Short Hops
Feb 24, 2004 | Baseball
Feb. 23, 2004
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Happy Mardi Gras to all! Having been on baseball road trips for the past 6 years during Mardi Gras (last two years with Tulane and all four years in high school at Archbishop Hannan), I almost forgot about the mass hysteria that goes on. We were all excited to be in town for the festivities, especially those who have never seen parades before. However, we all knew that it was second priority to this weekend's festivities at the ball field.
We started off the week a little slow with a disappointing loss to UNO. But, at least we got it out of the way. They threw a good pitcher on the mound in J.P. Martinez and he pitched a really good game. We hit a lot of balls hard, but couldn't find any holes. That's the way baseball is sometimes, though. That's why the good teams are separated over a season span because the best teams can bounce back from losses like that. We did exactly that with a weekend sweep of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
The team played hard all weekend. We pitched great - led by three solid starts by Billy Mohl, J.R. Crowel, and Cory Hahn - we played errorless defense, and we broke our the sticks at the plate. All in all, it was a very solid effort by the Green Wave. It was definitely the type of weekend we can use to build some momentum heading into one of tougher parts of our schedule coming up in a couple weeks.
I was also pleased to see the amount of fans that came out to cheer us on, especially with all the parades to go to and the parade traffic to get through. That is one thing I know, though; we have the most loyal fans in college baseball. It makes it so easy to go play hard when you know that you have all those fans behind you, cheering you on. I want to let all of you know that the team really appreciates you guys very much for sticking with us through the great times and especially in the "not so great" times.
Speaking of fans, I was so rushed last week in writing with all the work that I had to do that I didn't even get a chance to thank our Grounds Krewe for the unbelievable job they did last weekend. With all the bad weather that came our way, those guys were out there non-stop just trying to make the field playable for us. Whenever you see these guys around, you should always thank them because they put more work and heart into our baseball team than anyone I know. If it weren't for their efforts last weekend, we wouldn't even have been able to get those two games in on Sunday. So, sorry guys for my forgetfulness. I guess I owe you one.
Well, it's back to the field again for practice starting at 3 p.m. on Mardi Gras Day. We have to prepare for the Utah Utes coming to town on Friday. I'm really excited about this weekend. One of the great things about playing summer baseball is meeting all kinds of great players and coaches. One of my coaches this summer in Cape Cod, Matt Eeles, is a coach at Utah. So, I'm looking forward to seeing him this weekend. Once again, the games are at Turchin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. I hope to see you all out at the field. Enjoy what's left of Mardi Gras. I know I'll probably be taking in a little of the Orpheus parade tonight. My favorite band, Better Than Ezra, is riding in it, so I'm obviously excited. I'll see you on Friday night.
Laissez les bon temps roulez,
Tommy
