Wright State’s baseball team had a dogpile celebration as they clinched a Horizon League title and automatic berth into the NCAA tournament on Saturday. The players received their championship hats and placed one of them on top of a deer head that has been in the team’s dugout the last few weeks of the season.
The deer head has become like an unofficial teammate that has given the players something to rally around during their late season run.
The origin of this unusual team motivation source came a few weeks ago during a routine bus trip to Northern Kentucky. While traveling to NKU there was suddenly a commotion on the bus, and Wright State baseball coach Greg Lovelady braced in case an accident was about to occur.
Fortunately an accident was not happening, but a deer had started to cross the road and was hit by the bus. After this incident the Raiders had a successful sweep of NKU.
The following week WSU strength and conditioning coach Jason Bradford along with the players thought it would be fun to order a deer head to put in the dugout. That week it showed up, and a team rallying cry was born.
“They named him Gary Croswell,” Lovelady said. “The bus driver’s name was Gary, and Croswell was the name of the bus company. It’s taken on a life of its own.”
Keeping the deer head in the dugout was initially something the players saw as a joke, but now it is the pulse of the team. Every time the Raiders get a run across the plate they start chanting “Gary.” Even team supporters have become part of the deer craze by wearing antlers to games.
“That is something that just presented itself. You never want to hit something on a road,” WSU outfielder Brad Macciocchi said. “We lost a game against Bowling Green that was a wake up call. We needed something to bring us together as a team that we could rally around.”
“Lucky for us our deer Gary is a big thing that has really brought us together as a team,” Macciocchi said with a smile on his face. “We’ve really embraced that and had a lot of fun with it. Since that we’ve really taken off. He must be our good luck charm.”
The rally deer is an example of the types of experiences Lovelady wants his players to have each season.
“This experience is supposed to be about having fun and having something that you can talk about for the rest of your life,” Lovelady said. “One of the big things I promise the kids when I recruit them is that I tell them where going to make memories that are going to last a lifetime. This will be something that they talk about forever; the year of the deer.”
The Raiders have their eyes set on an NCAA tournament run that leads them to Omaha, and opposing pitchers might have to fear the deer in addition to a strong batting order.
