UM’s Ender no longer `his own worst enemy’

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – He admits he had been his own worst enemy.

But University of Maine senior catcher Craig Ender is a different man this season. He is no longer fighting himself or brooding.

“I don’t get mad at myself when I make an out any more,” said Ender. “I’ve also realized that I may not have a future in baseball after this year. So I want to have fun and go out on a good note. I want the team to go as far as we can.”

Ender said during his first two seasons at Maine, he had aspirations of playing professional baseball.

He was in and out of the lineup for his first three years and put pressure on himself to earn a regular spot.

“I tried to do too much in each at-bat,” said Ender, who hoped to impress Maine Coach John Winkin to the point he would be inserted into the lineup on a regular basis.

He has certainly impressed Winkin this year.

“He has grown up,” said Winkin. “He has matured and nobody knows it more than he does. His attitude and dedication to achieving team goals have been extremely impressive. Because of that, he’s helped everybody on the team. He has done a marvellous job handling the pitchers. He’s always been a good clutch hitter.”

Ender said he left school last year knowing that he had to make an attitude adjustment.

“Coach Winkin and Coach (Mike) Coutts told me that my worst problem was my attitude,” said Ender. “It’s always been my worst problem. So I knew if I was going to play this year, I had to change my attitude.”

His transformation began this summer when he played in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League for the Quakertown (Pa.) Blazers.

“His summer league coach (Dennis Robinson) wrote a letter to me and told me Craig had made a great change in his attitude,” said Winkin.

“His attitude has definitely improved,” said pitcher Ted Novio. “He’s confident now and he knows he’s going to play every day so he doesn’t have to fear making mistakes. And he calls a smart game.”

Ender got off to a slow start for the Quakers but didn’t worry about it and went on a tear in the middle of the season, en route to finishing around the .400 mark.

Besides his attitude, Ender needed to develop his defensive skills and he did just that, improving his foot quickness and the speed of his release.

“Craig worked on the things he needed to work on in order to achieve success,” said Winkin, who considers Enders one of the team’s dugout leaders.

Offensively, Ender has put together a very solid year to date. He is hitting .311 with 20 runs batted in, five doubles and six stolen bases.

“I don’t think I’m hitting as well as I can. I haven’t been able to break loose and put together a couple good games in a row,” said Ender.

Ender entered the season with a career batting average of .282 with 42 runs batted in on just 55 hits.

“I’ve always liked hitting in clutch situations,” said the Lawrenceville, N.J. native, whose parents were very impressed with Maine when they attended the 1984 Northeast Regional where their son, Keith, played for Rider College.

“My mother loved it,” said Ender, who visited the campus in 1986 and decided this was “the type of program I wanted to play for.”

He admits there was a lot of frustration for him in his first three years but he said it has all “been worth it.”

“The spring trips alone have been worth it,” said Ender, a finance major. “I’ve really enjoyed it at Maine, I’ve made a lot of friends. I’m having a great time and I’m on a great team.”