Playing with a Purpose

We left for the one-day trip to Green Bay around noon. The bus ride took a little over two hours- just enough time for one movie- Old School. Great one liners are essential for any bus movie, and Old School definitely exceeds the minimum. We had a little time to spare and decided to take the scenic route, around Lambeau Field. What a site! I have officially placed it on my bucket list to see a game there.

The game did not go our way. We ended up losing 9-0 after Green Bay put up 15 hits to our six. Cash Collins (Wofford) pitched his third game of the season, and pitched well, but picked up the loss. Since Cash pitched so much in the spring for his school, his coach wanted to limit his innings this summer, so Cash was only on a temp contract and left immediately after the game. Also, my buddy J. Golden (Blackhawk College) played his last game with us on the second game of the series. Everytime I see my Davidson College shorts, I will think of him and how we “almost traded shorts.” During the summer, temp guys will leave for many reasons: to take summer courses, limit innings, etc., but those guys are still a huge part of making my whole summer experience so great. Niko Fraser (Elon) made an interesting point that we will have a whole new team in 20 days- that’s pretty close to being true. But, as guys leave, more new guys will come in.

On the way back home, I sat with Nick Sutherland (Minnesota State) who is trying to get 6-10 D1 guys to transfer to his school. He is the clown on the team and reminds me a lot of Will Ferrell. Nick’s dad owns two teams in the league, The Brainard Area Lunkers and The St. Cloud Rivers Bats. I learned a lot from him about the ins and outs of owning a summer college team- pretty neat. One interesting point he made is that players in the league pray for an occasional rainout (one day rest would be nice), but the owners pray for sunshine. The owners have so much to lose ($) when rainouts happen due to ticket sales, concessions, and other items, and the double headers that replace them hardly counter the losses from the missed game. 

This morning five guys on the team went to a school in the small town of Oregon, WI to talk with a class of about 40 kids. We had no idea what to expect, but we just ended up meeting them, answering some of their questions, and signing autographs. I have found myself say a lot this summer: “If I was a kid…I would’ve loved to _______.” Recently it has been “be the batboy, go to Mallards’ games, but today it was “have a group of college baseball players come to my school to hang out.” After the trip, a few of us went to Barnes & Noble to hang out and read (yes, I’m a nerd). I got deeper into The Girl Who Plays with Fire and can’t wait until it all starts unraveling.

Game 2 of the series was today at home. Green Bay came to our place and beat us again, 15-3. It was a Friday night, so there was a live band at the Duck Pond, but nonetheless, Green Bay beat us in every aspect of the game. We are on a two-game losing streak and it has not been fun. We have a mandatory fielding workout tomorrow at 2 before our 6 p.m. game that I am partially responsible for. I guess it will give me the opportunity to get better though.

I need an icebath,

aB