Lehigh University Athletics
For Doane, superstitions and fun all a part of the game
3/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Have fun, he says.
Be cool, play “flips”, he says.
Forrest Doane may be one of four senior captains for this year’s
“I like to think I’m the guy the rest of my teammates can come to if they need something,” said Doane, who is off to another terrific start offensively in 2005.
“We have four captains, and they all have distinct personalities,” he said. “(Kyle) Collina is real intense, Jack (Muscalus) and Mezz (Matt Mezzancello) are real good at what they do, and I just like to have fun, always stay loose before the games. Play flips.”
“Flips” as the team calls it, is just a simple ragtag, sandlot game of hitting the ball back between each other with their gloves. But it seems to reveal something deeper than that, a true love for the game that the group, with Doane at the helm, shares.
Doane will also freely admit he’s the same as any other boy of summer, where he has collected quite a few superstitions along the way.
When Doane’s in a slump and he can’t figure it out – first thing he does, he shaves his head. And on a much more serious note, before every at bat he carves something in the dirt with his bat: a cross, to pay tribute to his grandmother.
But he’s not alone on the team. Jack Muscalus, their captain senior right-hander allows only the same person to hand him his jacket during a game.
“In normal, everyday life it would be real weird,” admitted Doane. “But in baseball it’s perfectly normal.”
The 6-5 starting first baseman is menacing with a tight end’s build on the diamond. But it’s really no wonder, because coming into Lehigh that’s exactly what he was recruited for. Coming out of high school, he was a three sport athlete, juggling baseball, football, and basketball.
But while it was his gridiron talents for which Lehigh prized him for, baseball was the one game that stood in the forefront of Doane’s life. Ever since his days of T-ball and 17 years later, his love for the game has never died.
“I love going to the ballpark. I love playing everyday, not once a week like in football,” he said. “I could never have seen myself not playing baseball.”
It was no coincidence Forrest grew up with sports in his life. Both his mother, Gayle, and his father, Jim, played Division I basketball in college. Jim played at the
As for the upcoming season and Patriot League play, Doane pulls no punches about gunning for the best – and taking them down.
“I’m really looking forward to playing Army,” he said. “They won the league last year, they’re the best and everyone’s picking them.”
“I love this team, and I love our chances. We have great pitching, real good depth in the bullpen and from one to nine our lineup is underrated,” he said. “If we can just field the ball we have a chance to host the championship game at home in front of our fans and take the title.”
He’s also enthusiastic about baseball down around his stomping grounds, where he knows that when he comes home to
“I was ecstatic when they announced the Expos coming to
First things first, however, and that’s being able to get some games in without all the bad weather. With six games already cancelled, Doane and the Mountain Hawks are anxious to head south once again.
Lehigh faces a big challenge this weekend, when the Mountain Hawks visit perennial ACC power
Story by Kevin Murawinski, Lehigh Sports Media Relations.
