Porcaro is back for his second season of blogging, while King gets his first crack at it. Today is their third entry for the 2013 season.
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What a long weekend that was...
When it was all said and done, we spent roughly 23 hours at a baseball field in three days! But it was so much fun! Thank you to all the family and friends that made the haul to Las Cruces to cheer us on. It’s always great to see familiar faces on the road. Makes you feel at home a bit. Thanks to everyone back home who followed along online. We appreciate all the tweets you guys sent us. Your support is much appreciated.
As most of you know, if not all of you, we ended up splitting the four game series with the Aggies. I’m assuming most of you know what happened, so I’ll quick summarize the weekend.
It started early Thursday morning with a 6:30 a.m. flight to Phoenix, AZ. We left the Klotsche at 5 in the morning. I was never so excited to wake up that early in the morning, and I had no problem getting up. While at the airport, we ran into a little dilemma. The security line was backed up and moving at a slow pace. As 6:30 was approaching and the majority of us were still in the security line, some of us started to worry we were going to miss the flight. But, we found a way and made the flight just in the knick of time. Then we faced another obstacle once we all got past security. The flight was full and one of us was going to be left stranded in Milwaukee. The Southwest flight attendants asked if any of the passengers would be willing to give up their seat so we could have our whole squad. Thankfully, a generous lady gave up her seat so we didn’t have to leave anyone behind. Big shout out to her!
We landed in Phoenix and then made a short connecting flight to El Paso, Texas. We then bussed to Las Cruces. We stopped at a mall where we grabbed some grub and a few of us snagged some pretty sick hats from a store called Mr. Hats (see pic).
Later that day we practiced at New Mexico State’s field to get used to the lay of the land. Pretty big field, but the ball travels much better than it does back home thanks to the thin air. During this trip we faced all sorts of obstacles. Freshman Justin Langley made the rookie mistake of forgetting the baseballs back at the hotel. Who would of thought you need baseballs to practice? What a rook!
On Friday, we were like little kids on Christmas morning. The season was finally upon us! Game one didn’t go our way as we lost a tough one in extras, but we bounced back nicely in the nightcap as we blew them out 11-0. After the huge bounce back win we were feeling really good about ourselves and looked to carry that momentum into Saturday. We did just that in game three, winning in comeback fashion. Unfortunately, we lost game four and couldn’t complete our goal of winning the series.
Considering it was the first time we were outside since October, we have to be pretty encouraged with the way we played. The defense on Friday was great. Guys were making plays all over the field. The pitching was there as well. Holding that offense in that climate, to three runs in two games is impressive. Day two we weren’t as crisp on defense or on the mound. In game three, we didn’t make plays for Thicke and that put him in a tough situation and put us in a hole. But, we didn’t give in and chipped away at their lead and found a way to get a W.
Winning two games was nice, but each of us knows we should have won that series. We didn’t take advantage of some opportunities in game one and that ended up hurting us. We came out sluggish in game four and dug too big of a hole for ourselves. We have to clean that up.
Like I said though, there were a lot of positives throughout the weekend. The bats overall did a pretty good job. Did we strike out a little too much? Yea, probably and we’re going to have to improve on that, but balls were flying around the field all weekend. Especially Willy Fadness. Dude was dropping bombs and came up with a lot of clutch hits.
Trust me, we are only going to get better as the season goes on and this is a positive start. It’s time to get back in the gym, work hard and get ready for a big series in Miami. We’re not going down there just for the weather. We’re going down there to get W’s and win a series.
At some point this week we’ll release some video to show you some behind the scenes footage from this weekend. You’ll find it on our twitter.
Go Panthers!
Paco Thoughts… Happy Birthday to the living legend Cole Kraft who I’m sitting next to on this flight back to the Mil… To the girl in the stands who asked me if I’ve hit puberty while I was up to bat, the answer is yes I have. You obviously didn’t get a chance to check out my stache… Our parents are the best in the nation and we love having you guys on the road with us!
Here’s the King…
Well the last day of our endeavor in New Mexico didn’t go as planned. To start out we woke up just a pinch too early in the morning after a long past two days of playing. We were told we were going for a little ride before heading to the airport. Let me mention this was the first time we went on a secret getaway. Some of the guys were a little upset that they couldn’t sleep in, but once we arrived to the White Sand, eyes were surely opened. Whites Sands National Park is the world’s largest park that features sand dunes. I know, I know, you may be thinking 'what would a baseball team be doing at White Sands National Park?'
The answer is truly nothing, besides looking at sand, which was actually pretty cool. That was about all that was cool for the day.
As we departed from the sand box, we went through miles and miles of jack squat. So we taught the rookies on the squad a few of the games we play on the road, but that got old real fast. To all the parents out there reading, yes, most of the team actually worked on their homework.(student-athletes).
While pecking away at our homework, we realized that we had gotten off the straightest road in the country. As soon as we turn off the off ramp the bus had turn off as well. Rumor has it the bus was bored just like us so it decided to pull over, sorry terrible joke! So we realized that we are about three miles from the airport, we haven’t ate and we have a broken down bus. Magically, after a little time the bus cooled off and we were on our way. We made it to the airport with about a half hour to spare.
The team finally gets loaded into the warmest, fullest plane in the country. The good ole chief flying the bird realizes there happens to be a large fuel leak. So there we are on the warmest, fullest plane in the country with the largest fuel leak in the country. We all got off the plane. After an hour or so wait we were on our way. Excitement on and off the field.
Notable Events to the Weekend: A group of us purchasing large hats so the sun didn’t beat on us. Cappy being sniped after scoring a run. Justin Langley “No one nose” what he is doing. Mike Schneider threw a gem and a half. Great plays from AL, Paco, and Meeteer with an unreal full layout catch. We also said good bye to our athletic trainer, Will, as he moves his career to the Seattle Mariners minor league team. He will be truly missed.
Again I would like to say thank you to all the fans and supporters that came to New Mexico and cheered us on, and also to the people following online. We really appreciate all the support.
For some of you that may not know already former Panther player Greg Blohowiak’s mother is in the hospital with TENS. She is slowly recovering and making strides each and every day to get better. As a Panther family we should all keep his mother in our hearts and prayers for a fast and health recovery. <3
We have a tough week of practice ahead of us to prepare for Miami. We have to keep making strides and improvements in order to bring home more W’s. Hope to see you all at the U for some great baseball and warm weather.
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