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Ben Elsen, SS, St. Xavier HS, Class of 2016

PBR: Why did you choose Evansville?

Elsen: A lot of thought, time, and consideration went into the decision I made. From the first phone call I received from Coach Mahon to my first official visit to the night I committed I have felt very welcomed and wanted by Evansville. That is a great feeling to have. I love the entire coaching staff, especially Coach Carroll and Coach Mahon. The energy and passion they have towards the game and what they do and the baseball knowledge they bring to the table is admirable. The baseball program itself is very strong as they consistently rank in the top 1/3 of all the division 1 baseball programs in the country and they are in the 5^th best conference out of like 31 D1 conferences. They are also seriously competing for a ticket to Omaha and that is a great goal to have and that is a trip I want to make with my future teammates at Evansville. Coach Carroll also does a great job at developing players over their career with him and he has made many major league talent players over the years, so it is a nice place to get better for 4 years. There were also some non-baseball factors that went into my decision making process. I think I want to be a business major and Evansville has one of, if not the, best business school in the country for small schools so that is nice. The average class size and the student to teacher ratio is good so I will receive that personal level attention and feel with my professors. And then there were some smaller less important factors that helped me make my decision like geography and social life as well. But at the end of the day, I can envision myself as a purple mace for the next four years and I am very happy about my choice.

PBR: What other schools were you considering?

Elsen: Being that I missed my entire junior season for high school baseball, got off to a very slow start my last summer season, and the fact that I have just this year grown into my body;  the recruiting process started off slow for me and has almost been “delayed”  for lack of a better word. As a result, I was not really considering many other schools and Evansville has been at the top of my list since day 1. I did debate for a while if I wanted to play baseball in college or not but when I decided I wanted to, Evansville was definitely the school that took the top spot on my list. 

PBR: Where did the coaching staff first see you and how did your relationship develop?

Elsen: I’m not exactly sure where or when the Evansville coach first saw me as a lot of times scouts don’t really make it known that they are watching you so I was not even aware that Coach Mahon was coming to my games. My summer team played in a lot of very competitive and nationally-recognized tournaments and there were multiple scouts at every game so I tried to just play my game and not to worry about that. When I took my visit to Evansville though Coach Mahon did say he first saw me at a tournament in Indianapolis and I caught his attention and he began to recruit me and he said he was at 14 of my games over the summer and he came to watch me perform at the PBR Southern Ohio Prospect games. I then got a call from Coach Mahon towards the end of summer and he introduced himself and said he was very interested and wanted to get me on campus for a visit once school got in session and over the next few weeks until school got in session we talked on the phone about once a week. Then I had my official visit about 2.5 weeks ago and I met the rest of the coaching staff and received my offer from them.

PBR: Was the recruiting process what you expected?

Elsen: I’d say so, yeah. It might have started a little later than I liked or got off to a little slower of a start than I would have looked as I mentioned before but after it did get going it was pretty much what I expected it to be. I was surprised at how much goes into a coach’s decision to recruit you and the passion and energy they bring and how good they are at “selling” their respected schools but out of all of the coaches I have talked to I felt like Coach Mahon and Coach Carroll were my favorites.

PBR: How does it feel to be a part of a Division 1 baseball program?

Elsen: It feels great, it really does. It is very exciting and I am humbled to get the opportunity to play at the division 1 level next year. I know there are tens of thousands of kids out there that would give their right arm o be able to play D1 college baseball and for me to have that chance is a very good feeling. I have always admired the guys who have gotten a chance to play at the division one level and I have family members that have had that chance and it has always been a goal of mine.  It has been a goal for me for the longest time to play at that level in college and to finally reach that goal is a good feeling. It almost feels as if you have made it and your goals have been and sort of like it’s the end but in reality this is only the beginning now and the most important baseball of my career lies in front of me.

PBR: Who do you play for in the summer and what was the most memorable experience from this summer?

Elsen: I play for the Cincinnati Hornets coached by Chris Sexton and hmm that’s a tough one. My whole summer was pretty memorable and it was a lot of fun stepping out on the field every weekend with the guys I did. I’d say the most memorable experiences from this summer had to be the moments I spent with my team off the field—all of the time in the hotel rooms, all of the lunches and dinners together, and all of the other things we did in cities when we left Cincinnati. But if I had to pick an on the field moment I’d have to go back the end of June. We were in a big perfect game tournament and we were playing our last pool play game and it was a must win for us to move on. We were playing probably the “pool favorite” team and they had a roster of like 20 plus kids. It was in the 3^rd inning I believe and they had runners on second and third with 2 outs and I was playing third base and there was a routine ground ball hit to me that I booted and both runners ended up scoring and they scored 3 more runs that inning after my error so that’s a total of 5 runs all via my error. I was not happy to say the least. So I came up to bat the next inning and we had runners on 1^st and 3^rd and 1 out and I got a fastball over the middle of the plate at the letters and I hit a 3 run homer to make the game 5-3. We ended up winning 14-5 and moved on to bracket play. So I’d say either that or when we got to play at Huntington Park in Columbus for the championship game of the Buckeye Elite Showcase Tournament are my most memorable moments from this past summer.  

PBR:  What person has the great impact on your baseball career and why?

Elsen: It’s tough to just pick one because there have been so many important people that have had a great impact on my baseball life. If I had to pick a single person though, I would say my summer coach, Chis Sexton. For the past 4 or 5 years I have played for Coach Sexton and he has helped me out a lot. He played division 1 college baseball and he played in the minor leagues for a number of years then in the MLB for a couple of years so he has a lot of baseball knowledge. I tried out for his team a number of years ago as an outfielder and pitcher but he saw me more as a middle infield guy and he has worked so much with me and developed me into the player that I am today. We have a good relationship and I love him being my coach I am very thankful he has been my coach for the last few years. The baseball and life advice he has given me is comparable to nobody else. My grandpa and my uncle would be close runner ups to Coach Sexton as they have inspired me and developed me as a player as well.

PBR: Who is the toughest hitter that you have faced in Ohio?

Elsen: I missed my junior high school season because of an elbow injury and because of that same injury I did not pitch at all this past year so it’s been a while since I have pitched against any hitter so nobody really comes to mind as the toughest hitter I have faced.