John Robert Bizzell, SS, class of 2009

When I decided to come to Rhodes, baseball was not on my mind.  Initially I planned to play soccer, but a week before Orientation Coach Rob Schrier called and invited me to participate in the fall baseball tryouts.

One of my initial doubts was about the quality of play in DIII. But I found out very quickly that the talent level is really high in DIII baseball. When I was in high school, I looked down on DIII. I wondered who would want to play at that level. But now that I'm here I want to tell everyone what I've learned from my DIII experience.

First, DIII athletes are true student-athletes.  One is able to receive a world-class education while playing on a team. Second, freshmen really get a chance to walk on the field and play a major role, which is one of the main reasons I decided to play. Third, every player is here for the love of the game--period. Not one guy on the team has an athletic scholarship. Compared to DI and DII scholarship players, DIII athletes play for the same reason they played Little League.

Switching gears from past to present, our season has been very memorable, and within a few days we will find out if more memories will be made. Coming off last year's season and losing only one starter, I had high expectations for this year. In spring practice before the season started, I noticed one thing above all: that we were a young and hungry team. We had the talent to make a major splash in the DIII ranks. We came out of the gates in a fury and won twenty-two of our first twenty-four games. We have gone on to win thirty-six games so far and have broken the Rhodes record for wins. We have been ranked as high as twenty-fifth in the nation and fifth in the South. We won the SCAC Eastern Division title but in a very disappointing weekend let the conference championship slip through our fingers, leaving us in a state of limbo waiting for the at-large bids to come out for a regional tournament. I have no doubt--none--that if we receive a bid we will win the region and head to Appleton, Wisconsin, for the DIII World Series.  All we can do now is wait and hope for the fair shot that we deserve.