Spring Training

I made it safely over to Austria. It was a long day of travel, I was laid over in London for 8 hours. Needless to say, I was a little tired when I got here. It almost felt like I never left. It's just a little colder now. As of right now Ryan (our new coach) and I are living downtown with one of the younger players mom. I love the place it's very European. The shower is kinda connected to the kitchen. But there is Wi-Fi there , which I was really excited about because it allows me to talk my family and girlfriend. We can pretty much walk any where downtown.
So we had practice the day that I got here. It was the first practice they have had outside but we need to get outside before we left for spring training. It really wasn't that cold out there until the wind would blow. But when we started BP (batting practice) it started to snow on us. I do have to say that's the first practice where it has snowed on me. We got some quality work in before we hit the road.
I was so excited to head down to Italy for spring training because it meant we got to start playing games again. It was about a 7 hour drive down here so we all loaded up in 3 different vehicles and got on our way. We played our first game yesterday and lost 4-3. Clemens started the game and threw two innings, he pitched well. I came in after him for 4 innings. I think I did pretty good for the first game in a while. Yesterday is when the jet lag final caught up to me. Jan came in next and threw three innings, his change up was filthy. We played well for it being our first game as a team. We picked a a catcher from Australia named Jake. I think he is really going to help us out this season behind the dish. The only thing that sucks is that he can't catch me during a game. I am excited to see where this team can take us this season. Last We are going sight seeing in Milan this afternoon which will be fun, I'll take some pictures and post them on my next blog. Also Matthias and I are making videos all week so people can see what we did here. I hope everyone has a blessed week and remember God loves you no matter what and will never leave you.

Spring Training

I made it safely over to Austria. It was a long day of travel, I was laid over in London for 8 hours. Needless to say, I was a little tired when I got here. It almost felt like I never left. It's just a little colder now. As of right now Ryan (our new coach) and I are living downtown with one of the younger players mom. I love the place it's very European. The shower is kinda connected to the kitchen. But there is Wi-Fi there , which I was really excited about because it allows me to talk my family and girlfriend. We can pretty much walk any where downtown.
So we had practice the day that I got here. It was the first practice they have had outside but we need to get outside before we left for spring training. It really wasn't that cold out there until the wind would blow. But when we started BP (batting practice) it started to snow on us. I do have to say that's the first practice where it has snowed on me. We got some quality work in before we hit the road.
I was so excited to head down to Italy for spring training because it meant we got to start playing games again. It was about a 7 hour drive down here so we all loaded up in 3 different vehicles and got on our way. We played our first game yesterday and lost 4-3. Clemens started the game and threw two innings, he pitched well. I came in after him for 4 innings. I think I did pretty good for the first game in a while. Yesterday is when the jet lag final caught up to me. Jan came in next and threw three innings, his change up was filthy. We played well for it being our first game as a team. We picked a a catcher from Australia named Jake. I think he is really going to help us out this season behind the dish. The only thing that sucks is that he can't catch me during a game. I am excited to see where this team can take us this season. Last We are going sight seeing in Milan this afternoon which will be fun, I'll take some pictures and post them on my next blog. Also Matthias and I are making videos all week so people can see what we did here. I hope everyone has a blessed week and remember God loves you no matter what and will never leave you.

A Month Away

I'm about a month away from leaving to go over to Austria. I can not wait to start playing again. I went to watch my high-school play the other night and it got me itching to play again. This year is looking really good for the Ducks. We added a new coach for the season. His name is Ryan also and is from New York. We have already been talking back and forth about the season. I think his baseball knowledge will benefit all the players on the team. We also added another player from Australia, Wayne. He went to college here in the US then got drafted. He will be a great addition to our already solid team. I am excited to see where this season goes for the Ducks.
I am also excited for this summer because my girlfriend, Stephanie will be playing softball in Austria. I think it's pretty cool how God worked everything out that we will both be in the same country doing what we love. I'm looking forward to traveling around together and going on adventures. I want to travel around more then I did last year. I know when my mom and Dad mom over we plan on going somewhere after one of my games. I hope everyone has a blessed week and remember to thank God for all he has blessed you with.

Unfinished Business

I am proud to announce that I will be returning to the Diving Ducks this upcoming season. After talking my options over with my agent (my Dad) we decided this was the best place for me.  I am excited to get back there and get to work. I really enjoyed my time there last year even though we fell short of our team goal. Getting to the championship game was a huge achievement for our team. I think that we learned a lot from coming up short. There have been some off season moves that I think will greatly improve our already solid team.
    This off season I have working hard to get us to the championship again. Winning MVP and Most Valuable Pitcher last season has only fueled me to work harder this winter. I started hitting and throwing a few weeks ago. I am lucky to live somewhere where it is in the 50's in January, while my team is dealing with snow.
    There are multiple reasons that I chose to return to the Ducks. One of the main things was the Ducks community. They made me feel very welcome from day one. I was there for my birthday last year and they made it one to remember. One of the moms of the little kids I helped coach told me that on her sons Christmas list was for me to come play for the ducks again. I can't let the little guy down. Another reason I am returning is the players on the team. Over the course of the season I made some life long friends. I cant wait to hang out with them again this summer.
        I continue to thank God for blessing me like he has. There are not many people out there that can say their are living their childhood dream. I am blessed to have my family supporting me along this journey. My sister and her husband have already started planning their trip over this summer. I am excited because my Mom will get to come over this year.  I can't wait to get back on the mound and finish what we started last season. Always remember to thank God what he has blessed you with.

