Opening Weekend

The 2011 college baseball season is finally upon us. For the Red Foxes Thursday was a pretty long day. We began our trip to Tennessee by boarding the bus at 5 a.m. to begin the long day ahead of us. By the time we got onto the mid Hudson Bridge most of our teammates, including the two of us were already getting ready to fall asleep (or at least try). For some players falling asleep on a bus can come pretty easy, while for others it can be one of the harder things to do. After about six hours into the bus ride we made a stop in Harrisonburg, Virginia for a mid-day practice at James Madison University and a lunch break. Once we finished up with lunch it was back on the bus for another five hours of traveling. While on a long bus ride, there are a lot of things players will do to pass the time. Many players will pop on headphones and listen to their iPod’s or get some studying in. Other guys will catch up on some sleep or play video games. Watching movies is a popular thing to do to kill the time on the bus. on this trip we watched episodes of “Criminal Minds” and also watched the movie “Miracle”. We arrived at the hotel around 8 p.m. and after room assignments we finally got a chance to settle in and get some rest for the big day ahead of us. 

The Big Day: 

Our day began with a wakeup call at 9am and heading to the hotel lobby to grab some breakfast. After getting some food in our system many of the guys headed back up to their rooms to either take a quick nap or shower. After hanging out in the hotel for a couple hours it was time to grab an early lunch before heading to the bus at 12:25 p.m. The ride to Cardinal Stadium was about five minutes down the road from the hotel (For those of you who don’t know East Tennessee shares their ballpark with a minor league baseball team). After going through all the pre game routines it was finally 3pm which meant it was time for the first game of the year. Oddly enough our first game of the year has been postponed until tomorrow because the lights in the ball park were not working. So tomorrow we will conclude the first game and play game 2 of the series. We will check back in when we get back to Poughkeepsie until then, Enjoy your warm weather.