It seems like a lot has happened since my last journal entry.

We left for our series at Arizona State last Thursday. At least, we tried to leave.

After an hour-long wait on the plane for a part to be replaced, they decommissioned the plane. We were forced to board another plane at the opposite end of the adjoining terminal. Two hours after our scheduled departure, we finally left DFW for Phoenix.

We lost two out of three at ASU, our first series loss of the year. The Friday night loss was especially tough to take since we had a lead all game and had it taken away by a seventh-inning grand slam. Overall, it was a well-played game and a tough one to lose.

We had to come from five runs down and win in extra innings Sunday to salvage a win from the weekend. It was a good show of heart and an important win to avoid getting swept.

Tuesday night, we won 4-2 at UTSA - a little closer than we had hoped but a win nonetheless.

We return home this weekend to play a three-game set with Long Beach State as our tough schedule continues. This will be our third year in a row to have a series with them, so both teams are familiar with each other.

It will be good to be back in front of the home crowd, and we need to use that to get back on track this weekend and win our second home series of the year. We need to continue our solid defense and look for a little more hitting with men in scoring position if we hope to win a series over the talented Dirtbag team.

Ryan LaMotta

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