Senior catcher Brock Weimer crushed a two run home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the first inning against Moline back on Mar. 30 to give the tigers an early 2-0 lead over the Maroons. As Weimer trotted around the bases, something looked to be out of place. He came up empty handed in his next two at bats before being replaced by junior backup catcher Joe Wallace in the sixth inning.
The truth was Weimer had torn his meniscus earlier in the top of the first when he went to block and recover a ball.
“I blocked a ball and then ran after it and my foot got stuck in the mud so my knee went but my foot stayed in place and then I heard a pop in my knee,” Weimer said.
Weimer underwent successful surgery this past Friday and could be out the remainder of the season as the normal rehabilitation time for a torn meniscus is about three months. But Weimer will be trying his best to take the field one last time as a Tiger.
“For the first four weeks I have physical therapy three times a week and then I’ve got my daily exercises that I have to do. Then I just keep it elevated when I’m at home and always ice it,” Weimer said.
The three hole hitter for the Tigers batted .430 with five homeruns and 33 RBI’s in his junior campaign and had already got off to a quick start in his senior season by batting .462 with two homeruns and nine RBI’s in his first five games.
“Brock is an impact offensive player because he can hit for a high average plus hit for power numbers and be a major RBI producer,” junior centerfielder Colin Clayton said. “The team will miss Brock because he also makes hitters around him better.”
Head coach Tim Funkhouser has had to mix up the batting order a bit without relying on his preseason All-American catcher.
“We’ve had to just adjust the lineup a little bit, Clayton has been hot so we’ve moved him into the three hole and Burris has been doing well as the leadoff man,” Funkhouser said. “Aaron Jackson hasn’t been in his groove yet but he will be and we have Zielonko providing a great punch that solidifies the middle of our order.”
Wallace will be the replacement behind the dish for the Tigers for likely the rest of the season and should be fine defensively. He is batting .250 on the season in limited play thus far and may possibly be designated hit for when senior pitchers Daniel Lloyd, Chris Robinson or any other P.O.’s (pitcher only) aren’t on the bump.
The Tigers will have to rely now on their deep roster to step up and take over for the offense lost by Weimer. Sophomore Dylan Burris has emerged on to the scene batting .500 this season and with some pop in his bat and incredible speed around the pillows. He will likely bat for Wallace and provide EHS with a portion of production they are losing without Weimer.
Clayton and senior right fielder Matt Zielonko and have picked up their games considerably in 2015 as Clayton has been scorching hot at the plate leading the team in batting average at a .629 clip while Zielonko leads the team in RBI’s (13) with two home runs.
“I am not sure if one person can make up for the loss of Brock but I am going to work to be a better RBI producer when runners are on base,” Clayton said. “That should enable me to have quality at bats which should lead to a high batting average and a chance for other players to hit me in.”
Even with the injury to Weimer the Tigers continue to roll as they’re currently 9-0 on the season and are outscoring their opponents 108-14 (yes 108 runs through nine games, that is not a typo) and have no intentions of slowing down.
Tiger baseball will be back in action Thursday when they take on the Belleville East Lancers on the road at 4:30 pm.
