The Sandspur Volume 125 Issue 1

Issue 1 • Volume 125 Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018 www.thesandspur.org

@thesandspur facebook.com/ thesandspur

Florida’s governor race Andrew Gillum, who would be the state’s first black governor, to face Trump-endorsed Ron DeSantis

No more campus hurricane housing

Policy changes after college spent $450K during Irma

Phi Delta Theta banned until at least 2021

By Ellie Rushing

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erushing@rollins.edu

ollins’ Phi Delta Theta fraternity has been suspended until at least the year 2021.

Last spring, the chapter was investigated for sexual harassment, disruptive behavior, hazing, and substance abuse.

While the investigation found the fraternity not guilty of all charges, on May 16, Phi Delta Theta’s national headquarters initiated the long-term suspension.

“There were no college policy violations, but there were na-

tional headquarter violations,” said Meghan Harte Weyant, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

The fraternity’s national headquarters were concerned with the chapter’s engagement in risk management policy violations, such as high-risk behavior of using drugs and alcohol, disinterest in campus activities, and failing to meet national fraternity requirements, Weyant said.

In March, the chapter was placed on an interim administrative hold—otherwise known as a temporary suspension—as the college launched an investigation after receiving a series of

reports.

The investigation was conducted by D. Stafford & Associates, a third-party firm that specializes in campus safety and security issues.

Nick Baker ‘20, the fraternity’s former president, said issues started with the college long before the investigation began.

“They were fishing for information the entire time. They were looking for anything they could get us on, but they didn’t find anything because we didn’t do anything wrong,” Baker said.

‣ See BANNED page 6

Construction eliminates more campus parking

By Heather Borochaner

Graphic by Anastasia Rooke

facilities by the Central Florida

hborochaner@rollins.edu Chapter of the American Red

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ollins will no longer offer housing to students, faculty, or staff in the case of a hurricane or other extreme weather emergency.

This change comes after the college spent up to $450,000 to house 125 students and 60 staff members during Hurricane Irma last September. The costs included housing, meals, labor, and supplies, according to Ken Miller, assistant vice president of public safety.

“This change was not driven by costs,” Miller said. “Due to a lack of suitable space, according to federal sheltering guidelines, we simply do not have the ability to shelter large numbers of community members during extended emergency situations.”

After the 2017 hurricane season, Rollins commissioned an external evaluation of the shelter

Cross and the Orange County Office of Emergency Management.

“We were advised that our facilities posed operational and logistical challenges, and that there are better options for the safety of our college community,” said Meghan Harte Weyant, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

Starting this year, all students will be required to share their “Personal Hurricane Plan” with the college. If a student is staying locally and needs shelter, the college will organize transportation to a local American Red Cross-approved emergency shelter.

All students will be given at least 72 hours notice to have time to evacuate in the case of a hurricane.

‣ See HURRICANES page 6

Campus parking continues to be an issue as more parking spaces, including the McKean lot and spaces along Holt Avenue, are eliminated. (Douglas Jackson / Staff Photographer)

By Kendall Clarke

C

kclarke@rollins.edu

onstruction projects, both current and forthcoming, are going to reduce available campus parking. More than 150 parking spaces have been eliminated from the campus over the past ten years, Ken Miller, assistant vice president of public safety, said in a campus-wide email that.

Campus Safety has taken several courses of action to

maximize available parking and provide new spaces to cope with these changes.

Rollins may be subject to this parking crunch for an indeterminate amount of time.

The renovation of the Rice Family Events Pavilion has made the parallel parking along Cahill Sandspur Field unavailable.

Miller said he does not know when it will be reopened.

It is anticipated that the new residence hall project will take the majority of the McKean parking lot offline shortly after first-

year students move in.

“There will be a few spaces to support handicap parking and 15-minute spaces to facilitate pick up/drop off, but otherwise parking in this area will be extremely limited,” said Miller.

