Hello everyone. It is getting close to that time for all of us who are in love…with baseball. Sure Valentine’s Day is coming up but more importantly (I’m glad my girlfriend doesn’t read this) it’s the start of the college baseball season. All of the hard work recruiting, developing on the field, in the weight room and now it’s time to put on the uniform and play some baseball. I know for the 2014 Post University Eagles we are excited to be on a real field. We have used indoor cages, turf football fields, parking lots, and whatever free space we can find to get ready for our opening day which is also this weekend. We will be headed down to face NE-10 St. Rose in Richmond, Virginia in beautiful 55 degree weather which after all of the snow we have received across New England will seem like beach weather.
Our guys have been working hard in the weight room, classroom, and during practice. New England baseball players cannot just love to play the game, they have to love to practice the little things. The little things will end up leading to bigger outcomes of games and we try to do the best we can controlling what we can control. We have a great cast of characters on this club, most of them are seniors we have 15 on our roster. That has created a lot of fun in terms of recruiting the next crop of Eagles who will shape the program for years to come.
One of the funniest things happened to me while I was working a showcase event in New Jersey a couple of weeks ago. As I wrote in my last blog I had the extreme privilege of working in The Cape Cod Baseball League for the Bourne Braves we had some very good talent from many of the best schools in the country. Before my time there I managed in the New England Collegiate League and it was first brought to my attention from one of my players from the University of Georgia that I had a doppelgänger or a twin running around the SEC at L.S.U. so I went home and googled the player who is Blake Dean. I was shocked at how similar we looked, I never had coached a player at LSU before this summer when I mentored Mark Laird, LSU’s starting outfielder. When Mark arrived in Bourne from Omaha the first thing he told me he had to do a triple take and swore it was Blake Dean. It became a running joke around the Cape with the other LSU players and even took pictures with opposing LSU players because they all thought I was him.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I was working the event in New Jersey and LSU’s coach Javi Sanchez was there. While I was walking over to watch the bullpens I bumped into him and said hello and tell him about my experiences coaching Mark this summer. When Coach Sanchez turned to me and goes “ Oh my god I cant even look at you its freaking me out how much you look like Blake Dean I thought you were him, I have to take a picture of this!” It was defiantly one of the more interesting pictures I have ever taken. So Coach Mainieri if you are reading this and are missing having Blake Dean around I am a phone call away and would be happy to throw BP at The Box. If you guys don’t believe it, check out the pictures for yourself. I will still say I am better looking though.
Hope everyone has a great season. I look forward to sharing the ups and downs of our season this year. For everyone who can’t get enough of me check out my twitter @CoachRix8 see you guys around the ball park.
