It’s June 22nd and we’re about to leave for a three game road trip in Traverse City, Michigan. The Traverse City Beach Bums were the first team I played for in the Frontier League in 2007. It was good to be back there. I got to see many people that I haven’t seen in awhile and it’s a great atmosphere to play baseball, selling out almost every night, 3 to 4,000 people. Jeff Brown is one of my good friends from the other team; I stayed at his home in Indianapolis on the way to St. Louis before the season started. We got to hang out for a couple days when we were in town and got to catch up on what we have been up to on and off the field. Everyone on the team stayed in suites at the hotel, so there were three to a room. My two roommates were our third baseman Adrian Canto and right fielder Travis Storrer. Those two guys are something else, probably the two funniest guys on the team. It was very interesting staying with them for 3 days.
It was fun to play at Traverse City, but we struggled hitting- we couldn’t hit a lefty who threw 80 and a righty who threw about 84. As a team, we struggle when we face pitchers who don’t throw hard and throw a lot of change ups and sliders. I did alright, I got hit three times, walked a couple times and I hit a line drive up the middle, hitting the pitchers ankle, knocking him out of the game. I felt bad when I did it, but it's part of the game. You never want to injure another player, but when you can get into the bullpen of another team that’s a good thing. The bus ride back was terrible. we ride in a very old bus, so there’s not a lot of room and we just got the air fixed so it was really cold. Normally, it's really hot and everyone is moody. We arrived back to Chillicothe at 6am and I got about an hour of sleep. I can never get any rest on buses so I had to sleep all day, so I can be ready to play that day. We are home for the next six games and play Kalamazoo Kings for the first three, they are in first in our division so it’s a big week.
It’s June 26th and we just took the first two games from the Kings and have one more tomorrow for the sweep. The first game I got the day off, the three games in Traverse really took a toll on my body and I needed a day of rest. I did get to play however later on in the game. I was coaching first the whole game and we were playing really well, but it came down to the bottom of the ninth and we were tied 10-10. Our lead off guy gets on with a walk, then we bunt him over and that’s when are Manager, Mark Mason, decides to pinch run me at second. So with one out and our best hitter up, I take a chance at stealing third and am called safe! The batter, Adrian Canto, then works a 3-1 count and the Kings decide to intentionally walk him and the pitcher overthrows the catcher and easily I come in to score the winning run. So I say that’s a pretty good day off for me!
In game two I’m in the line up again playing centerfield. This game was a pitchers dual both giving up 2 or 3 hits, both going into the 7 and 8th innings. We were down 1-0 into the 8th and scored 3 to win 3-1. We have one more game tomorrow, hoping we can win to get the sweep and pitchers get to take batting practice.
- Jeff