Certain parking areas have been designated specifically fr residential students, commuters and faculty and staff.

‣ See PARKING page 5

2 • AUGUST 30, 2018

Oriana Jimenez, Title IX coordinator leaves Rollins

Established in 1894 with the following editorial:

After 13 years at Rollins, Jimenez wants to start her own business as a relationship coach

EXECUTIVE STAFF Ellie Rushing Editor-in-Chief Christina Fuleihan Managing Editor

CONTENT STAFF Alex Candage Head Copy Editor Siobhan Nolet David Smith Lauren Bishop Copy Editors Maura Leaden Assigning Editor Kendall Clarke Staff Writer

DESIGN DEPARTMENT Lya Dominguez Head Designer Anastasia Rooke Designer Illustrator

BUSINESS & FACULTY Greg Golden

General Manager of Student Media

Dr. Leslie Poole Faculty Advisor Luis Diego Student Media Graduate Assistant

Oriana Jimenez speaking at the Rally Against Violence, one of Title IX’s main events last spring. (Kira Bernhard / Staff Photographer)

By Heather Borochaner

hborochaner@rollins.edu

ADVERTISING

Contact: advertising@thesandspur.org

A

fter 13 years at Rollins, Oriana Jimenez is stepping down as the Title IX Coordinator to start her own business as a mindset and relationship coach.

From starting in human resources, Jimenez worked her way up through two graduate degrees, four different positions, and two different departments at Rollins.

Jimenez is leaving to pursue her passion in an entrepreneurial endeavour. “I have decided to take this moment in time to follow my passion into the next evolution of my career, and who I am destined to be in the world,” she said.

She will start her own business as a mindset and relationship coach to help entrepreneurs thrive in their business and relationships.

Jimenez leaves with a tre-

mendous respect for all of her colleagues in the other offices of the campus who supported her work and a special appreciation for her boss Mamta Accapadi who always supported her goals and aspirations.

“I can’t think of a better leader or group of people whom I would have wanted to have by my side throughout my career,” she said. “Serving in this role has not been easy but I am a better person and professional because of it.”

While employed at Rollins, Jimenez wanted to leave a lasting impact on student safety. “I

“

think my greatest legacies are in the annual Rollins Rally Against Violence which was honored during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April for 4 years in a row,” she said.

Jimenez is also responsible for the updated Title IX policy, which can be found on Rollins’ website. “It took a full year to prepare that revision and I think it’s a model policy,” she said.

Jimenez will remain engaged with the Rollins community as an alumni and community member going forward. “I truly hope that my legacy at Rollins includes a greater collective consciousness and awareness

Dean of Students Meghan Harte Weyant will serve as the interim Title IX Coordinator.

within the community of how we each play a role in creating a healthier, safer, more equitable and respectful campus community for everyone.”

While Rollins searches for a new Title IX Coordinator, Dean of Students Meghan Harte Weyant will serve as the interim Title IX Coordinator. Title IX services will be supported by the Dean of Students office.

“Please do not hesitate to contact the Dean of Students Office or Student and Family Care at (407) 646-2345, care@rollins. edu or email me directly (mweyant@rollins.edu),” said Weyant.

Students may visit the Student and Family Care office in the Cornell Campus Center during regular office hours or go to Campus Safety at any time.

“As always,” Weyant said, “our top priority is the support of students, staff and faculty, and we will be working diligently to ensure no disruption in services during the transition.”

3

$3M in renovations to baseball stadium

Team gets new locker room, synthetic turf, and covered batting cages

Opinion: Softball’s safety should be a priority

By Erin Crawford

built on or nearby our park. The ecrawford@rollins.edu most effort being shown towards the softball team is a theoretical he Rollins College base- search into the prospects of a fuball team is counting ture locker room. Unless a date down the days until they is set, funds are allocated and begin fall practice on construction begins, that means their brand-new facility slated to nothing. open in late September.

