Tuesday, March 30, 2010

First home game

The other day was the teams first outdoor practice and it was freezing. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday i have a class at 3-4. My practice was starting at four oclock and i had to rush down to the field. When i arrived at the field i remembered that the team had recently changed locker rooms because of work that is going to be done on our old locker room, right near the field. I finally got to Park Center and when i got into the locker room i realized that i left my bag with all my baseball stuff in it, in my dorm. I got out to practice with just my baseball pants and one of practice shirts. I had no long sleeve shirt, no socks, or my glove. Along with me not being prepared for practice, my coach tells me right away that i will be throwing live in practice. Throwing live implies that practice will be a simulated game situation, so pitchers will throw to batters. Things worked out in the end because i thought i threw well. That weekend we had our first home game, and it was freezing. The weather, at the max, was 30 degrees. Only nine guys play at a time, so you can imagine what the other thirty guys are doing to keep warm. The more important part of the day was the actual outcome of the game. The team we played was absolutely horrible and i think my high school team could of beat them. The final score was 16-2 and the only runs they got were in the first inning. After the game, a huge display of food was layed out for the team and we got to feast.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Spring Break

Spring break is upon us and the team is traveling to florida. Unfortunately im not traveling this week with the team but their could be worse things in life. Im only a freshman so still learning the system can be a challenge. The upperclassman on our team are rediculous and are the engine behind the whole squad. Over break i decided to go with a kid on my team that stayed behind to his hometown on Long Island. He gave me a ride to Commack, then i was picked up by my boy who lives in Smithtown. I chilled their for the night, saw all the sights and sounds of wonderful Long Island. It reminds me exactly of Cape Cod. The small shops and restaurants looked very familiar to me. I had to wake up really early in the morning and take the ferry acrsoss the water to Bridgeport Connecticut. My father picked me up there at around 1230 and I came home to a family party. My mothers twin sister was up from Virginia visiting for the weekend so all the aunts and uncles were over. It was good to come home to that because that means my mom was cooking up a bomb dinner. The last thing i needed was another fantastic meal from predictable Nuebig. On Sunday, i woke up early wit the crew and went into the city for the St. Pattys day parade. Nice little pre game session in Bridgewater then we took the train into the city and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Bean. South Boston, however, is not your typical city. It is much different from going into the financial district of Boston, which has all the big buildings and monuments. It is the ideal Irish Town and it was perfect for the holiday. I had a great time with all my boys from back home and st. pattys day was a blast.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Long Island Trip

The team traveled to Long Island this weekend to play four games at Baseball Heaven. The schedule was to play a game on friday night, a double-header on saturday, and one on sunday. The game friday night took a suprising turn for the worst. We were down 4-2 and with two outs we had a kid get on base. The next batter hit a two run homerun to tie the ball game up. The next batter happened to get out and the umpire called the game due to darkness. The coaches had made an agreement prior the contest that if the light was a factor, the lights would be turned on. The coach from the other team wouldnt turn the lights on and we were forced to loose because the game's decision goes back to the previous inning, when we were losing. There was ntohing we could do about the games outcome, but there was in the next games we played. We had a double header the next day and didnt even let up a run. Mike Assman pitched a complete game shutout. The next game was won 4-0, credited to kris gentzke who hit a three-run homer to seal the deal. The season is panning out well as we continue to limit teams run production and tack on our own fair share of runs. The games victories are earned in practices, as our coach often says. You, as a team, only get stronger by not taking victories for granted and continue to battle at practice and get better. No one in practice takes it easy, ever. The coaches are constantly behind us guiding us and pushing us to exceed expectations. The final game, on sunday, is agains Farmingdale State. The team that eliminated us from the regional tournament last season. The guns are being brought out for that game to send a message to that school that we did not forget about last years mishap.