CHANDLER (AZ) — Passion is a word that gets thrown around quite a bit, but the true understanding of the word is rarely known. When you talk to Tony Vittorio, head baseball coach at the University of Dayton, you hear the word a great deal. But there seems to be a difference. Tony actually understands the meaning. Since joining the UD staff 11 years ago, Tony Vittorio has shown nothing if he hasn’t shown us what the word passion means.

Year in and year out, the University of Dayton is at or near the top of the A-10 standings in baseball. In 2009, Vittorio won his first regular season title. This was a team and a program that for decades floundered. Now it is envied. During the last 11 years, there have been two constants with the program, Vittorio and his top aid, Todd Linklater. Together, they have made University of Dayton baseball what it is.

There are many similarities between these two men but several stick out. They both share a love for their friends and families, baseball and the University of Dayton. However, the thing that strikes me more than anything when I speak to them is how they live their lives. They live them with passion and they bring that passion to the ball field every day. It is why they are successful and it is easy to understand why they choose the players that they recruit because that same passion can be found on the face of every player that dons the UD uniform. Yes, they are talented, but it takes more that that. Passion is why they win.

Last year was a breakthrough year for the program. They were often fighting for the conference championship, but they could never seem to get over the top. That all ended with the class of 2009.

“Last year’s seniors really started a new tradition for us with the winning of the A-10 Championship. The good thing is that we have enough back from our record setting offensive to make things really exciting. Add to that ,we have two guys that I think are top 10 round draft pick pitchers in Cameron Hopson and Burny Mitchem“, related Vittorio.

Another reason last year was breakthrough was not just because they won, but how they won. Three games into his sophomore season, Mitchem suffered a season ending injury. At the time, he was almost unhittable with an ERA of 1.62. The team persevered despite the loss of their top pitcher.

“I’m not really sure how we were so successful without Burny, but with those two guys back, there is a lot to be excited about with who we have on the mound. In addition, our bullpen is deeper too. We have great leadership on this team. There is no room for complacency. They are having fun . We really seem to be surrounded by the right people.”

The thing that has to make Vittorio feel good about this team is that many of last year’s contributors return.

“We have our entire infield back from last year. At third base we have Jimmy Roesinger is a redshirt junior, Cole Tyrell, a senior, has been starting at shortstop since his freshman year, Zach Jacob is a senior second baseman and Jon Castine got some valuable playing time at first last year when Marshall McDonald was injured. In my opinion, we have the best infield in the Atlantic 10.

“We have our cleanup hitter from last year Aaron Dunsmore in right field. The new guys in the line up would be Zach Blanchette in center field, probably the fastest guy we have ever had and in left field we will have Brian Blasik, a local kid from Valley View high school. Because we were so experienced last year he didn’t get a lot of playing time, but he is a fine player. Our catcher will have big shoes to fill replacing Scott Dunwoody, one of the best catchers we have ever had, but we feel very good about Dan Welch who is a junior college transfer from Central Phoenix Community College.”

Although the loss of Mitchem at the time was heartbreaking, it really helped set up the team for success this season. It forced young pitchers into new roles and made them mature much faster than expected.

“Bottom line is that Cameron Hobson really stepped up as a freshman last year. We knew he was good but we really never expected that much. He is a very competitive kid that refuses to lose. If you put the level of physical skill that he has with that type of an attitude, you can’t help but have success. Not having Burny during the tournament really hurt, you really need the depth when you get to that point.

“I think we are in a good position this year because of the strength of our pitching. When Cameron threw the other day, the were 15 scouts in the stands. Burny may actually be better this year because of his injury last year. His arm is rested and he is in the 92-96 range so far this year. We also have Eric Wagner a senior that was 6-1 last year and Chris Beesley who is a senior and very experienced. We have a couple freshmen with big time arms, Bryce Lahrman and Ian Gardeck. We also have Mike Hauschild who pitched well for us last year as a freshman. I think we are in a lot better shape that we were a year ago.”

Although they have struggled on the mound so far this season, it is more than likely just early season adjustments. The difficulty of being a northern team is that you don’t see the field for the first time until you make the trip down south to get some warmth and sunshine. The first 12 games of the season have all been on the road and the 4-8 record is somewhat deceiving in that they played some vey good teams such as #13 Clemson down to the wire before finally losing.

The hitters have been swinging the bat well, but even more can be expected from this experienced group as the weather begins to warm up. When the pitching and hitting mesh, this team will be formidable.

There is a reason that not only this year’s team will contend, but those in the future. Vittorio has surrounded himself with the right people.

“We really have great coaches in Todd Linklater, who has done a marvelous job of developing talent and Brian Harrison who is one of the best offensive coaches in the nation. Our offensive numbers last year were incredible. We have really stepped up our recruiting and have been bringing in better players every year. We have been very dynamic in our recruiting the last few years. We have to battle the increasing price of an education in addition to not having as many scholarship to give as some of our neighbors. Bottom line is that to win a championship you have to have the right people in place and I feel the same way about this year.”

The NCAA policy states that you have to give a player at least 25% of a scholarship if you are going to give them anything. This is a policy that probably hurt UD more than helping them due to the fact that they do have limited scholarships. In the past, they have been able to bring in some players at a lower level of support and then increased it as they progressed. In some of these cases they might not have been able to bring them in at all if they were forced to give them a 25% scholarship.

Several years ago, Ted Kissell put in place a plan to have several sports headline the athletic program at UD. Those five sports were Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Men’s and Women’s Soccer and Volleyball. Since that time, every one of those sports have either made it to the NCAA tournament or will this year in the case of the Women’s Basketball team. On a second tier resides baseball. The decision was made to limit the number of scholarships for baseball verses the 11.7 that are allowable. Currently through the school and fundraising, 8.3 can be given.

One can only imagine what could happen with this program if they were given the same support as many other schools receive in the Midwest. Passion can take you to a lot of places as Vittorio’s crew has shown. One can only imagine what an additional scholarship or two might do.