Little Taste of '08

Once again, the weather prevailed today. All classes were cancelled along with our practice for the second day in a row. Since there's not too much to talk about at the present moment in regards to MSJ baseball, I am posting a few photos from last years season. The majority of the pictures were taken during our spring break trip to Florida, hence the reason why there are some palm trees in the background. I'll try to keep this blog undated with any recent photos from the upcoming season. Hope you enjoy!!

Snow Day

Yesterday was our first official practice and I have to say that things went well. It got us back in the mood and anxious for today's practice---well almost. The only bad thing about baseball season starting in January is that we are at the mercy of mother nature. It can snow at any time. We don't live in the South and we're not fortunate enough to have warm weather year round. But what can we do? We just have to deal with it.

Now don't get me wrong, I do like the snow, especially when we get off school. But when it snows, it just doesn't feel like baseball season. It fools the senses. Anyway, practice today was cancelled and will resume tomorrow...hopefully. I guess we'll see what happens.

Day 1

Tomorrow marks the first official practice for the MSJ baseball team, which makes the 2009 season underway. We are all anxious to get out there and finally start playing. Everyone has all the pent up energy from being cooped up all winter and is finally ready to release it. With the first practice comes the first day of team conditioning. Hopefully everyone has prepared themselves wisely in the off season because conditioning can be rough. This marks the start of what will hopefully be a very promising season.

Diamond Cutters

With spring slowly approaching, that only means one thing--baseball season is just around the corner. There's nothing like the smell and feel of being around a ball diamond and witnessing America's past time. Luckily for me, I get to play this amazing sport at the college level for the College of Mount St. Joseph.

For the past three years, MSJ has made it to their conference tournament, winning it twice and going on to the regionals. I was fortuanate enough to experience going to the regionals my freshman year and winning the conference my sophomore year. It is definitely quite an experience and something I will never forget. Receiving that conference championship ring is something we are all very proud of. Hopefully the upcoming 2009 season, which officially starts on February 28th, will prove to be no different.

I am currently a Junior at MSJ and play 3rd base. Last year, our defense was a bit shaky, making 100 errors in 42 games. This was unacceptable and something needed to be done, especially since we did not have an "official" infield coach. We found out Monday during our team meeting that we are adding an addition to our coaching staff that has had many years of experience in baseball, including playing at the professional level. This addition is Chris Sabo, who will be our new infield coach. Sabo was most remembered for playing 3rd base for the Cincinnati Reds. He won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1988 and helped the Reds to a World Series Championship in 1990. He was also a three time National League All-Star selection in 1988, 1990, and 1991. I am really looking forward to see what he has to offer because I am sure that he is full of knowledge that could really help our team out.

Our first game this season is at home against Marian College on February 28th. We are playing the majority of our home games at the University of Cincinnati which is much more convenient than driving all the way out to Midland which is in Amelia. Hopefully this will get more people to come out to our games since it is closer and because UC has one of the best baseball fields in the country. This season is already proving to to be exciting and I hope we can bring the school and the fans an unforgettable season.