It is imperative that one comThey can already smell the pares the two situations because green of their new synthetic turf of a civil rights law, Title IX of and, of course, money—to the The Education Amendments of tune of $3 million. Rollins has 1972. This act directly prohibits provided top-tier improvements discrimination on the basis of sex to many facets of the Alfond Sta- in any education program or acdium with that investment. tivity that receives federal fundSome specific aspects under- ing. going changes include new turf The NCAA explicitly defines installations, covered batting cag- provisions where inequalities es, safety netting, roofing over the may occur such as “equipment stadium, a junior varsity locker and supplies” as well as “locker room, and a new rooms, and paved parking practice and lot. competitive As a memfacilities” ber of the Rollins among other softball team, things.

I know how This act exciting these does not enchanges are for title softball a program beand baseball cause the games to all of the of baseball and same things; softball are everhowever, evolving. because the However, sports are so in light of the similar, they baseball renovatypically mirtions, we must ror one anErin Crawford not overlook other when it the inequities of comes to imthe Martin Luther King Jr. Field, provements. home to our Rollins softball team.

For example, the University There we have seen little to no im- of Florida is currently working provements in the past few years towards a complete remodel of besides a couple of banners and a both their softball and baseball revamped pitching area. We did facilities simultaneously. not even have restrooms onsite Time and time again, the until 2016. softball team has made cries for While these improvements change. We have had multiple are welcome, there are more im- meetings with Rollins Athletics provements that must be made faculty members as well as adfor the team to have a positive ministrative staff. It is understood place to play and practice. We are that the city of Winter Park is just not seeing improvements to the as much to blame for our circumuncovered batting cages, lighting stances as Rollins is. or stadium.

However, when there is $3 Most importantly, we are not million being poured into the seeing improvements to the lack baseball programs, yet there is not of security against violent events even a security camera installed that have taken place on facilities at our park, it is impossible not to adjacent to the field. feel dejected and disposable.

Our dugouts have been vanAs I previously said, the dalized, equipment stolen, cars baseball team deserves each and broken into, and a gun was fired every modification they are getbehind our field while we were ting, but at least 23 other female practicing last February. student athletes want to know: In addition, we are not seeing when will our safety be worth a locker room in any form being more than money?

T

Baseball’s Alfond Stadium underwent significant renovations that are set to be finished before their fall season begins in September. (Carolina Skillman / Staff Photographer)

By Kendall Clarke

kclarke1@rollins.edu

D

uring summer break, Rollins started a series of renovations to the Alfond Baseball Stadium. These renovations, which cost a total $3 million, are designed to improve player experience both on and off the field.

Scott Bitikofer, assistant vice president of facilities management, said that the renovations have been “focused on the playing field and supporting outdoor components including, new synthetic turf in the field, new covered batting cages, new safety netting, new roof over the stadium, new [junior varsity] locker room, and new paved parking lot.”

Ed Kania, vice president of business and finance and treasurer, said that the $3 million to fund these renovations “came from bonds the college issued in 2016.”

These renovations are scheduled to be completed by late September and should not interfere with the fall baseball season.

With the addition of the ju-

nior varsity locker room, both varsity and junior varsity divisions will have access to locker room facilities.

“The number of baseball players on campus has doubled in the last five years,” said Jon Sjogren, baseball’s head coach.

“The JV players will now have a dedicated place for themselves, equipment, and uniforms.

It will alleviate the strain on the Alfond Stadium and allow the building to function more fluidly.”

“Our grounds crew has always done a magnificent job maintaining our playing surface.

The whole block was in need of an upgrade for both player and spectator experience and safety.”

“The synthetic surface will improve playability and give the time needed to repair and prep the field back to the players. The new turf will still require a great deal of maintenance, but the synthetic surface allows for the maintenance to be done when we choose instead of when the game and practice schedule dictates,” he said.

