This podcast episode features a conversation with Elijah Stark, a former LCC Stars baseball player and current aspiring coach. We delve into Stark's journey through various levels of baseball, beginning with his late decision to pursue the sport at the collegiate level, influenced significantly by his experiences during the pandemic. We explore the challenges he faced, including the impact of losing belief in himself and the subsequent struggle to regain that confidence.

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Website: Coach Cutter

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Related Podcast: Stars on Sports

Hey, it's Coach Kate here, registered dietitian and owner of RD Kate Sports Nutrition. As a member of the LCC STARS Athletic Department, I teach our athletes what to eat and when to eat it, on training days, competition days and throughout the year. For over a decade, I've been helping athletes of all sports and levels meet their goals. RDKate Sports Nutrition offers individual consulting team services, on demand courses and downloadable handouts. For more information, visit RDKate.com.

Hello, friends, and welcome to Coach Cut's Corner. Streaming bright from Michigan's Capital City, this podcast is dedicated to helping you better understand the who, the what and the why of mental performance, personal growth and Lansing Stars baseball. Coach Cut’s Corner, brought to you by “eyewash” in collaboration with Lansing Community College. And now, here's your host, Steven Cutter.

Welcome to the show. Got an exciting episode on deck today.

I have one of the former OGs from our first season in the studio today. His name is Elijah Stark. He came in as a walk on.

He was actually one of our three walk ons that turned into starters on our first World Series team and then he was on our second World Series team and after that he went to Grand Valley and then he ended up finishing his career at Wheeling University and we're gonna kind of dive in. So welcome to the studio this morning.

Thanks Coach Cut. Excited to be here?

Absolutely. What's your first thoughts on the studio?

This is awesome. I mean I've done some similar things to this, but this equipment is top end. It's pretty cool.

Definitely a big thanks to LCC for the sport and the podcast studio and we certainly take advantage of. So let's kind of start at the beginning. Where are you from and what was it like growing up in mid Michigan?

Yeah, so I'm from Holt, Michigan, about 20 minutes from here. Growing up in mid Michigan. Both of my parents attended Michigan State University. MSU has always been a big thing.

We used to have season tickets for football back when they were good and we kind of cut the tickets off when they started not being so good. But we have season tickets for men's and women's basketball. So going to watch Tom Izzo and whoever he's got on the team is always a good time.

So pretty normal childhood. Played sports, basketball, baseball, flag football.

My parents didn't want me to play tackle football, especially when it started cause I was really small back then. Definitely a little bit of a risk.

So you obviously excelled in baseball, but were you pretty solid in other sports? Any ones that like stood out?

I actually Think I was really good at basketball when I was really young. So there was the Holt High School. That's where I went to Holt Ram Up. Ram up, of course. And they called it the Holt Ram Award.

So they'd give it to, I think it would be like, one kid from each grade. And I remember when I was older, like, they would always give it to the guy who everyone probably considered the best player.

But in third and fourth grade, I want it back to back years. So I'm wondering if that means. I don't know, I wonder if that means I was the best player at the time or I just worked the hardest. I'm not sure.

Yeah, I mean, it's your story. I'd. I'd sell it as you were the best player.

Yeah, Might as well.

Nobody can prove you wrong at this point. So you played sports. Did you end up playing all those sports all through high school?

No. So my seventh and eighth grade year played basketball with the school.

They didn't have a baseball team through the school, as most schools around here don't at that age. But I was on the B team both years, kind of like one of the consistent B team players. I remember my seventh grade tryout.

They had me, like, try out with the A team one of the days, and I obviously wasn't quite as good as them.

But were you cognitive of what the difference was between the A team and your level?

Yeah, you could tell how they kind of grouped it up, especially on, like, the last day of tryouts. They had, like, what kind of seemed to be the top 10 guys scrimmage together, and the second 10 or 12 or whatever, it would be okay.

Did you have mentors or anybody that kind of shaped those youth sports days?

