The Olympian

Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Sports

Heavy recruiting from head coach Ryan Parker and assistant coach Spencer Stark has been the secret to the Olympic College baseball team's recent success.
The Rangers secured a seven-game winning streak in the middle of their season.
Their streak was finally broken in the last game of a four game series against Shoreline on Sunday. Shoreline shutout the Rangers 0-8.
Stark said the reason he and Parker are so thorough in recruiting is to find the right matches for the Rangers.
"We want to see if these players hold the values that we want for our team," said Parker.
The involved recruiting process that secured such players is ongoing; a program that is constantly working toward the future of OC Baseball.
Parker and Stark take time out of their schedule to attend high school baseball games as part of their on-going recruiting process. Many times they do this after conducting practice for their own team. Sometimes, after practice, they go as far as Bellingham for these high school recruiting opportunities.
However, the recruiting process doesn't end with simply attending high school games. Parker and Stark take the time to keep tabs on the lives of prospective recruits through making phone calls during their office hours and their free time.
For the Rangers, the ultimate goal of this season was to improve upon last year's losing record, and as Stark pointed out, this goal has been annihilated. The OC Rangers have won more than "six times as many games as last year."
The winning streak started with what Parker called the, "biggest weekend that OC baseball has seen in six years."
As Steven Gallagher took to the pitching mound April 12 against Douglas College, no one knew he would set the ball rolling toward a four-game weekend sweep.
The momentum that was started with the first win carried over to the second game where the Rangers beat the Royals for a second time in the same day with a final score 3-1.
The third installment of the streak, on April 13, was a triumphant game for both the Rangers and outfielder Danny Hennigs. Not only had OC won an unprecedented three games in a row with a final score of 9-8, but through catching a would-be home run from up over the fence, Hennigs was able to keep Douglas from tying-up the game in the ninth inning.
The Rangers won the fourth game by forfeit. Douglas's coach was ejected from the game while the teams were still exchanging line-ups. When the coach wrongfully re-entered his team's dugout during the second inning, the umpires called the game.
With a four-game and counting winning record, the OC Rangers went into their next week of practices with high morale. Parker and Stark, seeing the morale as a good, momentum-generating tool, set aside one of the season's practice days to take their team bowling. The idea was to keep spirits high as the Rangers went into their next weekend of games.
The Rangers went on to break even against Shoreline on April 20 with a win of 5-4 and a loss of 0-8. "We control our own destiny," said Parker after winning the four games against Douglas. "If we keep winning, we could go to the playoffs."

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