Ellison looks to lead Trojans in 2008

Senior Ryan Ellison joined an elite group this past Friday, as he threw out the first pitch for the Trojans in the 2008 season
“It was a tremendous honor to be named opening day start­er,” Ellison said.
“I have watched a lot of great guys get the call to start the season, so to know that the coaches have that much con­fidence in me was very hum­bling,” Ellison said.
Ellison showed his gratitude by pitching six innings, allow­ing two runs off four hits and striking out seven batters.
Coach Bobby Pierce was impressed with how Ellison pitched despite an early inning mistake.
“I was very proud of Ryan tonight,” Coach Pierce said.
“He made one mistake on the homerun but other than that, he was solid. He had good command of his curve and I hate that he didn’t get the win,” Pierce added.
For some, the pressures of being the opening day starter might be a lot to handle, how­ever, Ellison was unphased.
“I wasn’t really that ner­vous,” Ellison said, “If any­thing, I was more anxious to get out there and start pitch­ing.”
“I have been working hard all throughout the fall prepar­ing for this moment (opening day), so I was ready to go,” Ellison said.
“The anticipation for the season to start was the hardest part about it,” Ellison contin­ued.
“After the first pitch, it was all downhill from there,” Ellison added.
Ellison has been a part of the team for four years now either as a relief pitcher or starter.
Throughout the years, Ellison had been able to rely on past Trojan players for lead­ership and guidance.
Now that he is a senior, Ellison believes it is his turn to be the leader.
“Like I said earlier, a lot of great guys have gone through this program,” Ellison said.
“Each helped me really to see what a leader really does, what the game is all about and how important it is to rely on my teammates during a game,” Ellison continued.
“It is my job now to men­tally accept the leadership role and to be that guy that helps out the younger players and do whatever I can for the team,” Ellison added.
When on the mound and in need of a strike, there is one pitch that
Ellison knows will get the job done.
“I believe I can throw my fastball at anytime, that’s how much confidence I have in it,” Ellison said.
“I have confidence in all my pitches, but the fastball is my pitch that
I can rely on the most.
The confidence that Ellison talked about in his pitches has resulted in 136 strikeouts with an overall ERA of 5.74 in the past three seasons.
Striking batters out is noth­ing new for Ellison.
Up until last year, Ellison was Alabama’s all-time high school strikeout leader with 518.
Even with Ellison’s con­fidence and statistics, he believes there is always room for personal improvement.
“As a pitcher, I want to be more consistent,” Ellison said.
“I think that summer ball helped me develop this tech­nique pretty well, so hope­fully this season I will be able to have more control on my pitches and will be able to get batters out on a regular basis,” Ellison said.
With the season just get­ting underway, Ellison and the rest of the team are eager to see just how good this Trojan squad really is.
“It was really exciting to be back in the dugout with the rest of the team,” Ellison said.
“There is a strong feeling of team togetherness this year, more so than in years past,” Ellison continued.
“Everyone is working together for all the common goals,” Ellison said.
“We have a great team and a great coaching staff here who are all striving to be the very best we can be.”
Ellison sees a lot of good qualities in the pitching staff that will help the Trojans be successful this season.
“We have a lot of really good guys this season,” Ellison said.
“One of the best qualities in this year’s staff besides the amount of talent is the depth we have,” Ellison said.
“We had a lot of talent last season, but this year I think the combination of confidence and depth are going to help the team out a lot,” Ellison con­tinued.
With the new season, came new renovations to Riddle-Pace Field.
“It was great to be a part of the first team to play on the field,”
Ellison said.
“Coach Pierce really worked hard to make all the renova­tions happen and the field looks great because of it,” Ellison said.
“One of the best advantages with the new turf is its abil­ity to withstand the weather,” Ellison said. “This will give us the chance to play a lot of games that might have been rained out with the old field.”
All in all, Ellison believes that this Trojan team will be able to continue to do what previous teams have done, make it the postseason.
“I think that this team has a great opportunity to make it to Regionals for a third consecu­tive year,” Ellison said.
“Obviously, we have to play the games to get there, but if we come out and play like we did this past weekend against Rhode Island, we will do very well this year,” Ellison contin­ued.