The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
EMU ball player has local roots
By Dave Merchant, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 24, 2008
Playing baseball in college for a Division 1 team is a lot harder than playing at the high school level. Eastern Michigan's Josh Ivan found that out after he graduated from Belleville High School in 2004.
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"In high school you may see one good (pitcher) every week," Ivan commented. "Here you see one every day."
Ivan is the senior second-baseman for the Eagles and is batting and impressive .317 with 38 hits including three homeruns and 19 RBI. In 2007 he started 47 of 50 games and ranked fifth on the team in hits with 42. He likes the structure of the baseball team and really enjoys it all year round.
"Every day is laid out for you," he said. "You come in and you know 30 guys and you go to class and practice."
He said they play fall and spring ball. The fall ball goes from August to the end of October and the beginning of November. This season has a lot of exhibition games.
Around Christmas they are able to train individually. This year in January they started something new and the seniors led the practice because the coach couldn't get involved until Feb. 1.
"There are a lot of seniors on the team this year (10)," he said. "This is the most I have seen on the team since I have been here."
The team plays 27 league games a year and they also play teams down South when the go to Spring Training. In the past the team that wins the conference has hosted the conference tournament. This season it will be held at a neutral site in Ohio.
The coach of the EMU team is Jake Boss. This is Boss' first year as the head coach and he was an assistant coach when Ivan was brought on the team. Each team has about 35 guys on the roster but only 25 are able to dress for each game.
"You have to keep working hard every game," he said. "It is a lot of fun to play college ball."
Ivan is currently studying finance and has a 3.5 grade point average. He has scholarship money for both academics and baseball.
"Academics are huge," he said. "There is not a lot of money out there for athletic scholarships."
In high school Ivan played three sports earning varsity letters in cross country, basketball and baseball.
Travel and playing out of state has been very interesting for Ivan. His favorite college moment was not in a game that EMU won.
"The biggest thing so far for me in college was playing in front of 7,000 to 9,000 people against South Carolina," he said. "The atmosphere was amazing even though we lost on a walk-off homerun."
His parents have been very influential in his playing career. His dad, Rich, and mother, Brenda, have been to all or most of the games he has played. Josh's grandpa Frank Ivan also comes to the games as much as he can.
"They have been huge in my career," he said. "They have kept me on track since high school."
So far this season the Eagles have played almost 30 games and in his college career he has played close to 200 games.
"I would like to take baseball as far as I can," he said. "Growing up I loved to watch the Tigers play and I would go in the backyard and play."
When he goes as far as he can in baseball he will take his degree in finance and make his mark in the world.
Contact Staff Writer Dave Merchant at 697-8255 or dmerchant@heritage.com
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