Head baseball Coach Matt Riser speaking at the annual First Pitch Banquet.
Jonathan Rhodes/ The Lion's Roar
The Lions baseball team held their annual First Pitch Banquet in the Event Center where they gave out the Lion for Life award to former Lion and current Baltimore Orioles pitcher Wade Miley.
“Being a Lion for Life is not about how hard you hit or fast you can run,” said Director of Athletics Jay Artigues. “It’s about the relationships you build. The Lion for Life Award winner this year, I could not be more proud of this young man. To see what he has developed into and I remember when he got called up to the big leagues watching him pitch in Atlanta, and I had tears rolling down my face and my wife asked ‘Are you alright?’ and I said ‘I have coached hundreds and hundreds of kids. This is the first one to ever see his dream come true.’”
Miley received the Lion for Life award in the event on Friday, Feb. 3. He also had his jersey number retired prior to the annual Alumni Game on Feb. 4. Miley along with other former players came to the banquet to support the baseball program.
“Thank you,” said Miley. “It is an honor to receive this. I am really thankful for the opportunity play baseball as a Lion. Obviously, without my wife Katy, I don’t think I would be playing too much college baseball. She got me through there when the grades weren’t so good.”
Freshmen pitchers Tyler Booth, Cole Martin, Austin Chastang, DJ Alexander, catcher Ben Bayless, infielder Trey Morgan, Austin Lambertson, Corey Levy, Cody Marshall and outfielder Mavrick Wilhite got their Lion for Life dog tags at the banquet.
“More than anything, it represents the dedication they put in,” said Head Coach Matt Riser. “There is a lot of time and effort to put into it from an academic standpoint, a baseball standpoint and a conditioning standpoint. We demand a lot out of them. This is finally the dog tag that says ‘Hey, we’ve been through the grit and done the hard work. Now it is time to have fun and be part of the club and have a chance to win a championship.’”
Senior Webb Bobo was chosen by Riser to deliver the senior speech during the banquet. Bobo spoke on how difficult playing college baseball can be and what it takes to succeed.
“College baseball is a lot more work than I thought it was going to be,” said Bobo. “I can speak for myself and I’m sure the other guys or anyone else who has played Division I baseball knows, you sign and then you are expecting to play. But, all of that hard work is tough especially if you don’t see the results. My dad use to tell me this all of the time: ‘Just keep moving and just keep grinding and it will pay off.’”
Bobo also spoke on the relationships that he has built through playing for the Lions.
“Just being able to meet the group of guys that you do live with on a day to day basis,” said Bobo. “The group of guys who are just in it with you through it all, no matter if you are up or down. That brotherhood that you form over a period of time is definitely the most important part of college that I have learned up to this point.”
Every player on the team is responsible to find a business to donate items to be auctioned during the banquet.
“We go out and ask the business to help the team out because they know the Southeastern area,” said junior outfielder Drew Avans. “This is my third year being at the banquet and it gets bigger every year and better.”
The Lions were ranked second in the Southland Conference preseason polls on Jan. 2 . The Lions finished second in the conference last season and made it to their fourth Southland Conference Tournament Championship game in five seasons.
“We’ve got something to prove this year,” said redshirts senior pitcher Cliff Hurst. “The rankings in the polls came out and we weren’t number one, we were number two. That’s got a bad taste in our mouth and we are looking to prove some people wrong.”
The season opens against UL Lafayette on Feb. 17. UL Lafayette won two of the three games against the Lions last season.
“We are two weeks away from opening up against UL,” said Bobo. “Super excited just to start a new year. I think we will have a great year if we play the way that we can play. If I’m being honest the thing that I am looking forward to the most is running out on the field with Seward and the rest of the boys.”