![]() ![]() "It’s interesting what it does to opposing pitchers." Egbert explained "It gets them out of character. And when you consider that many small college pitchers (1) struggle to locate consistently on the inner third of the plate and (2) aren’t always the most emotionally grounded on the mound, it’s a strategy that makes a ton of sense. They are simply not evading or avoiding pitches thrown at them. Now, it’s important to note that the Cougars are not gratuitously leaning into pitches or distracting pitchers like baseball matadors. Beyond that, if the ball is coming at you, it’s statue time - that is, if you want to keep your starting spot. One former player remembered the general safety rules: You can dodge anything near your head without the fear of scorn or repercussion, and if you’re a fast player who is a base-stealing threat, you can dodge anything at your feet. Getting hit in a bone is a lot more dangerous than getting hit in the fleshy part of your butt or shoulder. Former players and coaches contend that the program drills the correct way to get hit, akin to a boxer learning how to take a punch. Injuries are obviously a constant risk, the glaring downside to Misericordia’s pacifist strategy. "You don’t wanna be welting guys up during the week, but there are some safe ways to do it with tennis balls and stuff." "There’s a safety component to it too." Lindsay noted about practicing getting hit. Alumni tell stories of iconic plunkings - ask DeCoutiis about the time a ball ricocheted off his leg and over the backstop - and talk about hit-by-pitch takers like heroes. There are tales of teammates competing with one another to get the most free bases, wagering cases of beer and bragging rights. Other folks around the team spoke of a reward system for hit-by-pitches in practice where the plunkees were granted extra swings in the cage. And if you in a game, you’ll have 30+ guys on your own team chirping at you." "Where if you move out of the way, you are going to lose your at-bat. "I can remember multiple instances, whether it’s batting practice, cage work, scrimmages, whatever" DeCoutiis recounted. Once the recruits get on campus and buy into the take-one-for-the-team approach, that’s when the real work begins. But if you look at the roster, it’s full of 5-8, 165-pound, hard-nosed kids who can flat-out run." "It really is a part of the recruiting process." admitted Kyle Lindsay, a former Misericordia player and assistant coach, who is now the head man at Ursinus College. They want kids in the grit-and-grind small-ball mold: overlooked, undersized athletes who can make contact, wreak havoc on the basepaths and aren’t afraid of getting plunked. eventually began recruiting for their unique system. Like other revolutionaries across the small college sports world, like the basketball programs who only shoot three-pointers, or the football teams who never punt, Egbert and Co. It’s taken on a whole new meaning for us, year after year." "So we introduced that to the program, the kids bought into it, our on-base percentages went way up and now it’s something that our whole team takes a lot of pride in. just don’t get out of the way anymore.’" Egbert told FOX Sports. That fall, a graduate assistant new to the program named Andrew Bennett noted to Egbert that a lot of his team's players were consistently jumping out of the way of pitches. ![]() If you ask Head Coach Pete Egbert, he’ll tell you that, like a hit-by-pitch, it was mostly by accident.Įgbert has helmed the Misericordia baseball program since 2007, but it wasn’t until around 2011 that "staying in there" even crossed his mind as an actual strategy. become the hit-by-pitch capital of the baseball world? He was a tough son of a bitch."īut how? How did a small catholic liberal-arts school outside of Scranton, PA. It would be coming in and he would just let it hit him, not move a muscle, not flinch. "DeCoutiis?" Said Kyle Lindsay, a former Misericordia player and assistant coach, who is now the head man at Ursinus College. "There are 30 plus guys on the bench going absolutely apes*** for you." "When you get hit by a pitch, in that program," said Jeremy DeCoutiis a 2017 graduate and the all-time program leader in HBPs. "Some of these guys will stand there, not move and take one off the ribs like a f***ing maniac." Explained Dante Salerno, a current D-III assistant and former Misericordia outfielder. ![]()
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