Next Weekend

    Conference play for all the teams in the Landmark Conference begins this weekend.  However, since there are seven teams in the conference one team has a bye every weekend.  This first weekend is our bye but next weekend we play Moravian.  The games agaisnt Moravian might be the biggest games of the season for us.  Moravian took the first place seed in the playoff tournament last season and are the defending Landmark Conference champions.  Also, Moravian is the only conference team that we lost a conference series to last year (1-2).  We play a double header agaisnt them on Saturday (first game at 1:00) and we play one game on Sunday at 12:00.  All three games are home so we're hoping to get a big turn out from students for support because last year when we played at thier place, thier fans got pretty rowdy. 

Upcoming Week

   The next week or so is going to be pretty busy and tough for us.  In the next five days we're going to play a total of five games.  On saturday we have our first home double header agaisnt Haverford.  Game one starts at 12:30.  Right now Haverford is 10-0 in their season so it will definately be a tough couple of games.  On sunday we travel to Franklin and Marshall for a double header (first game at 1:00).  Franklin and Marshall is another tough team that plays in the same conference as Haverford.  We didn't play Franklin and Marshall at all last year so we don't know much about them.  Lastly, on Wednesday we have a game home against Muhlenburg at 4:00.  We faced Muhlenburg and had a tough game against them last year.  Right now our team stands at 4-7.  Hopefully after this week we can get back to .500

Home Openner

   Today we had our home opener against PSU-Berks.  All of the satellite schools from Penn State are usually pretty good so we always have tough games against them.  It was a gorgeous day for baseball, about 60 and sunny.  Our field looked really good.  The maintenance guys worked all morning on putting up a maroon canvas around the field.  Also, since today was St. Patty's Day we got a pretty good turn out for the game.  

    Berks took an early lead in the top of the first inning but we answered right back and tied it in the bottom of the first inning.  We took the lead in the third and kept it all the way to ninth inning.  Berks scored 4 runs in the top of the ninth to take a one run lead.  With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth we scored two runs on an error to win the game.  It was a great way to end our first home game.  

Off Day

      Tuesday was the only day we had completely off during our trip to Florida.  A bunch of guys from the team decided to go to a New York Mets' Spring training game.  I was extremely excited because I am a die-hard Met fan but have only been to a couple of their games.  Every Spring during the pre season professional baseball teams take a trip to florida and play games for a few months.  During this time all different players get the opportunity to prove themselves in making the major league squad and coaches get to see what guys would play the best in certain positions.  The Mets go to St. Lucie, Florida for their spring training.  Conveniently, the Mets' facility is only about fifteen to twenty minutes down the road from our hotel.  A father of one of the players on my team was in Florida for the week to watch our games.   He took myself and a couple of the other guys over to the Met game on Tuesday.  We went over early so we could watch the teams take batting practice, Infield/Outfield, and to walk around the facility.  Before the game we walked around the outside of the stadium for a little.  There was an RV (picture below) and outside of it about 8 plasma screen televisions with game consoles.  The game MLB 2K 11 had come out that day and sponsors were holding a large event for it.  A couple of the guys and I even got to go onto the RV and play the new video.  We got amazing seats in the second row behind home plate.  

       The stadium turned out to be a lot smaller than I anticipated.  I felt like a tourist because I took nearly one hundred pictures, but I just couldn't believe how close we were to the players.  Below are just some of the photos I took during the game.  The Mets ended up losing the game 5-4 in extra innings, but it was good game.  It was a great way to spend my off day.  

Florida

        On Friday March 4 at 6 p.m.  My team departed for Ft. Pierce, Florida.  After an 18 1/2 bus ride we had practice and then got settled into our hotel and had a double header the next morning against Misericordia.  We lost two tough games (2-1 and 5-2).  We came right back the next day with a double header against Ursinus.  We won the first of the two games  4-3 and lost the second the game 5-4.  Tuesday we had an off day.  Wednesday we played a double header against La Roche College losing both games (8-1 and 4-0).  Thursday we played our first and only night game against Northwester College winning it 5-2.  On friday we came back and played the same team winning again 8-4.  Our last day in Florida we had a double header.  One game was against Penn State University-Behrend and the second against Bethany.  We took two tough losses against the teams, and then get back on the road after we showered.  

      We stayed in a hotel complex for the entire trip which was conveniently located next to a Steak and Shake which the guys and made frequent visits to.  Especially during happy hour when the shakes are half priced (if you ever go to Steak and Shake i strongly recommend the Peanut Butter Cup shake).  The hotel we stayed at was pretty nice and in our down time we usually took naps or went and hung out by the pool.  Also during the trip it is a tradition for all rookie players to have their heads completely shaved, perform skits that make fun of older players and coaches, and to be thrown in the pool.  This years skits were very funny and I'm sure the rookie traditions will last for years to come.  Pictured below is the complex which we played all our games at.  The facility is really nicely kept.