The Penn baseball experience

A casual passerby may have been confused if he witnessed the baseball game at Meiklejohn Stadium on Friday.

Both teams wore jerseys identifying themselves as Penn and none of the athletes looked quite old enough to go to the school. And that's beside the fact that the only colleges still playing NCAA baseball at the time were the national tournament semifinalists.

That's because it wasn't the Quakers who were playing, but a number of middle and high- schoolers at the John Cole Baseball Camp.

Cole, the head coach for the Red and Blue, holds the camp every year to look at a variety of baseball players who express interest in potentially playing at Penn after graduating.

"We want to get some kids on campus to expose them to the University of Pennsylvania and to our baseball program," Cole said. "As we summer recruit, we get out and about, so it's nice to also have some kids come to campus who are interested in the university so we can give them an opportunity to see our program."

The camp, which is open to any interested student of appropriate age, was held last Wednesday to Friday, with about sixty students participating at a given time. Campers came from as far away as Minnesota and Texas, so about half chose to stay on-campus, sleeping in Harnwell College House.

While most campers were incoming high school juniors and seniors, some will only be entering seventh grade next year.

In addition to games taking place Thursday and Friday at Meiklejohn, drills took place in the surrounding facilities.

But besides lending the facilities and brand to the camp, the university has no official role.

In fact, camp staffers come not just from Cole's assistants but from coaches at surrounding schools. Two coaches each from Strathmore and Gloucester helped mentor the campers throughout the three-day affair.

The staff splits the campers into four teams, each with two assigned coaches. The teams drilled and competed together. At the end of camp, the coaches gave each player a written evaluation.

Apart from playing games and learning drills, the players learned about the mental aspect of the game. In his final speech to the campers, Cole repeatedly stressed the necessity that they get good grades in addition to improving on the ball field.

"We go over fundamentals," he said. "But we also have some innovative teaching methods and we try to get them prepared for the next level."

And he finds the camp to be a great place to learn more about potential Quakers than he would in a normal recruiting trip. Thanks to the overnight aspect, he can tell who is ready for collegiate baseball from a maturity standpoint.

"We're looking for a low-maintenance individual," he said. "They're in the dorms so we see how they live. Are they on time for breakfast? How do they dress? Are they obeying your curfew? You find out how they live a little bit."

And so far, the camp has paid dividends for the Quakers. Cole says "about 20" campers from the first three years he held the camp have gone on to to join the Penn baseball team.

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