According to Athletic Business, synthetic turf eliminates the need for fertilizers, pesti-

cides, and water. Not only does this financially benefit the college, but it also is beneficial for the environment by conserving water and reducing environmental exposure to pesticides and fertilizers.

Also, synthetic turf does not stain baseballs and uniforms as easily as natural turf; therefore, reducing the amount of times that they need to be replaced.

Synthetic turf has better drainage and is less likely to become muddy This reduces the chances of baseball games being cancelled due to rainy weather.

Rollins plans to improve the condition of the Rollins softball stadium in the future, according to Bitikofer.

“We are working to enhance the facilities for softball at the same time,” he said.

“The situation for softball is very different in that our stadium is located within the Municipal Park, therefore we must work with the city to make improvements. We are currently working to lease adjoining space to function as locker rooms in order to support the lady softball program,” Bitikofer said.

The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect those of ‘The Sandspur’ or Rollins College.

4

Office relocations: What you need to know

By Christina Oliveira

T

coliveira@rollins.edu

his past year, Rollins started many new construction projects. Not least among which is the reconstruction of Mills Memorial Hall.

As a result of this metamorphosis, many of the offices and organizations formerly located at Mills have been moved to dif-

ferent locations. From moving into student lounges to residing in Dave’s Boathouse, offices have relocated in many places, some of which are off-campus.

The new Mills building is projected to finish by August 2019, but in the meantime, use this list of office relocation spaces to find your way around campus until then.

(All photos by Carolina Skillman / Staff Photographer)

The following offices have been relocated to the Pioneer Building, at 203 E. Lyman Ave. behind the Suntrust parking garage

Campus Safety

Center for Leadership & Community Engagement (CLCE), first floor Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub, first floor Social Entrepreneurship major, second floor International Student & Scholar Services, first floor

Costume & Design Studio (Late September)

The Sandspur/Student Media Elizabeth Hall, third floor

Post Office

Cornell Campus Center, bottom of the stairwell/next to Dave’s Boathouse

Costume & Design Studio Winter Park Plaza, 330 W. Fairbanks

WPRK

Stewart House

Community Standards & Responsibility Chase Hall, second floor

Print Services

Costume & Design Studio (Early October)

5

‣ PARKING from page 1 For example, the Hauck Hall parking lot has been designated for students only. The 170 West Fairbanks lot, located next to the Center for Career and Life Planning, is now reserved exclusively for faculty and staff.

One quarter of the Ollie Avenue parking lot has been apportioned to commuter students.

Campus Safety has also increased the number of scooter and motorcycle parking spaces, as 60 of these spaces are now available on campus.

A satellite lot has been established on the corner of West New England Avenue and South Virginia Avenue. Prior to the academic year, free parking decals were offered for a lot on Welbourne Avenue. However, all inquiries for the Welbourne lot have been relocated to the West New England Avenue lot. There are a total of 48 parking spots there.

Any students interested in the satellite lot were required to contact Campus Safety prior to the start of the academic year. All students were eligible for access to this lot.

Students who reserved a

spot should go to the Campus Safety office to retrieve their parking tag. Only those with a tag are permitted to park there.

Campus Safety has also asked the City of Winter Park to allow college parking in the Welbourne Avenue parking lot. This parking lot is located next to the Crummer graduate apartments on Welbourne Avenue, one block west of Central Park. Site improvements have recently been made to this lot, creating parking for more than 70 vehicles.

Campus Safety should hear back if approval to use the space has been granted or not by Aug. 27.

To ensure the safety of students who park in these satellite lots, Miller said, “Campus Safety will have additional part-time staff on during the evening hours to support additional calls for escorts to this location.”

Two other nearby locations have given permission for their parking lots to be used for college parking: Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, located on Fairbanks Avenue, and the All Saints Church, located at the end of East Lyman Avenue.

The All Saints Church parking lot is available from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday.

This lot can hold about 70 vehicles.

The Keke’s parking lot is also available from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and can hold about 50 vehicles.

