From out of a funk, Brock’s stock rising

By Mike Kays
Phoenix Sports Editor

May 20, 2008 12:52 am

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The cure for the baseball “slump flu” — those extended periods of sub-par play — varies.
Sometimes it’s just a key hit or defensive stop, maybe a collection of it in a game or two.
On other occasions, you just snap out of it. Substantively, that might not help a little leaguer out there who’s going through the same thing, but just ask Connors State shortstop Brock Feldmann. The cure can be as simple as getting up to a new day.
Feldmann can’t recall just exactly how his doldrums ended. He’s not even sure it’s a slump, but maybe more appropriately a funk that lasted through the fall practice season.
“My head wasn’t in the game,” he said. “I was just doing things I don’t usually do.”
A three-year starter and standout at Mustang High School who graduated in 2007, Feldman was expected to be the Cowboys’ shortstop but shared time during the fall with freshman Victor Aracena. Even up through the first month of the season, he was still floundering, with inconsistent defense and a batting average, Connors coach Perry Keith recalled, that was in the mid to low .200s.
“I don’t know if it was any one thing but I know he was always playing uptight,” Keith said. “When bad things happen it has a tendency to cause that and you have to mentally fight it off, to stay focused and relaxed. He wasn’t doing that.
“It probably had as much to do with me as him. Not putting him in the lineup every day I think he felt like he had to go 5-for-5 every time out to make an impression. Actually, I had more of a belief in him than he did during some of those down times and he just didn’t think I did. Every freshman’s different in how they handle the adjustment of playing here. When he finally relaxed, he got into a groove.”
Feldmann’s currently hitting .326 and in the last two weeks, he’s been key to Connors’ offense. He was one of three Cowboys on the all-Region II tournament team, playing exceptional defense and going 4-for-5 in the opening game of the tournament against Arkansas-Fort Smith in a 14-4 victory. Connors beat UAFS in the championship game.
Then, on Saturday against Delgado (La.) in the South Central District championship, Feldmann ripped an inside pitch over the left field fence for a grand slam that put Connors up 11-2 on the way to a 15-8 victory. It was only his second home run of the season, the last coming in early April against Seminole State.
That win qualified the Cowboys for their fourth trip to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., where they’ll face defending champion Chipola, Fla., at 4 p.m. CDT Saturday.
“I’m more a spray hitter but every once in a while I get lucky,” he said. “I was looking for the inside pitch the whole time and that’s what he served up and I went with it.
“I can’t pinpoint where everything turned around for me, but I will say that the Region II tournament was a great confidence booster. Everything worked well for me — defense, offense, everything.”
Keith also is complimentary of his leadership skills.
“He has been in that situation before, you know, playing not only baseball but quarterback in football,” Keith said. “It’s just taken awhile for the confidence level to reach a point where he could lead.”
He and Brett Thompson, an Oktaha High grad, are the 8-9 hitters in the lineup and both, Keith said, are often overlooked.
“Those spots will sometimes lull teams to sleep because they’re at the bottom of the order but with these guys, they’ll get to you that way because they’ve got good gap power. They’re not in that spot to bunt all the time. They could fit in the 2 hole if we needed them. They’re there to hit.”
Right now, Feldmann’s got plenty of local backing, something he couldn’t have said three years ago. Just after he had committed to play baseball at Connors State, he was part of the Mustang football team that made it to the Class 6A championship game — and yes, past Muskogee in the semifinals in Ron Lancaster’s last season as the Roughers’head coach, 2005. The backup to quarterback Matt Edmonds and a starter at outside linebacker played quarterback in the Oil Bowl in 2007.
And yes, he remembers the controversial finish that began with Edmonds fumbling the ball on Mustang’s 35-yard line in the game’s final minutes. The referees signaled Muskogee had possession and the sideline chains had moved accordingly before a huddle of the game crew resulted in a reversal of the call. Two plays later, with 37 seconds on the clock, Edmonds threw a 51-yard touchdown strike to complete a 48-44 victory over the Roughers.
“We watched film of that and, well, of course I’m going to say it was a fair call,” he said. “I’ll say this, though. Our defense got run over out there. Offensively speaking, it was one of the most exciting games I was ever a part of. Just back and forth all night.”
Still, he low-keys that part of his life, especially if he and his teammates wind up in Muskogee, relaxing away from the ballfield.
“I kept all my Mustang stuff at home; I wouldn’t wear that around Muskogee,” he said. “I’d understand their feelings in that situation and I certainly don’t want to go there.
“Make sure you say that.”
We did, Brock.

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