Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) is helping his team make a statement. It’s over. The rebuilding period for the Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) Royals baseball team has been completed. Now in his junior year, Stanley believes it is time to take care of business, but he is not the only one.
“My first three years were about changing the culture and getting the team to believe that we could win,” said Coach Ben Spotts. “This is no longer a rebuilding year. Now that our guys know that we can get to the tournament, it’s time to take that next step and compete in the tournament.”
The Royals have had a hot start to their season going 5-1 and Griffin has been a huge contributor. In the men’s doubleheader against Juniata, Stanley did his job by triggering EMU’s 21-3 blowout by batting 3-5 with three runs and two stolen bases. For the week, Stanley hit .368 with four walks.
Last season, the outfielder had a total of six stolen bases; early this year, Stanley is second in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) with four stolen bases and fourth with nine runs.
Being a part of Spotts’ first recruiting class, the 5-10 junior has some experience under his belt. For the first at-bat of every home game, “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin plays through the speakers, which is not a typical song at a baseball game.
“I’m a 70’s and 80’s rock music kind of guy,” Stanley admits. “Sophomore year I used to get a little nervous to bat, but after the first game this year, it was smooth sailing and this song calms me down.”
So as the Led Zeppelin fan walks up to home plate, his veteran experience keeps him cool, calm and collected. His only focus? Get on a base.
“He runs so well,” Spotts explains as to why he chose Stanley to be his lead batter for the past two years. “He’s the fastest guy on our team. He puts the ball into play, doesn’t strike out often, can bunt and steals bases well. He proved himself sophomore year.”
Stanley brings a consistency to his team not only by his continuous high level of effort day in and day out, or his coachable nature, but also with his easy going personality. His coach even referred to him as “quiet” at times. But just for the record, the kinesiology major says differently.
“In the classroom I am kind of quiet, but outside of class I come out a little bit. I have a wild side,” joked Stanley.
When it comes to Stanley’s personality, the two may not always be on the same page, but one thing that Stanley and Coach Spotts can surely agree upon is that the expectations this year have increased.
“This season my job is to build off last season,” Stanley said. “There is a bunch of stuff I can improve on, which I need to do to help the team in any way possible. As a team, I want us to win some games, make the tournament and compete for an ODAC championship.”
Although the season is still young, the mindset of this growing team is maturing. For a team to succeed it takes every single player on the team to buy into that idea. With Stanley’s hard work and consistency on and off the field the Royals have a great chance of making back-to-back trips to the ODAC Tournament.
“Griffin is very focused when it comes time to practice and play games. He consistently works hard and is always trying to get better,” said Spotts. “I have never felt like he didn’t bring his all to a game or practice. This year his role is the same as last year, just this year we expect more from him.”
Maybe it’s time to turn the volume up a notch on that Led Zeppelin.