Ducks Going to the Championship

We did it, we are going to the championship. We went up there on Friday night, so we wouldn't have to ride the three and half hours then try to play. When we woke up Friday it was raining and continue to on our way to the field. When we started our warm up it actually cleared up and got sunny for a while. The rain came back though as we started to the game. We got three and half innings in before they called a rain delay. The score was tied at 4-4. On Saturday we had to start all over since we didn't play enough innings the day before. Clemens started again for us since we had a low pitch count the day before. It was a great game for the fans to see. We were down three runs in the top of the ninth and Jason hit a bases loaded double to tie the game. So we went into extra innings and their import hit a walk of home run to win the game. Which sucked that we lost but almost worked out for us that he was the one that hit it. He was on a huge high after that game but then he had to start the next game pitching. It's hard to build your self back up after something like that. In the first inning we scored 6 runs off him, it was a great way to show that we put the last game behind. I pitched a complete game and gave up two runs. When the final out was made I got tackled by my third basemen Julio. It was the first dog pile of my life and it won't be the last. With that win we are going to the finals against the Wanderers. They were down 0-2 in their series and won three straight to make to finals. It will be a good series for sure. It kinda funny to me that My buddy Joe and I will be playing each other again. We have played against each other for 10 years now and now we are meeting in the championship in Austria. I think that would make for a pretty cool story. Also we are now going to the EuroCup next year, the first and second place teams from Austria get to go play in it. That will be a lot of fun to play in next year. The first game will be on Saturday and I will pitch on Sunday. I don't now if there will be a live stream but there should be a live ticker for all the people back home.
    This Saturday my Dad and his friends are leaving for their annual fishing trip to Michigan. I have gone the last two years and it is one of my favorite weeks of the year. It's nice to just get away for a week. All we do for a week is fish, eat, sleep, and laugh. You do a lot of laughing there, like laugh so much your stomach hurts the next morning. I love the fact that Christian men can get together and have a great time together. As much as I will miss going my passion for winning this championship outweighs it. Michigan will always be there but this championship won't. I will be able to tell stories in Michigan about my time here. I know this is where God wants me to be and has taught me so much. Only six days till I get to do what I love and bring glory to him one pitch at a time. Have a great week and God bless.

Ducks Win Two

    This past Saturday we had the first two games in the the best of five series. We were playing the A's who finished 2nd last year. It's been five weeks since we played a game that had meaning to it. It felt so good to be back out there. In game one it was all Clemens, he was 4-4 at the plate and pitched a complete game shut out. We faced the best Austrian this year statistically and we scored 9 runs off of him. We played great all around from hitting to defence. Which is funny to me because if you saw our pre game we looked awful by far the worst of the year. But it only matters how you play in the game.
     In the second game I knew it wouldn't be a easy win but we had the momentum on our side. Clemens started off the game 2-2 and scored our first run. I pitched the complete game and only gave up two hits and no runs. I didn't have many strike outs but I did have 15 ground ball outs. That's how I normally pitch. In college and high school I was a ground ball pitcher.  We won the game 3-0 and now will head up there on saturday for the rest of the games.  We just need to win one game to make the finals and the Euro Cup. It's never easy to go to someone else field and win. But I think if we just play our game and take care of business we got a shot.

    Clemens and I decided that we would grow playoff beard and they seemed to work. Victor grew one also and he had a home run on Saturday the first on hit at our field this season, so maybe there is something behind it. I decided I am going to let it grow till I get back home. They might not let me back in the country since I will look nothing like my passport picture. My buddy Joe told me the other day he doesn't know with at I look like with short hair or clean shaven anymore. You can tell fall is coming here the nights are getting cooler which is fine for me because the colder it is the better I sleep. There is just something about playoffs and cooler weather, it's like they are suppose to go together. I can't wait till Saturday and take care of business. Hope everyone is doing good and trust in his plan for your life.

Birthday in Austria

I would have never guessed that I would spend my 25 birthday in a forgiven country. But it's something that I can tell my kids one day. Everyone always asks what did you do? Well I got to do what I love, I got to play baseball. The one thing that would have made it better was going to Japanese steakhouse with my family. We can do that when I return home. My Austrian family definitely made me feel special. Jan and Armin got me a Austrian army knife, which is awesome. I love knifes and will never be able to buy myself one of theses again. I sent a picture to my buddy officer Adam Bradley and he was pretty jealous of it.  After practice they had a cake waiting for me, which was really good. It was a surprise for sure.  I got to talk to my grandparents on my birthday too, my Dad talked them through using a calling card and calling me on my Austrian phone. It was good to hear their voices.  I also got a few birthday cards in the mail which was nice to hear from people back home. I  got a package from my friend Steph, which was perfect timing because that day I was kinda bored and starting to miss home. It was the perfect pick me up. It's cool to see how God uses little things to bring us joy. One week from today we start playoffs, it feels like its been weeks since we have played a game. I can't wait to get back out there and do what I love. Thanks again for all the birthday wishes. I can't wait to get back and celebrate with everyone. .