I mean, my dad was always a big role in sports. He always would throw me batting practice, would go to courts around the area, get shots up and stuff like that. So he was always a huge role.

And I don't think I would have made it to where I was without him. So I guess I'd say probably he's the biggest. I would go to different trainings. I played for some different teams around the area. Basketball wise.

Jim Keaton, he was one of my coaches. He's extremely knowledgeable in lots of sports and he helped a lot, like basketball wise. And I'd go to, I mean, Basketball University.

I'm not sure if you've heard of that. I was always at their camps or whatever. Baseball wise. I played for a couple different teams when I was younger.

Tried to, you know, find the best fit, whether it's. I seem to be on teams that won a lot, you know, but tried to find the teams that I'd be able to play where I wanted to as well.

So fairly normal childhood and then. At what point did you think that you wanted to play college baseball?

It honestly wasn't till like my senior year of high school.

Really?

Yeah, I knew I was a good baseball player, but I always kind of thought college baseball was like, for the guys who are way advanced. Then I think I was a freshman or sophomore, I forget his name, but went to train with some guy who was. Seemed to be pretty high end at the time.

And he was like, you know, we can get you to play college baseball. And I was like, oh, really? And so I didn't really. I didn't really know much about it. But then like, my senior year came around.

I had some friends who were definitely gonna play college baseball. And I was like, you know, I think I could do this too.

Was Nick Bedoon one of those?

I actually was not close with Nick until the COVID year when I wasn't on a collegiate team.

So what. What happened right out of high school?

So, yeah, when I decided my senior year that I wanted to play, I started, you know, reaching out to coaches and all that stuff, trying to get contacts and stuff like that. But I was so late in the process. I was kind of banking on my senior year to do well and spark some interest.

And then Covid happened, didn't have my senior year. So that was pretty heartbreaking at the time, honestly. But I got an academic scholarship to Lansing Community College to cover.

It was 12 credits a semester. I said, all right, I'm gonna. I'm just gonna go to LCC as a student.

I'm gonna play one more year of travel baseball with the Capital City Baseball Kingdom. And I'm gonna try my hardest to be a good player for the summer and see what happens from there.

And then what happened?

So over that summer? Well, actually, that fall, Joe McDonald, the. The owner of the Kingdom, he. He offered me a PO spot on the Kings 18U team.

The team he coached, the top team in the organization. I took it because I knew I was a little bit better pitcher than hitter. But then he saw me hit a little bit that fall.

Cause he actually put together a football team that year. I'm not sure if there was any other year that he really did it, but we played a couple games and hit some balls to the warning track.

That's about all I ever did, but. And he's like, okay, I guess you can hit. So I got to play in the field, too. And I picked up about eight offers, smaller JUCOs, NAIAD, three programs.

And then I was already a student at LCC, and obviously they had a great program at the time, a lot of wins. And I was like, I think I could play there.

And then the previous head coach left, and there was kind of some time Joe kind of knew some stuff about candidates that might be hired. So I was trying to talk to him about, like, that process.

And I actually was probably going to go to Jackson Community College, but luckily for me, Jackson started a week or two later than lcc. So I signed up for classes at lcc and kind of.

I never really told the Jackson coaches that I was or wasn't going, but they kind of assumed I was going. And you got hired, like, August 20th? Yeah.

And when I found out, I called up the facility you worked at, got your email, phone number, sent you some stuff, and you were like, yeah, come out tomorrow for. For tryouts. And I think it was like a Thursday, Friday type of thing. And I threw a bullpen on Friday.

And afterwards, Coach Mo brought me over to you and was like, you guys were like, you can stay. I was like, yeah, let's do it. Because, I mean, I was already a student here.

I was on the academic scholarship, and I was living at home, and so I wasn't paying anything. And so, yeah, that's kind of how I got started here.

Yeah, you were a nice, welcome addition to the team.

