Upon competing in a pre-season tournament in Cuba, senior pitcher Preston Packrall decided to bring home a few Cuban coins, called cucs (pronounced “kooks”), to keep for nostalgic purposes.
After participating in a community event where the baseball team helped deliver furniture to homes around town for families in need, one of his teammates purchased a ceramic gnome from the furniture store for what seemed to be no apparent reason.
However, Packrall soon found the perfect way to put these seemingly random items to use: every time the team gets a victory, they would put one cuc inside the gnome. This soon became a ritual and eventually a superstition; if you didn’t put the cuc in the gnome, the team’s success would be tarnished.
As a pitcher for the number one ranked baseball team in the country for Division II, you would think that Packrall would be all business when it comes to his sport. However, beneath the competitive persona, Packrall has a whimsical side that helps his team stay calm and confident.
“Preston has a funny side to him as well as natural leadership ability which is going to be missed next year,” Coach Joe Urso said. “He has been in charge the last two years of some of our superstitions that go along with baseball.”
Despite his bits of comic relief off the field, Packrall has hefty goals for himself and his team this season.
“We first want to focus on clinching the conference as a unit and then to move on from there,” Packrall said. “We hope to clinch a region and then hopefully a national title. Personally, my main goal is just to perform at a level that will give my team the ability to advance and make it back to the world series possibly.”
In a game this season against USC Aiken, Packrall showcased his ability to perform at the level necessary to compete in the national championships once again.
“In the game against Aiken, he came in against the number two team in the country when we were already losing 4- 0,” Urso said. “For him to just come in and compete the way he did was awesome. He went seven innings of no hit baseball and kept the score close for us to have a chance to come back and win the night against one of the top teams in the country. That win kept us in the number one spot in the national polls.”
His skills and level of maturity under pressure aren’t the only things that Packrall is noted for on his team.
As one of the more experienced players, he also assumes a tremendous amount of responsibility during practice time as well. Although this might seem stressful to most, Packrall doesn’t let it affect him.
“Preston is just the most enthusiastic person ever,” said Jacob Tillotson, a senior third baseman.
“He’s always positive and he’s been really good on the mound this year. We all kind of look up to each other, but he’s just kind of the vocal leader of the bunch.”
Packrall foreshadowed a promising season in his first few games of the year while the team traveled to Cuba.
“His highlight was definitely going to Cuba and getting some innings there and throwing really well,” said Zach Gawrych, a senior right fielder. “It really catapulted him and the team into this season and how well he’s doing so far here.”
With Spartan sights set on a national championship, the most important thing for a leader like Packrall to bring to his team is confidence and consistency during every game.
“No matter what the circumstances, he is usually able to stay pretty calm and confident,” Gawrych said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re playing an unranked team and were up ten, or if we’re playing a conference opponent and it’s a tight game, he’s the same either way, going in and doing his job.”
Tess Sheets can be reached at therese.sheets@spartans.ut.edu.