There is nothing more anticipated in baseball than the home opener. It is a special day for ball players, coaches, parents and fans. But in Minnesota there are no guarantees as we are all at the mercy of Mother Nature in late March. Today I have great news for Johnnie fans. As I put the finishing touches on this blog I can safely say it is a beautiful day for baseball in Collegeville. At 2:30 p.m. this afternoon we host the University of Minnesota Morris and the boys are anxious to take the field in our home ballpark. We hope to have a great crowd and the players are excited about the new 2016 SJU baseball video that just went live last night. (Video can be found below.) It has already received hundreds of views by our CSB and SJU students and I hope you will check it out as well right here on the blog.
While it is great to be back home I have to admit that last week in Florida was exceptional. The weather in Fort Myers was outstanding and we played some terrific baseball. We went 8-2 on our annual spring trip giving our guys confidence and momentum heading into the month of April and the heart of conference play. We continued our impressive offensive production scoring 80 runs over the ten game stretch. Even in the two games we lost we scored four runs and five runs, respectively. I liked our aggressiveness at the plate but we also exercised good patience. As well as we hit the ball, I was most pleased with the job we did on the mound. I threw seven different starters out there and they all went deep into the games, logging all but nine of the total innings pitched. We gave up a total 27 runs in ten games and not all of those we earned, of course. If we can keep our fielding errors in check the rest of the way we have an opportunity to do something really special this season.
Before we leave Florida in the rearview mirror I want to once again thank the parents, alumni and fans who came out to support the team throughout the week. Bill Boom, who recently retired from SJU, was at the ball park every day. Bob Ryan ’52, Lou Gottwalt ’54 and Ed Lehmann ’70 were among the alumni who joined us for Thursday’s double header and the barbeque social that followed. It means a lot to the players to get such great support from around the country. And we experienced the same thing in Arizona!
We take our overall record of 11-5 into today’s game. This weekend we open conference play on Saturday here at SJU with a 1:00 p.m. double-header against Hamline. I hope to have more good news to share next week. Thanks again for your interest in Johnnie Baseball!
