SPORTS | Right fielder Ike Schmidly emerges as ‘cornerstone’ for JMU baseball Before the rest of JMU baseball comes onto the field for practice, junior right fielder Ike Schmidly has already been putting in reps. He comes into the facility most mornings working through the same routine. It usually starts with tee work, with some cuts isolating the top hand from the bottom hand, feeling out each independently. Then comes the heavy bat, one of Schmidly’s favorite tools. “It just makes my whole game feel a lot lighter,” he said. From there, Schmidly moves into open-side and closed-side flips, helping him drive through the ball, focusing on his swing path and contact point. By the time the pitching machine turns on, Schmidly has already been hitting for an extended time. Read the full story online through the link in our bio. ✍️Luke Faircloth 📸 Annabel Dewey