Feb. 8, 2009
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech baseball team begins the 2009 season Friday, Feb. 20 when it opens a three-game series with Lipscomb. Every day, leading up to the first pitch, a different member of the 2009 squad will check in with their thoughts on the upcoming season. Today’s blog is by freshman infielder Connor Winn
How was everyone’s Sunday?
Mine was great – today we had practice a little bit earlier than normal, at 10 a.m. Although it was early, we couldn’t have asked for a better day outside. The temperature was just about perfect, with almost everyone wearing short sleeves, and there wasn’t much to complain about. I’m pretty sure all the freshman have sunburned heads, at least I know that I do! Even though we are still not used to our new haircuts, we got a lot of compliments from people at the banquet last night. Thanks to all those who did compliment the “baldies”, even if you just said something nice because you felt bad for us. There’s always next year though – when we will have the clippers!
We did our normal routine today, followed by a short intrasquad game. For the White Team, Jacob Esch pitched an impressive four innings and was followed by Zach Brewster, who tossed the last two. Brandon Cumpton threw five innings for the Gold Team and was followed by Andrew Robinson, who closed out the last inning. The pitchers showed amazing control and continued to work hard. Highlighting the offense on the day was Patrick Long, who hit a home run to right-center field. Many of the other hitters also performed well, which, of course, pleased the coaches. As for defense, we did not make any errors – and that always makes for a good practice! Highlighting the defense was Thomas Nichols, who made a spectacular backhanded play in the hole on the first batter of the scrimmage.
The Banquet, a dinner to benefit the Georgia Tech baseball program, went very well last night, and I think it got a lot of the players pumped up to start the year. Jeff Francoeur’s speech was encouraging, and it allowed the players to get a glimpse of what life would be like if they were fortunate enough to make it into the spotlight.
All-in-all it was a great day, as we had one of our smoothest practices of the year. Hopefully our game, and the weather, will stay what they were like today for the foreseeable future.
Thanks for checking in, and GO JACKETS!!!
-Connor
Past Blogs/Q&A’s:
Countdown to First Pitch: 13 days – blog by Mark Pope
Countdown to First Pitch: 14 days – Q&A by Jeff Rowland
Countdown to First Pitch: 15 days – blog by Matt Simonds
Countdown to First Pitch: 16 days – blog by Jay Dantzler
Countdown to First Pitch: 17 days – blog by Chris House
Countdown to First Pitch: 18 days – Q&A by Jason Haniger
Countdown to First Pitch: 19 days – blog by Derek Dietrich
