Friday, Jun. 06, 2008

Player Enjoys Incredible Journey

Q&A with Tanner Toal

By Zach Warner

Staff Writer

Carroll senior Tanner Toal, one of only three returning starters from last baseball season, shares his thoughts on the playoff journey leading to this weekend’s state tournament in Round Rock. Toal, an outfielder and relief pitcher, is the Dragons’ leading power hitter with 41 RBI and seven home runs, both team highs. Toal has also recorded a team-high four saves in relief on the mound this season and has a 0.00 ERA.

Q: What have the first five playoff series’ been like for your team as the Dragons marched toward state?

A: We played Hebron [in Round 1] and we stayed humble, even though we were picked to win that series. ... We were just getting our feet wet. Then we played Martin and that was a real confidence boost. It showed that we could hang with the big dogs.

The Coppell series was really kind of a revenge situation. Not really for the other 17 guys, but for the three of us that were there last year when they knocked us out of the playoffs. We still remembered that and we wanted to get the win in the series.

Against Amarillo, it was kind of a different feeling, because we were there without the student body and everybody around us, basically because we were out of town [in Midland]. It was just the coaches, parents and some scouts out there watching us. It was a good series, playing out there in a big stadium atmosphere at Citibank Park.

Against Flower Mound, I knew a bunch of those kids, so it was kind of like a summer league game. In summer league, you know everybody. It was basically another big series for us.

Q: When did the routine of dog piling after winning playoff series get started?

A: I think we started dog piling this year. It just kind of happened. We didn’t get to do it too much last year because we only went three rounds. ... After the Martin game, we started to do the dog pile in the playoffs. We heard a real inspiring speech from one of our coaches and we decided we were going to dog pile if we won.

Q: Is it weird missing [the June 5] graduation?

A: I don’t know, because I’ve never graduated before. All the seniors [graduated] during the rehearsal [Thursday morning]. It just won’t be at night time with Dragon Stadium filled. We get to skip the two hours that everyone else will have to wait and go first. All our friends and some family will be there, so it’ll be just as nice. Then we’ll have a graduation lunch before we leave.