The roster had been gutted, not because of intentionality or anything else, but just a coaching change and a lot of sophomores leaving and not a lot of freshmen coming in. And we had 20, 23, 25 guys that were left. So we were definitely looking for pitching.

And we did end up having some tryouts, which was one of the only years that we've done that. And it was nice to see you.

I remember meeting with your parents outside of Gannon at one point, and, you know, so it was a welcome addition on a team that, I mean, we didn't really know what it was going to look like.

You know, we knew there was some history here, but that team wasn't necessarily loaded with a bunch of all Americans or anything else, even though we did get some out of that. But what was that fall like? Because we were still at Westside Park.

Yeah, that fall was interesting because I. I mean, I remember, like, the first couple days, even, like, after the. The tryouts or whatever, like, most of the guys were on the team already. And so we were just.

They were just having their normal practice and you had to start doing field work. And that's funny. I remember working on like the. The bullpen and I was like, yeah, I don't even know if I have a spot here. But yeah.

Cause the field was in really rough shape at that time. Um, but yeah, we were doing field work and then obviously a couple days later you told me I could stay. And so, yeah, that fall was.

I think it was a big. Kind of a big difference from even the high school summer ball.

Did you pitch at the Puma that year?

I did. I.

Talking about the Puma Classic. It's a big JUCO showcase. You know, Stark knows about it, but just kind of filling our listeners in.

It's an invite only for the junior college, you know, top teams in the country. And we went down to it, and I think we played pretty well for what we had. I think we had. We were rocking trucker hats at that.

Point.

And oversized uniforms and stuff like that. But that.

Anything else stick out about that year besides obviously what happened at the end, but anything else stick out for you on, you know, your growth through college baseball, your first year?

I. I tried to two way that fall.

I don't remember that.

Really. Yeah, yeah, I. I hit a little bit.

I remember one day we were in the cage, Coach Mo was throwing to me, and we were using the weighted bats, and I guess I was hitting a lot of balls on the ground because he was like pulling in the air. Stark, come on. Or something like that. And I mean, I think I. I did all right in. In my at bats, but it was, it was.

It wasn't special compared to what we had. But then obviously transition to the PO And I remember that, that winter, actually, I think thrown against Blake McCrae inside.

Obviously, Blake had a great career all around.

He's been on the podcast.

Yeah, I was just listening to his episode actually, and I think I threw him a lot of competitive pitches that I was used to guys swinging at, causing weak contact or swing and miss or whatever. And I was like, dang, like, this guy's got a really good eye because that ball's not far off the plate, but he's not swinging at it.

And I think that kind of was eye opening a little bit like, okay, these hitters are. Are a little bit better than what I had been seeing before and just kind of got to be a little bit better than where I was at.

So that first year ends in a team that was pretty gritty, pretty hungry, pretty bought in, pretty willing to do whatever was possible. You know, that team has got kind of fantasized for a lot of different reasons.

Not just because Bobby Cavan was on the team, but, you know, it just was a special team that worked really hard and figured out like, there's more to the game of baseball than just the X's and O's.

There's more to it that comes into to like being, being close, being, you know, competing with each other and, and not against each other, but with each other. And you got your first dive into mental performance and you know what that looked like in a team environment.

And then all of a sudden we're in a super regional dog piling and going to Enid. You know, that was a special year. And then you come back and you're like one of the dudes at that point.

You've got the experience, you know, even though you got a lot more experience after you left lcc, but you had some experience that first year experience, you know. What was year two like for you?

Year two, the fall was awesome. I mean, I threw 58 innings my first year, and then I went and trained at a local spot, Dagda. Got up to 90 miles per hour for the first time.

And I would come into that fall, I was throwing hard for our level and commanding the ball really well. And I had a great, a great fall. I think the highlight of, of the fall for me was going down to nku.

