Presbyterian heads to first NCAAs with sense of pride, simmering source of motivation
Elton Pollock will never forget the number eight.
It holds no sentimental value, but serves more as a reminder than anything for the Presbyterian College baseball coach. When the Big South Conference preseason rankings came out, the league projected Pollock’s PC squad to finish eighth in the standings. The Blue Hose took exception to the placement, and volunteer assistant coach John O’Neil made a poster with the number “8” on it.
“Made multiple copies of it,” Pollock said. “I kept one the entire season.”
Posters, flyers and any kind of print material possible draped every Blue Hose-inhabited space with the unavoidable No. 8, reminding each player and coach of how they didn’t want to end the regular season. Despite some ups and downs in a year that’s still affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Presbyterian College found a way to prove its conference wrong.
The Blue Hose (22-21, 18-16) ended the regular season fourth in the league standings and dethroned Campbell University in the conference tournament championship. The result: The PC program earned its first bid ever in the NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
Presbyterian landed in the Nashville Regional and is set to face host Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. Friday at Hawkins Field. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
“The opportunity to see your name on the big screen, in general, is a big deal,” said Pollock, who will be in opposite dugouts from his Blue Hose college coach and current Commodores mentor Tim Corbin. “But for us, it’s kind of a validation of all the hard work they put in during the fall and spring and also the COVID issues we’ve had and went through. Kind of pulled it together there at the end with a lot of guys gaining a lot of valuable experience, so it was really great.”
PC baseball finds postseason magic
In the first month of the season, PC had three games postponed and one canceled — and that was on top of losing six of its first eight contests. Near the end of the regular season, the squad began to turn things around and won five of its final six games.
The Blue Hose swept High Point in a three-game weekend series, then nabbed a series victory over Winthrop to earn the fourth and final conference tournament-qualifying spot. They opened Big South tournament action by beating Campbell — which had won the conference title the past three years a champion was named — 7-2, avenging the regular-season series loss to the Fighting Camels. PC then downed No. 3-seeded Gardner-Webb 9-6.
The Fighting Camels made their way through the elimination bracket and into the conference tournament title game to set up a rematch with the Blue Hose. Eric Toth homered and finished with two hits and four RBIs as the Blue Hose pocketed the 8-5 victory and program’s first conference tournament title at the Division I level.
Fifth-year senior outfielder Zacchaeus Rasberry, who collected two RBIs and was named the tournament MVP, believes his team was able to key in on baseball more as its sole focus once the academic year was over.
“I felt like everybody was stressing out around that time, which is pretty normal and natural for a student-athlete,” he said, “but being able to finish out with school and focus solely on baseball and practice and relax a little bit, I felt like that helps us out a lot.”
According to Pollock, a culture shift that began in the fall contributed to the Blue Hose hitting their stride at the right time.
“We did start talking culture in a different regard and really seeking out the leadership of the team,” he said. “As we progressed through the spring, I feel like the leadership was strong. I thought our catcher (Jake Wyatt) really emerged, along with our senior right-handed pitcher (Brandon Williams). Those guys teamed up and have done a super job and I told them that recently.”
For Pollock, seeing everything come together was validating for the current group of Blue Hose and for everyone who’s come through the program in the last 13 years. Presbyterian College moved up to the Division I level in 2008, but wasn’t able to participate in the postseason during a probationary period that was supposed to last until 2012. Another probationary year was tacked on, though Pollock can’t remember why, denying the seniors of 2012 a chance to experience the playoffs and conference tournament.
“That was hard,” Pollock admitted. “That was hard to coach through. That was hard to explain to those guys that come back with that one goal in mind.”
Still, the Blue Hose went through all of the necessary steps to secure their Division I tag. By 2017, the group began hitting its stride and won 27 games and pocketed two top 25 wins over UCF (No. 7 at the time) and Indiana (No. 22 at the time). Rasberry came two years later, transferring in from Louisburg Community College.
Even in the three years he’s been with the program, he can see where it’s grown thanks to each class leaving its mark.
“There were a lot of seniors on that team when I came in my junior year and I felt like those guys were very important,” Rasberry said. “They really set a good foundation for the leadership and getting stuff done. I can definitely see that this year. Everybody has different roles on the team and I think everybody definitely bought into that. That’s why we’ve been so successful.”
Whether it’s Rasberry or freshmen like Chris Veach and Ryan Ouzts, the Blue Hose aren’t short of guys who are willing to step up. None of the players have forgotten No. 8. Even if they wanted to, Pollock has vowed not to get rid of that preseason bulletin board material — whatever it takes to keep the group motivated.
“We’ll continue to use that as a template for motivation as we need to and also this team, as a source of inspiration as we look back on what they’ve accomplished for all of the people that have come before them and also setting a precedent and standard for those coming after them,” Pollock said.
Much like with the preseason ranking, PC has embraced the underdog role against Vanderbilt, the two-time reigning College World Series champion. The new experience going to the NCAA tournament is exciting, but getting there isn’t good enough. The Blue Hose want to add more history to their season.
“We’re just going to try to keep them (players) in the moment,” Pollock said. “Let them take it in but at the same time, you know, right before we left (we told them) this is a business trip and we’re gong to play baseball and represent our program. This is not something where we’re just happy to be there. We’ve got every intent to win baseball games.”
Where is Presbyterian College?
Presbyterian is located in the small town of Clinton, South Carolina — about an hour northwest of the capital city of Columbia.
NCAA baseball TV coverage
Who: Vanderbilt (40-15) vs. Presbyterian (22-21)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tennessee
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
