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.