On Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, a flock of players wearing caps and baseball pants jogging in fours. All 54 players of the Eastern Mennonite University’s (EMU) baseball team run together around the university’s campus, but the crux of this run is the rope tether that connects one player to another. A runner in a group of four falls behind along the corner of Park Road and Mount Clinton Pike, and simultaneously, all players fall in unison doing push-ups with one another. The sound of laughter leaves the group and even jeering at the two coaches who ride alongside them in a blue sedan, but never any blame for the man who fell behind in the 30-minute run.
“It’s the principle of sticking together through it,” said Adam Posey, head baseball coach. Posey passed out each rope that ended up tethering the players together before their run. He emphasized the importance of being collective not only on the field, but also off the field. He ordered them to get into groups of four and said the run would depend on staying together. There was no pace, but the center of the drill was for them to all hold the rope and leave no man behind.
Earlier this year, on EMU’s Instagram page, men’s baseball was the first sport listed in the top three sports of this year’s first-year class. “We have 21 new players,” Posey said. Of the 54 players on the roster, 27 are pitchers due to the need to preserve pitchers’ arms.
In EMU’s dining hall and throughout the campus, students are bound to see a group of young men with bat bags slung over their shoulders and a few caps meant to block the sun. Rarely do they break the circle to speak to someone else. On the outside looking in, it seems like a clique to most first-year students on campus, but is there more to it?
Colby Eidson, a senior on the team, provides a deeper insight into why it may be so hard to break that circle. “One of our key values as a team is brotherhood and bonding, even off the field,” he said. This much can be seen in the number of players who gather around one dining hall table, some even going so far as to pull up chairs, while others scoot over to make room. Eidson noted that all men on the team are valued the same. He reported that there aren’t many cliques on the baseball team, and that everybody on the roster is appreciated the same.
But the vast majority of students on campus may not see the team as a brotherhood. “No one has ever done anything like this before,” said Posey in reference to this article. “No one has asked to get to know the team before, so I think it’s cool.”
Above the benches in the team’s dugout, there is a rectangular poster plastered on a blue brick wall that reads “Our Standards.” Beneath the heading, there are phrases stacked that help spell the word “Pride.” The signage reads as follows:
P -Positive Energy
R -Respectful of yourself and everyone you come in contact with
I -Integrity in daily life
D -Discipline approach to your life that allows you to operate at highest level
E -Expectation to dominate
Keenan Fulwood, a psychology major and a senior on the team, elaborated on what playing with Pride meant to him. “To give my all to everything I do, whether that is on or off the field, upholding the standard set out for us, and getting things done the way they are supposed to,” he said. He finished his statement by saying it means to “be great for your teammates and your coaches, and compete in a way that people will be glad to see.”
The baseball team finished its fall ball season, a brief season where the team practices together and has its coaches available for criticism, which means they are headed into the off-season. This is a time period when coaches are no longer hands-on with their players but rely on their athletes’ integrity to complete the workouts they assign.
Posey outlines this expectation of integrity and accountability in the formation of the team’s manifesto. The roster gathers at 4:30 p.m. in room 106 of the Suter Science Center on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. Pens click, fingers drum, and hands wring across the classroom while young men watch their coach outline his expectations for the team. Posey covers what he wants to improve with the gentlemen, then Posey turns to the team in search of their goals for the group.
Not only did the players outline what goals they wanted to accomplish on the field, such as “keeping high energy, confidence, and togetherness,” but they also set goals for themselves outside of the field. These goals included things that fell under character, academics, and communication amongst the team. Posey started incorporating team-crafted manifestos in 2023. He wanted more input from the players incorporated into his teachings and to ask what they think is important. Furthermore, he wanted to see “what they are willing to hold each other accountable for.”
Accountability is a large part of the team, and the way that the coaching staff structures the baseball team sets the players up to be held accountable for certain actions. Posey scrolls down an Excel sheet that houses the names of all 54 players as he explains the purpose. Posey uses the sheet as a form of accountability for every player; he sits down with each member of his team to discuss their goals and how they plan to achieve them throughout the season. “I hope it’s relational – that guys understand that their value and worth [are] more important than what they bring to the field. […] What are their lives going to look like after the program?” Posey said about his coaching style.
During their practice, many of the players could be seen roughhousing along the field and slapping each other’s backs after their runs. Their energy resonated with one another and was explored in laughter and jokes. The team shares most days and nights, going from practice to the dining hall, to church, and more. Moreover, this connection allows them to have deep conversations with one another, according to Fulwood, Newcomer of the Year for 2022. “We all hold each other to the standard we have. Whether it is in class, the weight room, or at home during break, we all make sure we’re doing the right thing because it is what’s best for our long-term success.”
It’s undeniable that Posey places a lot of thought and effort into crafting the team. The EMU baseball team has been curated with the intention of building boys into men when they enter the program. Many players travel amongst one another because they find comfort in their team. But they are not closed off to meeting people who are willing to learn about them individually and not categorize them based on their sport.
“Well, I think it’s a two-way street,” Posey said when asked about his hope for the team and its relationship with the campus. “There are a lot of people who don’t care who we are, but there are a lot of unique people who have really cool stories,” he said. “People would find their preconceived notions are inaccurate.”
