In His Own Words: Elliot Zoellner

Coming into my senior season, the only thought I had was to leave it all out on the field, as it could’ve been my last year ever playing the game I loved so much.

Baseball was my passion.

It was the sport I grew up playing.

It made me a better man and a better leader.

I wasn’t sure when the end of the road was going to be, but I knew I had to treasure it as long as I could. I never imagined my final season would be cut short the way it was, and now there’s just as much uncertainty as before.

We had an early flight to Fort Worth, Texas, where we were headed for our spring break trip and series against TCU. The night before, we played James Madison at home in a tight game. A few hours after our game ended, the NBA suspended its season to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Throughout the rest of the evening, and the next morning, word had been buzzing around social media that college conferences all around the country were suspending or canceling their seasons.

We were in a whirlwind of rumors.

I couldn’t help but imagine the Big Ten would be the next conference to shut down the spring season. When we arrived at the team hotel in Fort Worth, Coach Vaughn explained to us that our season was over. We were stunned.

The meeting was confusing, depressing, and a little maddening. There were so many questions, and not nearly enough answers. Even today, not everything has been explained. The answers to our questions are still coming.

We couldn’t believe what we were hearing. For me, it took several days for reality to set in. There’s a cliché in baseball, and in sports in general, that you never really know the last day you’ll put on a uniform. In a way, that’s true. You just don’t ever think your senior year would be cut short by circumstances such as these.

Once the initial shock had worn away, Mike Vasturia and I were reminiscing about our four-year careers at Maryland. We agreed that in our time here, the team had changed so much, and it was devastating to learn that our careers had been cut short in the midst of a special season. We had a close group of guys that did everything together, on and off the field. Though every year as a Terp had been a blast, I can honestly say that this year was the most fun we had being a part of Maryland baseball.

My teammates meant everything to me. I grew up playing with and against guys like Tyler Blohm and Zach Thompson all the way from youth ball to college. I watched Randy Bednar and Justin Vought evolve into captains. I could say something positive about each and every one of my teammates. We were just a tight-knit group of guys that wanted to work hard, play hard, and win. And before we knew it, it was all over. We worked our entire careers to finish college with our heads held high ... and never got that chance.

Throughout my four years at Maryland, I worked relentlessly and persevered day-in and day-out to get to where I am today. I struggled early and often. There was a lot of failure in my career early on. I got cut my freshman year and came back as a walk-on when Coach Vaughn took the head coaching job. I worked through a lot of difficulties going sidearm and learning how to pitch at the college level. That was a hard journey for me. My junior year was riddled with injury and illness. I battled through all this adversity with the hope of finally putting it all together in my senior year to help my team win.

I know I’m not the only one who has suffered this fate. But the pain is very real. Just 15 games into this season, my senior year had been going better than any other year in my career.

Now, as a senior, I’m left with a unique situation. I have three options that could play out in any direction, depending on things mostly out of my control.

We just learned that the NCAA approved an extra year of eligibility for spring sport student-athletes. As of now, it appears that I could continue my academic career in graduate school and play my final season of college baseball next year. Or, I could continue my baseball career in hopes of advancing to the next level, either through the MLB Draft or as a free-agent signee. Finally, I could accept the sudden end of baseball as I know it, and enter the workforce. I’m blessed to have been extended a job opportunity at a Fortune 500 company as a management trainee, where I interned my junior year. I didn’t have any idea what I was getting into, I just wanted to work hard and hopefully make a good impression for the leaders in the office. Luckily for me, they liked my work ethic and offered me a job upon graduation.

I don’t know too much more than what I did a few weeks ago when the season was canceled. At some point, I’ll need to make a decision. But it’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it’s over. This year was going to be special. It was an opportunity to show my worth and help my team win as much as possible. It’s tough to sit and speculate how many games we would have won, or how deep we would have made it in the postseason. I do know that we had a great thing going this year. This year’s team was the most cohesive that I’ve ever been a part of. We did everything together. We were brothers. That played a huge part in the chemistry of our group, and why I think it worked out pretty well for us throughout our shortened season.

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that we won’t be able to finish what we started. Coach Vaughn has always emphasized battling back from adversity. The situation we are facing has been one of the biggest obstacles I’ve ever had to face. But baseball has prepared me for this moment. Baseball has made me more mature. It’s how I learned to compete. It’s where I learned to become a better person, son, brother, teammate, and friend.

I want to thank the coaching staff, particularly Coach Vaughn and Coach Moose for sticking with me and believing in me as a player and a person.

Coach Vaughn has been so influential to me and all my teammates. Everybody looks up to Coach Vaughn. He’s a guy that you can always lean on and a guy that you can share anything with and he’ll help you get wherever you need to go. The same goes for the rest of the staff. They’re in it for us. They want it for us. They’ve created a culture of leaders and winners. That’s something that I know they’ll continue to do and it’s evident by the chemistry of the team this year and the guys that are coming in. That’s something that – as a player – I admire.

I would be remiss not to mention the impact Coach Moose has had on me as a player and a person. If I ever need advice, I always go to him first. Though I’ve tested his patience more than a few times over the past three years, he’s taught me so much about being on the mound and his guidance and foresight has helped me so much.

I want to thank Coach Papio and Coach Swope for teaching me how to effectively pitch from the other side of the ball. I’ll always be grateful for Meghan Kane for organizing all of our events and season, and to Will Franco, for helping build me into the player I have become. To the media and staff, thank you for helping us spread the word and tell the stories of Maryland baseball. Everyone’s support throughout this process has meant the world to me. I’m forever appreciative of everyone who has impacted me along my journey.
 

There have been a lot of situations that shaped the way the past four years have gone. Many for the better, but some for the worse. You try to prepare for the unfortunate circumstances. Everybody has a bad game here and there, and injuries are common. The game of baseball throws so much at you that it’s impossible to be prepared for everything. When the season was cancelled, no one was prepared. No one had an answer. There isn’t a handbook on how to handle the sudden cancellation of college athletics as we knew it. But the game of baseball has prepared us how to respond. We’ve been taught our entire careers to battle back from adversity, no matter how daunting the obstacle. And I know that I’ll come out of this better than before.

Elliot Zoellner
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