Nick Cunningham

FHS ‘19 Wittenberg ‘23 ⚾️

[Vannzee @thevannzee]

What a fire shirt. 🔥

“And on the seventh day, God made the MAC a two bid league.”

[Nick Cunningham @Nick2Quick21]

@johnnieO Steve Novak

[Ohio’s Tate @OhioTate]

Cousin Matt has arrived (and taken his obligatory shot of Malort)

That’s now 8 family members here. Might be the different tonight for Cleveland

[LantzWheeler @LantzWheeler]

I can’t help but feel sorry for these kids. This is as bad as it gets.

Tom House is a straight up fraud

[Anthony Boarman @CoachBoarman]

Huge shoutout to @EickhoffMikey for his 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 K, 1 BB performance (while picking up his first college W) today for @wittbaseball in what was his first outing in close to 950 days after a long road from UCL surgery. So dang proud of this guy and his perseverance!

[Ben Brewster @TreadAthletics]

"When you get the ball on the mound, analytics don't mean sh*t....do you get the outs when it counts?"

Pete Fairbanks, everyone.

[Nick Cunningham @Nick2Quick21]

@jackvfitz @MostVpromotions Sheeeet

[Michael Osmond @MichaelOsmond32]

Beyond blessed and excited to announce that I will be continuing my athletic and academic career at Troy University. @TroyTrojansBSB

[Tread Athletics @TreadHQ]

You don't need to dot every pitch to have success. Setting your catcher up middle can work wonders. ⁠
⁠
See the full podcast with Pete Fairbanks here: https://t.co/KcyOLYsfG6

[Ben Brewster @TreadAthletics]

Is being aggressive over the plate only for guys who have great stuff?

Pete's response to that question:

"It's even more important for the guys who don't have plus plus stuff to be over the plate and be ahead."

[Randy Dobnak @Dobnak_]

Lfg @CoachGriff24

[NCAC @NCAC]

2023 NCAC Baseball Coaching Staff of the Year 🏆

@WittAthletics

[Foul Pole Sports @FoulPoleMedia]

A third basemen getting to a ball that deep is absurd

[Wittenberg Athletics @WittAthletics]

𝙒𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙍𝙊𝘾𝙆!

Rocco Royer launched the Tigers to their fifteenth straight win last night with this grand slam against No. 4 Baldwin Wallace. #TigerUp

@wittbaseball @d3baseball

[Kevin Floyd @kevinfloyd22]

⁦@wittbaseball⁩ with their 15th win in a row over #4 ranked BW. ⁦@RoccoRoyer23⁩ with the grand slam in the bottom of the 8th to take the lead 7-4. ⁦@RGLR⁩ ⁦Solid start by @NateFloyd5⁩. Charlie Schafer, ⁦@MichaelOsmond32⁩ and ⁦@Nick2Quick21

[NCAC @NCAC]

NCAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week

Michael Osmond @WittAthletics

[Wittenberg Athletics @WittAthletics]

Baseball is back home for Senior Day against Ohio Wesleyan! #TigerUp

📍 | Carleton Davidson Stadium
⏰ | 2:00 PM Senior Celebration 2:30 PM First Pitch
📺 | https://t.co/9sRv0hDfs7
📈 | https://t.co/XkyX10ZBtI

[Jack Barry @jacthlete]

The Nerds Had It Right All Along:

Everyone goes a bit nuts for something

And why you should leverage YOUR inner nerd:

Let me share a story:

“Are those good scaps?”

“How’s his t-spine look right there?”

“We doing isos before practice today?”

These smart-ass comments were not the product of a helicopter dad at a showcase. Instead, these were things I heard almost every day last spring coaching high school baseball.

As I’ve talked about before, one of my goals when rejoining my high school program as a coach was to implement player development strategies I had learned over the past couple years.

Sprints replaced punishment poles.

Lifting was mandatory for all players twice a week.

We did yoga before some of our biggest games.

Practice times and workload were heavily monitored and accounted for.

I was happy to see that by the end of the season we were healthy and performing at an extremely high level.

Will I trade the ridiculing of some of my players and coaches who didn’t appreciate physiological adaptations and high-level PD strategies for a successful season? 100 times over.

The reason I share this story is simple.

I nerd out on that stuff. I love player development. I love coaching. I love sticking it to the old baseball crowd who refuse to adapt. Why? Because it’s the visual confirmation of the phrase “I told you so”.

I don’t mean to sound like a bigot. I’ve had many coaches who I am eternally grateful for who are very “old school”. There is so much you can learn about baseball and sports in general by listening to those who have been around it for 10 or 20 plus years more than you.

But as life goes on and things change, so does the way these games are played.

This got me thinking: is everyone as passionate about something like this? The answer may be no, but let’s dive into it a little bit.

Say you like drinking, but you work as a salesperson.

You sell insurance. You make a decent living, and your work is ok, but man you really like to booze.

This is where the adage “if you do what you enjoy, you’ll never work a day in your life”

Let’s say instead, you do sales for a liquor distributer. You know everything there is to know about different kinds of beer, wine, whiskey. You go from store to store trying to get them to buy your products. People are blown away by how much you know about that stuff.

“Man, you sure do know a lot about these beers!”

“Sure do! I’ve had about 1000 of those!”

You make a killing doing this! You love it! You’re nerding out and it’s glorious! You don’t even realize it!

Let’s go with another example.

Say you’re a teacher. You teach physical education to 7th graders. You know every single game, activity, engagement strategy, schedule, variations, and accommodations for different students.

When those students come into class, you can’t wait to work with them! You know exactly what game you’re going to play, what the teams will be, what the rules are.

You’re nerding out! You freaking Physical education nerd! What a nerd! You know everything about that stuff!

The point is this: don’t lose that flame for something. I don’t care what it is. Motorcycles, video games, dental practice, plumbing. Any-thing.

I have a friend that knows everything about guitars. Playing them, building them, how to make them sound a certain way. Awesome! What a dude!

I want to have drinks with that guy! (And maybe the booze salesman? Not sure about that one actually)

Marvel movies?? Don’t watch them myself! But hell, I will listen to you talk about them for an hour. Tell me everything about Wandavision (if I ask. I’ve got other stuff I gotta do, eventually).

My challenge for you today is to nerd out to someone about something. Face to face. A real conversation. You’ll be surprised at the positive reaction you get from someone when you express your passion.

And if you liked this story, feel free to give it a RT and follow me!

[Jeff Bronowski @PoorManStatcast]

A very rare and outstanding 3-6-1 double play by @IanAsh_27 to @Chase_Whisner to pitcher @Nick2Quick21 of the @wittbaseball against @BritonsBaseball today. PFP’s paid off here…..So many little things being done right.

[Wittenberg Athletics @WittAthletics]

Baseball takes down the No. 4 ranked LaGrange with a score of 10-9! #TigerUp