Article by Alex Brooks | Owl Staff

Coach Eller has much confidence in the talent of this season’s baseball team after last year’s success of a 44-13 record; he hopes to defend the regular season championship.

Where did you start coaching?

I was actually assistant for Cecil Community College for the [Fall of 2004] and then in the spring of 2005, I got an assistant job at Millersville University while I was there getting my graduate degree. Then, after that, I got the head assistant job at Wilmington University. That was a great job, I had a lot of responsibility and learned a lot there. Then, I got the job here.

“I get to see them come in and really mold the way they do things and I think that’s the biggest reward out of it all.”

Where did you play baseball?

I played two years at Cecil, where I was an All-Region, All-Maryland JUCO player and I actually got a scholarship to go to a Division II school, Alderson-Broaddus, out in West Virginia. I went there for a year, and it wasn’t a good fit. I didn’t like being out in the middle of nowhere; we had one red light, and I lived on an Angus farm. The only good thing about it was that I had two ponds that I always went fishing in. I actually had another scholarship from [playing at] Cecil from UNC Wilmington for my senior year.

Why do you like coaching?

I love the sport of baseball. My life kind of revolves around that, it seems like sometimes, but the reason I love coaching is that I get to impact a lot of kid’s lives. I get to see them come in and really mold the way they do things and I think that’s the biggest reward out of it all.

If you had to pick one, what has been your favorite moment
coaching?


It kind of combines moments, like seeing my guys go onto four-year schools, for instance. This past year we sent eight players to Division I or Division II schools. We sent three guys to UNC Greensboro, which is a big-time Division I school. We sent a player to University of Maryland, we sent two to Shippensburg University, and another to Bluefield College. That’s the most rewarding: seeing those guys move on and seeing them do well. I can’t give one exact answer. You’re looking at almost 400 games that I have already been here for, so it’s tough.

What are you expecting for this year?


I’m hoping for more wins; last year, we were built of mostly freshman, and we went 44-13, and that was the most successful season in Harford history. This year, we have a majority of sophomores who aren’t young and dumb anymore; they know what we want, they know what to expect, and they know what the league is all about. I’m thinking we are definitely more talented this year; we have an All-American coming back at shortstop, we have our starting catcher coming back, along with our middle infielders, and most of our pitching staff, so we are going to be tough, and we should be able to defend our Regular Season championship.

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