Campus Safety asks that all students be kind and courteous to the various owners who have graciously allowed for the college to use their parking lots.

Efforts have also been made to maximize space in the SunTrust parking garage. “We have improved the electric vehicle charging station on the first floor and have removed all boat trailers that were taking up space on the fourth floor,” said Miller.

The Campus Safety Parking regulations for the SunTrust Parking Garage have remained unchanged and can be found on the Campus Safety website.

College-owned trailers, buses, and vehicles have also been removed from campus parking south of Fairbanks Avenue, such as as the Sutton Apartments parking lot. There are also some spaces in the SunTrust parking garage for scooters and motorcycles.

Students can help relieve some of the stress caused by this parking shortage. It is recommended that students who live

within a half-mile of the college leave their cars at home and instead consider walking, riding a bicycle, skateboarding, or taking a scooter.

Rollins offers a Campus Bicycle Program, where students can borrow a bicycle for free for three days at a time, with an option to extend the loan to six days. In order to do so, students should visit the Olin Library cir-

culation desk.

Students have also been encouraged to consider the SunRail, Lynx buses, rideshare options, or carpooling as possible alternatives to their transportation needs.

A campus map depicting the existing construction areas and designated parking lots can be found on the Campus Safety section of the Rollins website.

(Douglas Jackson / Staff Photographer)

6

Back to school: Students reunite, begin 2018-2019 school year

Students hugged for the first time after returning to campus from summer break.

The first day of fall semester classes was on Monday, Aug. 27. (Douglas Jackson / Staff Photographer)

‣ HURRICANES

Continued from page 1 “As a primarily residential campus in the middle of a hurricane-prone state, we have given this much thoughtful consideration,” said Weyant. “The ultimate safety of our students and community helped us arrive at this decision. We are very proud of the plans, processes and expertise of our staff to keep our campus community safe and in-

‣ BANNED

Continued from page 1 “They used a time when we were vulnerable. I was a new and young president that was trying really hard to improve the fraternity’s reputation. They took advantage of that,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t do anything different than any other fraternity on campus.”

Phi Delta Theta’s International Fraternity Council issued a statement saying, “Phi Delta Theta suspended the charter of its Florida Beta Chapter at Rollins College on May 16, 2018, for risk management and failing chapter operations.”

The headquarters did not

formed in preparation for hurricanes.”

“We are fortunate to be located in Orange County, which has a robust American Red Cross presence,” said Weyant.

During Hurricane Irma, Orange County opened 21 shelters, including facilities for those with special or medical needs and pet-friendly shelters.

Students are advised to submit their hurricane plan to the school via FoxLink as soon as possible, and on-campus stu-

dents must complete one as part of their housing contract.

“The Rollins Emergency Operations Center will work closely with the Orange County Office of Emergency Management, the Central Florida chapter of the American Red Cross, and the President’s Emergency Policy Group throughout a hurricane emergency event,” Weyant said.

The steps include: -Identifying and communicating local emergency hurricane shelter options

-Providing transportation via buses or vans to a local emergency hurricane shelter -Communicating the status of students in local shelters to appropriate campus departments -Communicating a plan for resuming normal operations upon a campus damage assessment This change is closer to the policies of other Florida campuses. According to University of Central Florida’s 2017 severe weather plan, all non-essential

personnel on campus and all students will be sent home, and those who are unable to leave campus will be relocated to designated shelter areas.

Community members are advised to be familiar with emergency preparations and response by following the Rollins College Campus Safety social media pages, reviewing emergency operations plans, and connecting with Campus Safety at emergency. rollins.edu.

respond to any other questions asked by The Sandspur.

Weyant said that during the initial suspension the fraternity held their formal, which was a direct violation, as all organization activity was prohibited.

“While they called it something other than a formal, it was held in the same place and on the same weekend as the event was supposed to. Some students who attended were also under the impression that it was their formal,” she said.

