Michael
Earley is a junior infielder and outfielder at Indiana. He appeared in 49 games
in 2008 and batted .318 with seven doubles, four homers, 26 runs and 21 RBI. He
was hit by 15 pitches, the third-highest total in school history. Earley was
named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team as designated hitter. A native of
Anderson, Ind., Earley spent one season at the University of Cincinnati before
transferring to Indiana. He hit .320 with the Bearcats in 33 games with five
home runs and 15 RBI. Earley is a communications major.
February 19, 2009
Ready to Roll
Hello,
hello! The season is almost here and the Hoosiers are ready to
board our plane to Clearwater, Fla. Even though the weather here
in Bloomington is a scorching 40 degrees or less, we are ready
to head south.
 Let
me introduce myself, my name is Michael Earley, and I am a
junior infielder/outfielder from Anderson, Ind., and this is my
second year with the Hoosier baseball program. I started my
collegiate career as a freshman at the University of Cincinnati,
but I finally saw the light and came back to my home state and
to a school I had been a fan of my entire life. It feels good to
be a Hoosier again.
The
team is looking very strong this year, and we have a lot of high
expectations and a lot of preseason hype to live up to.
Baseball America has recently picked us to win the Big Ten
and make the NCAA tournament this year.
Everyone is happy that we have been recognized, but we all know
that in reality, it means nothing. The only rankings and hype
that matter are the ones you receive when the season is over. We
are not going to be satisfied until we actually accomplish our
goals and prove that we are for real.
Every
good team has good leaders. This year we have three strong
captains that help push us during practice. They are Joe “Boom
Boom” Vicini, Chris “Hot Dawg” Hervey, and Matt “don’t have a
nickname yet” Bashore. They push us really hard, and if we don’t
give our all, they will let us know. But before they will let us
know, our coaches will because they expect nothing but our very
best effort.
It’s
only a few days until we board our jet and kick off the 2009
season. I’m starting to lose sleep because my excitement
continues to grow every day. We are looking to make some major
noise not only in the Big Ten, but also in the nation. Keep an
eye out for the Hoosiers.
In
closing I would like to give a shout out to some of my teammates
who had a very special Valentine’s Day, and they are Joe, Chris,
Matt B., Ben, Matt C., Vince, Josh, Blake, Sterling, Matt S.,
Wes, Brian L., Brian R., and Vince deserves to have his name
mentioned again. If I left anyone out, just let me know. Stay
tuned till next week.
One,
Earlz
(photos courtesy of IU Media Relations Office) |
