West Virginia

I rarely look forward to any time I have to set my alarm clock before 10am. This past Thursday was only a minor exception. At the time we were in 2nd place, 3 games behind the 1st place West Virginia Miners with a chance to take the lead with our next 4 games at their place. Beating a good team four consecutive times on the road is a near-impossible chance, but the series still brought a great opportunity to make up some ground.

And so came my first pre 10am awakening in weeks. Like a moron I stayed up late the night before doing absolutely nothing. The alarm came at 7, I grabbed my travel bag which was strategically packed the night before, threw my glasses on, drank some milk, headed outside to my car, headed back inside to grab the keys to my car, came back outside, drove to our home field (The Pipe Yard, see below), hopped on the bus and slowly fell back into a rather uncomfortable sleep.



I had never been to West Virginia before. I found it pretty scenic. Lots of tree covered hills and foresty areas. It looked like Jurasic Park could have been filled there. The trip was 7 hours, plenty of time for both napping and sight seeing.. as well as eating, word games, card games, and of course the signature Lorain County Ironmen bus ride activity – singing. Coaches hate it, [most] players love it. Perfect combo. The current unwritten rule is if we win, anything goes. If we lose, we have to act somber for about an hour or so… then anything goes.

By the time we pulled up to the stadium around 5 for the 7 o’clock game, it had already felt like a long day.

West Virginia had a similar situation a couple weeks ago when they came up to play us for two games. We waxed them the first night 17-3, but they came back to beat us the next night.

On top of that, word on the street was that WV had some of the best home field advantage in the league. Big, rowdy crowds, nice stadium (see below), video highlight screen, premier audio system.. pretty much the works. They were 6-6 on the road, but a perfect 7-0 at home. We had our work cut out for us.


About an hour and a half before game time the first wave of fans comes through the gates. Among them, a 6’6 300 pound man sporting a full miner costume. Construction hat and coal blemished face in all. His deep bellowing voice was a constant presence in all 4 games.

Surprisingly we jumped out to an early lead in game one, but couldn’t hold on and eventually lost 10-7.

The next day we show up for batting practice around 4 and are greeted with a continuous loop of three songs during our 1 hour batting practice session, all from the 1950s era and all about coal mining. I thought it was funny but many of us were trying to cover our ears. We put in another strong outing that evening and came away with a 2-0 victory. It was the Miners first loss at home that season, and first time being shut out at home, ever.

All smiles that night.

Saturday night saw another great pitching performance, another victory, and another shutout, 5-0. All smiles again, but there was a sense of reservation after this one. Everyone knew we still had work to do.

The overall mood and atmosphere of our ensuing 7 hour bus ride home hinged on our performance in the final game of the series Sunday afternoon. The second team meal at Cici’s in three days had taken a toll on some, but the Ironmen grinded out another victory, this time by the score of 6-5.

From a team perspective it was an excellent weekend as we moved just one game behind WV for first place in the division. From a personal standpoint my struggles continued. Of the 4 games I started 2 and came off the bench in another. Played some good defense at 1st base but couldn’t put it together at the plate. I can’t remember the last time I’ve done this poorly for this long but like everything in life, it’s a learning experience. As long as I can look in the mirror and say that I’ve given it everything I’ve had, then I’m okay with whatever happens. And so far I can say that.

Today was a much-needed day off which I used to lay by the pool and take a mini shopping spree – putting my Mom’s best advice to use “Never pay full price for anything!”

Thanks Mom.

Were back on the field at home tomorrow night at 7pm. See below for some sweet pictures.


Batting Drills with Michael Grieco


Always Joking About Something


Sam Alvis (left), Michael Burke (right) and Me practicing our game faces


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Great Signage at the West Virginia Stadium

Trial and Error

If there’s one thing I've learned from my first two weeks here: I really better make sure I pay attention in class my senior year because its pretty clear that any kind of baseball career isn’t going to work out.

I got off to a blistering 0-13 start at the plate through the first 3 games – all of which we lost. I had a small hitting streak over the next few games but now the dust has settled. About 15 games have come and gone, my batting average is below .200 (which is awful for anyone who doesn’t follow baseball) and I haven’t checked but there’s a good possibility I lead the entire league in strikeouts.

On the bright side all of the guys are great, can’t complain about a single one. Someone is always joking around about something. The coaching staff is pretty laid back as well, which is nice because drill sergeant coaches are that much more annoying when its 99 degrees outside.

After losing the first three games we have rebounded to win six of the next nine and are now 9-9 overall. Tied for 2nd place in our 6 team division.

Summer baseball is always an interesting phenomenon. Usually nobody cares about winning or loosing since it’s not the NCAA season and there isn’t any college world series for the best teams to go to. All the kids want to do is sleep all day, show up 30 minutes before the game, get their hits, and leave.

And to be honest that used to be my exact approach.. besides, it’s summer, who cares? But after three seasons of struggle and frustration at school, I have finally developed a passion and desire for winning.

Everybody says they hate to lose. Obviously nobody likes to lose but I feel that people don’t appreciate winning enough. People always say, “Act like you’ve done it before.” That’s garbage. At least to me it is. If I’m going to tote my rear end around all day for something, hours of practice, hours in the weight room, hours of sleeping and napping to make sure I can be energized for practice and gym sessions….. all of that time and effort put in to something, if we end up winning, you bet your keester I’m going to enjoy myself and enjoy the moment. You go ahead and walk off the field with your straight face. I’m going to express my emotions however I want to because I’ve put in the time and effort, and I’ve deserved it. And if some people think I’m an idiot for that, well than I guess that’s what I am.

If we can’t enjoy winning at baseball or any other sport, or if we can’t enjoy our successes in any aspect of life, if we simply “act like we’ve been there before”… why do we work so hard for the things we want most in life if we act like we don’t want them the moment we get them. I don’t see the point.