“We shared that information with national headquarters, and it was their national headquarters that voted to suspend the charter because of those risk management concerns they were

already worried about,” she said.

Phi Delta Theta was founded in 1848 and has 187 chapters and over 100 alumni clubs across the United States and Canada.

Rollins’ Florida Beta chapter was founded in 1935.

Although Phi Delta Theta’s national organization has an alcohol-free housing and anti-hazing policy, dozens of chapters across the country have been suspended since 2000.

In September 2017, a freshman member of Phi Delta Theta at Louisiana State University died after an alleged hazing incident. His parents are currently suing the university, the fraternity, and several of the fraternity’s members, seeking $25 million.

Rollins’ Greek Life also has a history of suspensions on campus. This is the third time in three years that this fraternity has been suspended at Rollins.

In February 2017, all Rollins fraternities were suspended for nearly two months over highrisk behavior. That suspension was announced after a reported burglary and battery charge committed by members of one fraternity on those of another.

However, at the time, college officials said this was unrelated to the suspension.

This may not be the end, though, for Phi Delta Theta at Rollins. The chapter could apply to recolonize with Rollins’ Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life

(FSL) as early as fall 2021.

“If we don’t see any kind of organization or ongoing push to ignore the suspension orders, and we are moving forward in a positive direction, then Rollins and Phi Delta Theta will feel comfortable in allowing the chapter to return to campus,” Jazmine Rodriguez, director of FSL, said. “In fall 2021, we will start the conversation to see if risk management issues have been mitigated.”

“If we see individuals behaving as a group, performing informal recruitment, or forming an underground entity,” she said, “then we would not want to move forward with recolonization.”

7

Email phishing scams compromise student accounts

By Maura Leaden

I

mleaden@rollins.edu

n the last few weeks, many students have received phishing emails that said their bank account was suspended.

The chain of events in this most recent wave of phishing emails started when approximately seven students clicked on the email scams that included links sent out asking for Rollins Outlook login information. This allowed attackers to send out varying emails under the pretense of banks such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Chase Bank.

Christine Cole ’20 is one of the students whose email was hacked. From her personal email, a phishing email was sent under the pretense of Chase Bank. The email most likely reached hundreds of students, as the incident was related to getting her Rollins Outlook (or Office 365) login.

“I received at least 50 emails all at once,” she said. “I received a lot of automatic replies and a couple people who were genuinely confused. A couple people sent angry responses.”

“The ultimate goal is usually monetary reasons,” said Bill Rodriguez, senior information technology (IT) security engineer at Rollins. Cole’s bank account was not compromised.

Rodriguez said this is a common incident for this time of year. Web attackers intend to get users’ login and password information so that the attacker can then log in to the Rollins Outlook with a student’s information, allowing them to send the phishing email out to even more students. Some of the links included in the message were trying to load malware too, Rodriguez said.

Unfortunately for Cole, she did not know that IT was who she was supposed to immediately reach out to. Due to IT’s protocol of disabling accounts and resetting the passwords of accounts that have been attacked, this led to confusion.

“I hated feeling like I was being a bad person and I hated how everyone was trying to tell me what I already knew was happening. It was really stressful to have my inbox flooded for several hours. I was also very stressed that I wasn’t able to change my password or login to any of my accounts once my accounts were disabled. I didn’t know that IT was who I should have immediately contacted or that I could

solve the problem so easily over the phone,” said Cole.

IT is working on firmer communication with students, especially when it comes to cyber security. They plan to promote more education through initiatives throughout October, which is Cyber Security Month.

The protocol IT follows to prevent students from falling for scams includes mainly preemptive work. “[IT] builds rules and use scripts in Office 365 that help block these messages from being delivered. We work closely with Microsoft and other schools to update our procedures and help reduce phishing,” said Rodriguez.

