The Oracle is the student newspaper, and the following article appears in this week's edition.

Co-Editors in Chief - David Butler, Zander Strange
News Editor - John Baker
Sports Editor - Andrew Ellison
Features Editor - Stuart Bonner
Senior Writer - Trent Bradley
Faculty Advisor - Bart Kempf

Zander Interviews Reilly Enos '03
by Zander Strange '03

When I walked into Reilly’s room on C-dorm, I knew that this guy was up to something. I noticed countless gallon-sized jugs of Met-Rx protein formula on his shelves. When I looked up into the closet, I saw a 24 pack of canned tuna fish, and then I became interested. What would a guy need with a 24-pack of Tuna Fish? In his 3rd dresser drawer, there were 30 apples neatly organized, and after opening his fridge, I saw 30 packets of cottage cheese. I wondered what this baseball phenom was all about.

Reilly Enos is truly known as Mr. Baseball on campus, but there is something else about him that is amazing: his diet. He never eats in the dining hall, and even when there is required seated meal, he only drinks water. He told me he always asked himself, “Am I the best player I can be?” Reilly knew that he would have to combine weightlifting, getting as much playing experience as possible, and eating the right stuff in order to achieve that goal. He read through many different books, trying to gain as much knowledge as possible about a good, healthy diet. Finally, he came up with his own, personal eating plan. Enos eats a total of six meals a day. His largest meals come in the morning and after practice.

Ranging between 3,000 to 4,300 calories a day, they consist of a combination of oatmeal, strawberries, apples, oranges, milk, protein powder, tuna, cottage cheese, and egg whites. Yummy! As Enos developed his meal plan, he tried to find an even distribution of calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fats.

Merchant, Reilly’s brother Oliver, and Reilly himself also joined together, before the regular season had even started, to prepare physically through a lifting and exercise program. They worked out all fall and all winter, waking up three times a week to run at 6:15 in the morning. They would jog amongst the trees and brambles on dump road with flashlights in hand, and much of this occurred before any of us up the hill were even awake. His out-of-season training not only included this early morning running, but also a combination of hitting, lifting, and throwing. On short days from September through February, Reilly would work out five hours a day, and his father often came to campus to help out. He says about his training, “I will never regret working 100% for baseball.” Since the season has started, Reilly has run up to four miles a day, and does many push-ups, pull-ups, light shoulder workouts, squats, and triceps and abdominal exercises. And he does all of these things along with his regular practice.

Freshman year, Reilly was the only freshman to make Varsity Baseball. Hitting number three in the line-up, he produce an incredible batting average of .418. Reilly explains the season, “Freshman year was my favorite up until this year because of the team chemistry. We had guys like Whit Holladay and Brian Hannah.” The team also had an impressive showing within the Prep league, earning second place to Norfolk. His sophomore year Reilly was stuck between the ambitions of two seniors. Even though he was a starting pitcher, he went through a tough season, losing three games by only a single run. As junior year rolled around, Reilly was ready to make his impact on the team and the Prep League. It was his best year so far, and the team placed 3rd in the conference. Reilly was the captain of the team as a junior, and up at bat, he hit an uncanny team-leading .481 batting average with 12 doubles, 6 home runs, and he had 38 RBI’s. At the end of the year, he not only earned All-Prep status, but he was also awarded the Varsity Baseball Team’s MVP award. His senior year so far has been very eventful as well. Through five games, his batting average is .462, and he has also had 2 doubles, 1 homerun, and 4 RBI’s. His pitching record has been dominant as he has a 1.05 ERA.

When Reilly headed out to California during the summer after his junior year, he joined a team in the American Legion Baseball League, which is a nationwide association where the best high school players go to show their skills. Reilly used to live in California, so he stayed with his old friends who played on the team. His team was called B + L, named after the sponsors, and this team never stops playing. They play over 80 games a summer. For one stretch of away games, the B + L players set out on a 17-day road trip to Oregon for a total of 21 games. Playing up to three games a day, Reilly and his teammates usually don’t even have time for practice sessions. To show how serious and competitive the team is, Reilly explained to me that two players from his team were drafted out of high school straight into the pros, and two to three players could go this year. Many of the more talented athletes go to a junior college to refine their skills, and then go on to a four-year college or university in hopes of getting drafted. Reilly has another plan for the next few years of his life.

He applied through the early application process and was accepted to The College of Wooster. Even though this talented athlete, who also ran Varsity Cross Country and started on JV Basketball as a sophomore, could’ve easily gone to a Division 1 school, he decided to go to Wooster because he can “both pitch and hit there.” As Reilly explains, “My first true love was hitting, and I never want to give that up.” He only started pitching seriously later on.

Reilly’s hard work and commitment are only a few of his impressive characteristics as a person. He has held down a consistent GPA between a 3.2 and a 3.3, and he takes several AP’s while being a prefect up on C-dorm. He has grown up with baseball, and he will take his passion for it wherever he goes. When he thought back to one of his earliest memories, he recalled when his dad would take him and his brother out to the garage and have them hit small wiffle balls with an inch-wide stick. “Talk about helping your hand-eye coordination,” he says. Reilly Enos now doesn’t seem to have any trouble with his hand-eye coordination. And with his exemplary leadership combined with relentless hard work, he will try to lead the baseball team to yet another incredible season.