I’ve always been a fan of Chad Johnson if anyone is wondering. He gets it… in my opinion anyways.

So back to what I was saying. Even though it’s just ‘summerball’ and technically doesn’t count for anything, and even though I’m in the midst of one of the worst baseball performances of my life, I’m easily the most enthusiastic player on the team after we win a game. But the other guys, they’re starting to coming around.

My highest moment came about 5 games ago. We were down 2-1 in the 7th inning with 2 outs with the tying run on 2nd base. I came in and tied the game with a pinch hit double down the right field line. We won in 13 innings.

Felt great to finally help the team out for once.

Looking at the big picture, I can’t complain about a single thing – besides the lack of leg room on the team bus. Traveling on a bus from town to town, hanging around the guys all the time and playing baseball everyday.. it pretty much does feel like playing in the minor leagues – something I know I’ll probably never experience.

I know Ill look back on these three to four years as one of the best times of my life. Everyone has some type of regret about something. It’s practically inevitable.. But wishing I had more fun is something I know I won’t be able to say.

Another thing people like to say, that “You never know what you’ve got ‘til its gone.” That one is garbage too. I know what I’ve got, and I’m making sure I enjoy every moment of it before its gone.



Here's a picture of me waiting on deck. Click to enlarge.

Palm to Pine

Well I made it in one piece (in case you were wondering Mom). The car on the other hand…. well yeah that made it in one piece as well.

I was rudely awakened by my 5am alarm this past Friday in order to catch my 8am flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth where I would then scavenge for food – and a place to nap – as I awaited my short flight to Longview, Tx. From there I was graciously picked up from the airport by LeTourneau University All Conference Shortstop Dustin Varnado and driven to campus where I would pick up my car which had been baking in the 95 degree humidity for about 3 weeks.

Question: Was it hot when I got in my car? Answer: Yes.

I enjoyed a relaxing evening and prepared myself once again for that treacherous 5am alarm. The next morning I once again set out for a day of travel, this time by coche (Spanish for car).

Two flights, and 17 hours on the road had finally carried me from the Palm Trees of Southern California to the expansive pine forests of the Upper Midwest in Lorain, Ohio.

I could tell my parents were a little uneasy/scared out of their minds with me driving that far by myself. They made multiple efforts to find me a travel companion – “what about this person, they can drive with you and we’ll pay to fly them back.. what if I flew with you then drove up.. what about this, what about that.” I held steady.

I love driving by myself. The freedom of the open road as they say. Everyone likes their alone time and for me, long-distance driving is the most peaceful form. I can be quiet, I can be loud, I can listen to whatever I want, sing as much as I want, stop wherever I want…

Anyways, I just like it. It’s a perfect time for me to relax and have time to myself. As much as I like being rowdy and rambunctious with a group of friends, I also like to unwind and just hangout alone.

My parents were sure worried though. ‘Space shuttle mission’ they called it – constant contact. Weird-os.. oh well, I love them.


For anyone interested on the drive itself, Arkansas had the cheapest gas ($3.40), Memphis was the coolest city, Nashville was the biggest city, Kentucky had the best scenery (even real live dinosaurs), Cincinnati had the mean cops, and Columbus/Cleveland had all the rain.



I have arrived in Lorain, Ohio, a small suburb about 30 minutes West of Cleveland and yes, they are all Mavs fans for the next two weeks.

So now that I’m here, what exactly am I doing? Well somehow I finagled my way onto a baseball team in an elite collegiate summer league. The premise is simple. When school lets out for the summer, NCAA baseball players need a place to play to stay sharp and improve in some areas of their game.

Over the years numerous leagues have sprung up all over the country. Some have gained a reputation for having better players than others. For example, The Alaskan League and the Cape Cod League (New England region) are widely recognized as the top two leagues in the country. Since the best players play in those leagues, thousands of professional baseball scouts flock to those areas over the summer to follow the nations best talent. The better the league, the more the scouts come to watch, which means if you’re good enough, it betters your chances are of being recognized by Major League organizations and moving on the next level after college.

While I’m not in the Alaskan or Cape Cod league, the Prospect League isn’t far behind. The league has been around for over 30 years of something like that, and has had over 175 players once play in the Prospect League and go on to play in the Major Leagues (notables include Ryan Howard, Jonathan Papelbon, and even old school guys like Mike Schmidt and Kirby Puckett). And those are just Major League guys. Hundreds, if not thousands more have gone on to play Minor League baseball.. something I could only dream of at this point.

The league is comprised of 15 teams over the Upper Midwest (map below) and has mostly Division I NCAA players. My team (Lorain County Ironmen) for example has players from Ohio State, Kent State, and even Texas Tech in recent years. Other teams in the league have players from TCU, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Miami, Michigan State and other places.. All of which are Division I schools. And then there’s little Nate from little LeTourneau.




We’ve had three official practices so far. Brutally long and hot. The first day was a little awkward. I could tell everyone was trying to size each other up. I felt small for the first time in a long time. Pretty much everyone has a better build than I do. They throw harder, run faster, and field better but after these few days I think I might be able to hit almost as well. Time will tell. Even if I only get in 10 games this summer I figure all the days of practice and being surrounded by players better than I am will make me a better player. Time will tell.

Oh, I also volunteered to be one of the representatives for the team in last weekends Memorial Day parade. We needed 4 players and no one really wanted to so I said what the heck. Our job was to pass out flyers for our home opener this Friday night but I spent most of the time petting people’s dogs and giving little kids high fives. I definitely have Division I talent in those areas.

First game is this Thursday, June 2 in Slippery Rock, PA and if anyone is really that bored you can keep with all the games at lcironmenbaseball.com and prospectleague.com.