So far, so perfect for Chesterton senior first baseman Eli McClelland, coming off the game of his life and looking forward to a weekend tournament in Kokomo

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Especially for hitters, baseball is not a game of perfect.
But it was for Chesterton senior first baseman Eli McClelland on opening day, when the Trojans blasted off with a 25-0 win over Griffith on Monday.
McClelland has yet to make an out. He reached base in all five of his plate appearances and did so in five different ways.
He walked, was hit by a pitch, singled, doubled and homered. His home run was an especially memorable one for him since never had hit a ball over a fence in a game in his life.
“First time,” he said. “I’ve hit it off the fence before, but never over it. It was a great feeling.”
Playing first base is new to him as well. John Knight had a lock on third base, so he told his summer league coach he would like to play first and learned the position. He said the transition has gone smoothly.
“My infielders make my job easy,” he said, praising the accuracy of their throws.
McClelland, started two varsity games last season, and posted a .312 batting average with four RBI in 20 at bats. He enters this weekend’s three games in two days at Kokomo tournament with his confidence soaring and is well aware that he will be facing harder throwers than against Griffith.
The Trojans play Greenfield Central today at 5:45 p.m. CT, and on Saturday face Plainfield at 11:45 a.m. and Cathedral at 2:30 p.m.
“Hitting against our pitchers in winter and fall practice gets us ready for all the other top pitchers we’ll face as we get into the season, pitchers from Crown Point and Valpo,” he said.
McClelland also said that he finds it helpful when the pitching machine is cranked up to a high velocity and is moved closer than the 60 feet, 6 inches that separates the pitching rubber from home plate.
He attributed having the power to clear the fence partially to getting stronger in the weight room and also gave a nod to hitting instructor Toby Gentry.
“Coach Gentry’s great,” McClelland said. “Everybody knows how good he is.”
McClelland said he learned from Gentry the value of making the most of the view from the on-deck circle:
“One thing he talked about was how you always get two at bats because when you’re on deck, you can see how the pitcher’s releasing the ball, what type of curveball he has: Is it a loopy curveball or a spinning one? You can just pick up a lot of stuff you need for your at bat before you go up yourself.”
McClelland said that his contact feels more pure since Gentry pointed out a mechanical flaw in his swing and gave him drills to utilize in the offseason to cure it. He worked on them, and look what happened. Until somebody gets him out, Eli McClelland is a modern day Mr. Perfect.