senior year.
“We have a lot of confidence going into the season,” he said.
He is confident because the players are no longer walking out on the field as individuals, they are walking out as a team.