And I remember before we, we left, our pitching coach, J. O came up to Matt McKeon and I and he was like, we're gonna, we're gonna try and win a game because obviously in the fall games, you, you kind of play your guys not as much and let more guys get opportunities and things like that so you don't necessarily win and winning is not the, necessarily the goal. But went down to play nku and Matt and I combined for seven scoreless.

And I remember after that, that final out, JT Brandenburg in right field made a great catch on that final out. And I ran right out of the dugout. Matt and I did a shoulder bump on the mound. And then we, we ran out to right field to congratulate J.T.

Those are cool memories. What about the spring?

The spring was a little rough. It wasn't exactly what I had thought of after the fall. I remember going down south and against Meridian, I honestly didn't think.

I. I felt like I still controlled the game, but I gave up eight and three innings, which I was like, okay. You know, Grant Dittmer did the same last year, so I. I might be all right.

All American. Yeah.

Yeah. And I forget which team it was, but I threw two innings. I think I loaded up the bases each inning and didn't give up a run somehow.

But then I think you guys went to Nick Baker after that inning, and that was like, wow. I mean, because I was. I walked at least three, probably four, maybe five in those two innings. And I never. Never had command issues ever.

And so that was. That was a little rough, but I worked out of it, I'd say. And, I mean, I still overall had a pretty decent year.

Yeah, that was the. The 50 win team. Yeah. So that team made the Final Four in Enid and was a very special team, too. The offense was pretty incredible that year.

Had Hunter Lay and Noel Bright, and, I mean, had some really great players that year. So after lcc, you went to Grand Valley, and then Grand Valley wasn't the best fit for you, but it wasn't the worst fit by any stretch.

So you spent a year at gv and then what did you decide to do?

Yeah, so I spent a year Grand Valley, and then I went into the Portal to look for bigger opportunity and ended up at Wheeling University. And it was interesting because my sophomore year at lcc, Wheeling was the first school to offer me even. I think it was before the Puma Classic.

I got an offer, and then again when I was in the Portal, actually. So I came home and I was actually watching a Stars game over at Muni, and their pitching coach at the time followed me on Twitter.

And then maybe even the same day, Coach Lewicki gave me a call, and I was expecting to be like, hey, man, what happened? And just wanted to touch base. And he gave me an offer on the phone there. So I was like, all right. I mean, I'm gonna have to take this serious.

And went down for a visit and, yeah, decided to go there.

That's a long way away from home.

Yeah, it was. I mean, I had never saw. Obviously, I lived at home when I was at lcc. And then Grand Valley's hour and a half away.

I mean, I didn't come home a ton, but it still was close enough. Yeah, a lot closer.

So what was that like being in West Virginia?

It was a lot different than here or Grand Valley, it's obviously, West Virginia is a little bit different. It's a little bit warmer, a little less populated. But I think it was. It was a cool experience.

And, like, the people I met down there definitely changed my life and be a part of my life forever. So it probably didn't turn out exactly how I thought it was going to, but I think it was the way it was supposed to happen.

So, three different institutions through your college journey, what were some of the biggest things that stood out about your growth and lessons learned along the journey?

I think you talk about it a lot, but your belief systems, I mean, you have to have those.

And, like, coming to lcc, even though I hadn't played at the college level or done well at the college level, I believed in myself and I knew what I was capable of, which is why I stuck around through the whole summer and the year before. I knew that I was. I could play on this team. And then when I lost my belief systems, it was really hard to get them back.

And, I mean, I. I did eventually get them back, but it was. I mean, it's a long journey.

Why do you think it was so hard once you lost them?

I mean, I don't know, really. It was. It was almost like I had never really been there before. I felt like something was wrong with me, you know, instead of like, you know, the.

You always hear, like, oh, the best players, they go over four or don't have a good outing or whatever, like, they still know they're the best.

And I mean, I think obviously I had a lot of good outings here, but I think I still knew when I was here, even if I had a bad outing, that I was still a very good player.

Yeah. There's a word that's called trust, and that's a big factor in belief as well. So that goes kind of hand in hand.