They choose not to send out network-wide emails once a phishing email is live. “Since it happens often, we [would] rather not add to the traffic of email by sending emails every time we get a phishing message,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said when students fall for the scams, it often has to do with how the message is framed, as many of the messages “are playing on urgency so that you do something quickly without looking at the message first,” or who the student received it from.

Students should never enter their Rollins password into any login that does not have the college logo on it. Students should also hover over the email’s links, as miscellaneous websites will often pop up, which should be a red flag. Also, check the source of the email; a company such as Bank of America will not send important messages from a personal email address.

If students receive a phishing email, they can report it by forwarding it to phishing@rollins.edu. “[Our team] is up all hours of the night trying to keep up on everything…We try to get to it as soon as it happens,” he said. Students should visit the IT Help Desk in the library if their account is disabled.

“Phishing is common, and no matter how much technology we put behind trying to stop it, it comes down to being a people kind of thing, and we are working on doing more end-user training,” said Rodriguez, adding that it happens to everybody, not just students.

What you can do is learn how to identify these phishing emails and recover quickly. If you think you gave away your information, change your password immediately and contact IT.

Email phishing scams were sent out to Rollins students pretending to be from local banks. If students think their accounts have been compromised, they should contact the Rollins Informational Technology desk immediately. (Google Images / Courtesy)

8

Baseball’s pitcher drafted by Pittsburgh Pirates

Brad Case would be starting his senior year at Rollins. Instead, he accepted an offer to play baseball professionally for the Pittsburgh Pirates. (Brad Case / Courtesy)

By Paul Schattschneider

pschattschneider@rollins.edu

I

n June of 2018, Rollins baseball’s star pitcher, Brad Case, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Major League Baseball Ametuer Draft.

Case, 21, is the team’s highest draft pick since 1996.

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected him as the 10th pick of the 17th round of the draft, making him the 504th overall pick.

“It was an awesome feeling,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to just being given the chance to do what I love to do, it’s that simple. Nothing brings me more joy than getting on the field and just pitching.”

The Pirates, who have posted losing records in the past two seasons and have not reached the playoffs since 2015, hope to see Case work his way through the minor leagues towards an eventual debut in Major League Baseball.

Although Case was a rising senior and still has one more year of college eligibility remaining, he decided to forgo his final year of college and sign a professional contract with the team.

“I’m going to pursue my professional career,” he said.

Upon arriving in Pittsburgh and officially signing with the team, he realized how hard he had worked to get to this point in his career. He said, “The cul-

mination of all those practices, workouts and games all came together and led me to being on that field.”

As a 6-foot-7 right-handed pitcher, Case was one of Rollins’ best players last spring. Despite a 5-6 record in 15 starts during the 2018 season, Case managed to lead the team in innings pitched with 96.1, as well as strikeouts with 75.

This ranked him in fourth among all pitchers in the Sunshine State Conference in those innings pitched and strikeouts.

After posting a 6.8 earned run average (ERA) in his freshman season, Case improved to a 3.57 ERA the next year before posting a career best 3.46 in 2018.

Even though he posted less strikeouts in 2018 than the previous season, Case’s performance was enough to catch the attention of MLB scouts.

While acknowledging his own work towards this goal, he also mentioned how much those around him, specifically in the baseball program, helped him reach his goals.

“Rollins was indisputably a huge help,” he said, emphasizing how much his coaches and teammates assisted him in excelling at pitching. “I especially credit this happening because of Chris Corbett. He really made me believe in myself and I wouldn’t have become the person I am without him.”

Corbett, who currently plays in the San Francisco Giants organization, is a former Rollins catcher and class of 2018 graduate.

“My goal now is to do anything and everything that’s asked of me to help win a World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates.”

Although he mentioned being ready to fill smaller roles to help the team, Case’s drive and potential may one day lead him into the big leagues.

Until then, Case plays for the Bristol Pirates at the rookie level, where, as of Aug. 1, he had tallied a 4.03 ERA, 22 strikeouts, and three wins within his six appearances.

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