Boys’ Athletes of the Month: Russell Rhoads ’14 and Adam Seibert ’14

Matthew Freese ’17, Conner Delaney ’17: Every athletic team needs a centerpiece, someone that can take control of a game, calm players in tough times, and lead teammates through adversity. Typical positions for such centerpieces include the point guard in basketball and the quarterback in football. In baseball, this job is often left to the true mastermind of the team, the pitcher. An outstanding pitcher in baseball is often referred to as the “ace.” If a team is fortunate enough to have one of these, it will be respectable in competition. However, as is the case for this year’s EA Varsity Baseball Team, the school has not one but two great “aces.”

The one recurring word that EA’s two “aces,” Russell Rhoads ‘14 and Adam Seibert ‘14, emphasized was “control.” For example, when asked about the importance and pressure of pitching, Rhoads answered with, “As a pitcher, you control the tempo of the game, and you decide which pitch to throw…Pitchers just kind of control how the game goes.” Seibert added to this by noting that “the pitcher is very important to the game because he controls the flow.”

Seibert and Rhoads continued to show their camaraderie by essentially finishing each other’s sentences. When asked about their leadership, Seibert responded with, “Probably work ethic. Me and Russ are always the first ones out on the field and the last ones to leave. We kind of lead everyone else.” Rhoads added that “We can kind of show them what works best so they can kind of” – “follow by example,” Seibert interjected, concluding his teammate’s thought. Senior Co-Captain Jack Keffer ’14 echoed their leadership ability, stating, “They are two really talented guys who have worked extremely hard. They’re key players who can really help us compete this year.”

Both senior leaders are extremely excited about their new coach, Mike Hickey. Seibert stated that Hickey is “bringing a lot of new energy to the team.” Rhoads continued, saying, “We’re all adjusting well.”

Seibert, the Hofstra University commit and Rhoads, the University of Pennsylvania commit have a lot of optimism for the season. “The team’s looking really good. We got a lot of young guys this year, too. We have a lot of seniors, but we really do have some good young guys…We only had two seniors last year so we didn’t lose that many people.”

Coming off a disappointing 8-13 2013 campaign, the boys look for a better go-around this year.  Seibert noted, “Judging by our past few years, people would probably say we won’t do that well, but from what I’ve seen so far, I think we have a good shot at doing really well.”  Rhoads added on by saying, “If we just go out there with a good attitude, we can easily compete with any team out there.  I’m quoting Coach Hickey here – ‘We may not be the best baseball players, but as a team we can be better than everyone else.’”