But, yeah, I think ultimately, I don't know if you necessarily hit rock bottom, but I think you definitely experience some low points and it goes back to, like. I mean, that's going to happen to all of us, and it's more about not what happens to you, but how you recover from them.

You know, how you move forward, what. What comes out of it. And you just wrapped up your career this season, and now what are you. What are you doing?

I'm going to look to get into coaching. I feel like with the experiences that I've had, the.

The good and the bad, I can learn a lot from all of those, and I want to be able to help Athletes who are in a tougher situation and are even obviously in athletes who are in a great situation as well. But I feel like my experiences from the whole range of everything will have pushed me to be able to help those players out.

Exciting stuff, because coaching is a incredible profession. It's not easy. It requires a lot, but the experience factor helps immensely.

And you being able to experience the highs, World Series and belief systems and everything else, and then experience lows as well on, you know, first year, second year, and moving on to the next level, that provides a lot of insight and knowledge for those that you're coaching, because you can kind of meet them at wherever they're at and understand that piece. So what are you doing this summer?

I'm going to head down to push performance in Arizona for a pitching internship. I'll be down there for probably about two months, and I'm really looking forward to it.

And just the minds that I'll be able to learn from, they train a lot of pros there.

Garrett Crochet is one of their clients, obviously MLB All Star, but he's not going to be, obviously, because he's in season, he won't be there, so be a lot of college guys. But really, just being in such a growth environment like that and being able.

To learn, it'll be nice and warm for you. But that's definitely pretty exciting. That's a long way away. You're leaving really soon, so that's pretty exciting.

I think, like, any time that you can kind of get out of your comfort zone and obviously you prove that by going to West Virginia, but anytime you can do that. I mean, we just talked about that on another podcast. Like, convenience doesn't really exist when you're trying to grow.

You've had a heck of a journey. You've had a lot of people that have helped you along the way. You've had a lot of people support you.

You've had a lot of people that haven't supported you. And that's kind of what life looks like. But you've responded, You've continued to respond. You didn't play college baseball right out of high school.

There was some extenuating circumstances there with COVID and other stuff, you know, so you had to keep that belief with yourself and the dream alive for the greatest game ever and, and keep going. And that's what you did. And you made a huge impact on our team. You were one of the, one of the.

Our starters and, and in a time where like that, that made all the difference. The pitching is what makes up the best teams at the end of the day. And you were one of those dudes.

And then to see you go through stuff, I didn't feel terrible for you, but I certainly had some empathy for you. But I also knew like if you could respond, if you could keep going, if taking steps forward like you're, you'll be all right.

This will be okay for you. You know, you don't always need a paved road. It's you're going to grow and you're going to be exponentially better.

If you're got to travel on the dirt road a little bit and there's some potholes, it'll be okay. So, really excited about what happens in your coaching journey. Super excited for you to, you know, experience Arizona in the summertime.

Hopefully you get accustomed to the heat that's down there, but you're also going to be around some great minds and I heard Bay Dune's going to be down there. So that link still keeps rolling, which I know you guys are friends and I see you at our field.

I mow our field on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays this time of year and I often see you guys there still training, which I absolutely love as your careers are over in the playing side. But they're just getting started on the coaching and performance side. So thank you very much for coming into the studios today.

I appreciate it and wish you absolutely the most bestest time in Arizona.

Thanks, Coach Cut. It's been awesome to be here.

Excellence isn't a destination, it's who you become in the process. Thank you to everyone who continues to listen, share and support this journey. We're all playing a game we can't win, so why not go all in? And go Stars!

Coach Cut's Corner is recorded live in the WLNZ Studios. Engineering and production assistance are provided by Daedalian Lowry. Thanks for listening and if you enjoyed today's podcast, please share it and follow us on all the platforms of social media. You can find more about our programs at LCCStars.com and donations to our baseball program can be made at the same site. See you next time.