Here is a scrolling blog with some of my work with The George-Anne: (links attached)
The man behind the mask
Whether it’s crouching behind home plate, making plays in the outfield, or standing in the batter’s box, CJ Brazil endures everything the game of baseball throws at him.
Some people know him as “Sticks” because he wears the number 11, but his mom knows him as Ceeg and every once in a while his teammates will call him that whenever they hear his mom shout it from the stands.
He is easily the toughest man out on the field as in almost every game it seems he gets hit with a pitch or the follow through of the swing of a bat. In some cases, an opposing runner may even take him out at the plate in order to try to score a run.
Being fit and in shape has its ups and downs in terms of being a catcher. Sure it makes him nimble and quick, but his smaller size puts him in harms way of being taken out by a base runner.
This has never worried Brazil; knows what its like to take a hit, as he also played high school football at Blessed Trinity Catholic High School.
“Being a catcher in the game, I feel like that’s just something that you assume. Like when you’re a receiver running across the middle, you kind of assume that you’re going to get hit pretty hard by a linebacker,” Brazil said.
Luckily for Brazil he has never had to worry about this, as it has always been illegal to take out the catcher at the high school, travel ball and college levels. MLB has also come around recently enacting that rule into place prohibiting home plate collisions.
This rule recently caused havoc throughout the MLB as this play at the plate has always been one of the sport’s most exciting plays, next to a base runner taking out a fielder to avoid a double play, but that’s also illegal now.
“I don’t want baseball to start being like football and becoming a little soft and taking out some of the rules,” Brazil said.
Brazil has always been a huge fan of Yadier Molina, catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Molina is a prime example of a big league catcher who has for many years dealt with these potentially dangerous plays at home plate.
Molina is one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time and has a build that scared anyone trying to come home on him.
2012 was a different story for Molina as Josh Harrison, outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, crushed Molina at the plate forcing Molina out of the game. What makes this story relevant is the fact that Molina, crushed and all, held onto the ball and the runner was called out at the plate.
That’s exactly what Brazil is talking about when he says catchers have to be prepared and assume they are going to get hit. Molina did just that and saved his team a run in the process.
Brazil has had a few injuries himself over the years as he tore his meniscus his senior year of high school in the first region game against St. Pius, rival high school to Blessed Trinity. And then just last year he tore his labrum.
Before these injuries and the reality that he may be just a step or two away from the MLB, Brazil grew up a fan of the sport.
With his parents being from New York he was initially a fan of the New York Yankees, who have won the World Series five times in his lifetime. But as he got older he became a fan of the Atlanta Braves.
Ever since middle school Brazil has been going to Turner Field with friends, family and teammates, which lead to the natural transition to becoming a Braves fan.
“And then you start actually knowing some people who play for the Braves, so it just becomes your home team.”
Here is a link to the original story: http://www.thegeorgeanne.com/sports/article_89350a22-0b22-11e6-a29a-6344a7f04568.html
Eagles drop home series to ULL, prepare for home game with Mercer
Georgia Southern dropped another Sun Belt series at home this past weekend against UL Lafayette as they fell two games to one against the Cajuns.
Coming into the weekend, the Eagles had won back-to-back midweek games against the College of Charleston and Savannah State, putting up an incredible 29 runs in those two games. The team continued to swing the bats well as they put up 14 runs against the Cajuns this weekend.
The Eagles lone win came Saturday night with freshman Chase Cohen on the mound. Cohen picked up his third win of the season after going six innings with five strikeouts as GS went on to win 3-2.
Sunday’s loss was a tough one as the Eagles were down five runs early but made one of the best comebacks this season to take a 9-7 lead in the sixth inning.
“I like the way we battled back,” Head coach Rodney Hennon said. “I thought some of the guys in those middle innings came in out of the bullpen and did a nice job to give us a chance.”
The Eagles struggled to hold this lead as they gave up a grand slam in the top of the eighth inning to give the Cajuns an 11-9 lead, and eventually went on to lose 13-9.
Hennon was not disappointed in his pitching at the end of the game, as he thought Bryon Yelverton threw a great pitch, but Brian Mills played the pitch perfectly and was able to take it deep.
“What I was disappointed in was the way we responded after that. It’s still a two run ball game at home and I didn’t think our at-bats were very good after they took the lead,” Hennon said.
The team needs to be better in those situations according to Hennon, and be able to keep on competing the same way they were before that grand slam was hit.
“That’s something that we’ve got to improve upon if we want to take it to the next level,” Hennon said.
This was the first time the Cajuns had come to Statesboro to take on the Eagles.
The Eagles will be looking to redeem themselves this week as they host Mercer Tuesday night and then travel to conference foe UT Arlington this weekend.
Here is a link to the original story: http://www.thegeorgeanne.com/sports/article_83fa8db2-0036-11e6-84f4-2773580c94d2.html
Kevin Keneely 