Four seniors from Zeeland East will be heading to college this fall to continue their education and to play baseball.

Head Coach Shawn Wyckoff was kind enough to give our readers a run-down on these four players:

Michael Meade
Jackson Community College
Pitcher is his recruited position

Michael Meade

Michael is our school record holder for career wins, strikeouts and very likely ERA and he’s only two games into his senior season of 2011. He is 2-0 right now with an ERA of 0.70 and he’s already struck out 22 batters in 10 innings of work.

I firmly believe that Jackson CC is getting a steal in Michael as many D1 schools backed off recruiting him after he battle through a back injury that lasted all of the 2010 season.

Michael is a four year Varsity player for us and a team captain for 2011. We have very high expectations of Michael this year but I’m not sure if they are as high as the expectations that Michael puts on himself. He is a bulldog on the mound with a very fiery determination when he pitches. He also plays SS and 3B for us and maybe a little OF this year because we are so deep overall as a team. We need to have his athletic ability in the lineup all the time. Michael plays for Diamonds baseball in the summer months. Michael’s catcher from 2011, Zach Harbison, is currently a catcher for JCC. Zach signed with them in 2010.

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Patrick Elzinga
Lake Michigan Community College
Pitcher is his recruited position.

Patrick Elzinga

Pat is a 3 year Varsity letter winner for us and he plays 3B and SS when he isn’t pitching. Pat has produced solid numbers his entire Varsity career on the mound. His 1.46 ERA for the 2010 season is very solid and he will definitely help the LMCC pitching staff in 2012.

Pat has had some bad luck the past two seasons with injuries but we have very high expectations for him in 2011. He’s off to a good start on the mound, pitching a 5-0, 2 hit shutout of Kenowa Hills when he went head to head with their ace. Pat is always around the strike zone and he has excellent command of all of his pitches.

Pat is 100% committed to the game of baseball as he has nearly played year round with the amount of training he does working on his game. LMCC is getting not only a great baseball player in Patty but also and excellent individual. Pat plays for the GR Flames baseball program in the summer.

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Cody Bloemendal
Lake Michigan Community College
Pitcher is his recruited position.

Cody Bloemendal

Cody is in only his second year of pitching for us. He is still learning how to pitch. He only pitched for the first time in high school during his junior year. In that year he posted a 3.76 ERA, with 21 strikeouts, 2 wins and 1 loss over 26 2/3 innings of work. He also had a no decision at Hamilton when he carried a no hitter into the 6th inning against a very tough Hamilton team.

Cody figures to be a regular in our rotation this spring. His side arm delivery often throws hitters off and it takes them 2 or 3 times through the lineup to figure him out. Hopefully by that time, we have produced some runs and the game is pretty much in our hands. I think Cody has a ton of potential on the mound and as I stated earlier, he is still learning the ins and outs of how to pitch. He is just starting to scratch the surface of pitching mechanics and command.

Cody plays OF for us when he is not pitching. He also possesses great speed on the base paths and that could be a great asset for LMCC as they use runners for the pitcher and catcher each game as a speed up rule.

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Marcus Harbison
Lake Michigan Community College
SS/2B is his recruited position.

Marcus saw only limited action for us in 2010. He did hit .316 and had an OBP of .480 but only had 25 plate appearances and played mostly SS last year.

He is battling for playing time this year as our infield is very deep with guys like Patrick Elzinga, Michael Meade and Josh Snyder who also do an excellent job with their fielding. Marcus looks to spend some time at SS and 2B this spring for Zeeland East.

Marcus has an older brother currently playing catcher at Jackson Community College, so they will get to face off against each other in 2012. Marcus played for Elite Baseball in the summer of 2010.