Marking a century of baseball… Elizabethton celebrating milestone against Central Monday evening
Published 8:16 am Monday, April 22, 2019
Monday will be a special day for the Elizabethton Cyclone baseball program as the 2019 team represents the 100th team to participate on the diamond in the history of baseball at Elizabethton High School.
The first team took the field in the 1918-1919 school year.
In recognition of the accomplishment, many activities are planned as the Cyclones welcome the Sullivan Central Cougars to Joe O’Brien Field for the last conference contest of the season.
The game is also significant in the fact that the Cyclones are attempting to accomplish what many think is something that no other Cyclone team has done and that is to remain undefeated in all conference games in the regular season.
Former Cyclone alumni are invited to come and join in the night’s activities and be recognized for their contribution to Elizabethton High School baseball.
To celebrate the 100th team and to pack the stands for the game all students will get into the contest free and will have the opportunity to win some great giveaways according to athletic director Forrest Holt.
Included in the prizes the students have an opportunity to win will be a three-month membership to Star Fitness and Anytime Fitness and free tickets to an Elizabethton Twins game when the Appalachian League season kicks off.
All fans will have an opportunity to win prizes from Quantum Leap which will be on hand including coupons for a free hour of jumping and t-shirts that will be shot into the crowd.
There will also be on-field games between innings for the students to enjoy.
“Monday night we are going to be recognizing this team as the 100th baseball team in the history of Elizabethton High School and we are also going to put that in concert with our Alumni Night,” said Cyclone head baseball coach Ryan Presnell. “So we are recognizing two things at one time.
“We want to get a big crowd here to not only recognize not only what these guys have done but what the program has done in the last 100 years. Its always been a solid program.
“We have got a lot of great things going on with us and a lot of alumni with some of those guys playing pro ball and things like that,” continued Presnell. “It should be an interesting night with a good crowd and a lot of great prizes handed out.”
Presnell said that an alumni member would throw out the first pitch.
The game as mentioned earlier will also be an important contest to the current team who are seeking to finish the conference record with a perfect 12-0 mark if they can successfully defeat the Cougars Monday at home and on the road Tuesday.
“We talked with these guys today about the fact that they have the opportunity to go undefeated in district and I personally don’t know if that has ever happened here at Elizabethton,” said Presnell.
“Having an opportunity to go undefeated in conference play is something huge for us and getting an outright claim to first place with a win Monday night.
“It’s an awesome night for our program so win, lose, or draw I am ready to celebrate what these guys have done and what the program has done over the last 100 years.”
Due to construction still underway at Joe O’Brien, there will be no concessions available. Admission for adults will be $5. A junior varsity game will also be played before the varsity contest.