The Elder Erupts

Well it’s been awhile since my last journal. My time has been taken up by road trips, practices and school work. The season is definitely a grind with graduation less than three weeks away. I am really trying to finish school up strong, but it’s hard to stay motivated when “Senior-itis” starts to kick in. The only thing keeping me going is that the team has been playing some good baseball and I hope it continues.

The Lamar series was a good challenge for us. They are always on top of the Southland and they had solid pitching this year. In Friday night’s game, we were trailing the entire game up until the eighth inning. We made a huge comeback, scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth to give us some momentum. We used that in Saturday’s game and run-ruled the Cardinals. Sunday games are always a grind, but the Sunday was special, especially for Tyler Sibley. We were facing Eric Harrington, the 2009 SLC Freshman of the Year, much to the dismay of Sibley and our whole team. We were excited to take on a good pitcher, but mostly excited to get revenge for Sibley.

It was a pitcher’s duel until Kubitza, Sibley’s roommate, hit a home run to break the game open. Kyle ended up with three hits and I believe Sibley bought his dinner that night. Anytime you have the chance to sweep at home you need to take advantage of it and we did.

Our midweek game was against a ranked Texas A&M team. The stadium was packed, the atmosphere was electric and people were excited about baseball in San Marcos. We got out to an early lead and Brian Borski was pitching a gem. We had the lead the entire game until a pinch-hit two-run home run in the eighth. It really deflated the whole team and put all the momentum in their court. The game went into extras and they scored first. We were down to our last three outs and Kubitza gave us new life with a leadoff home run to tie the game. We got a base runner to second with no outs and Mr. Dependable, my roommate Jordan Kopycinski, stepped up to the plate. Everyone knew we were going to try and bunt the runner over to third, so as the A&M infielders crashed hard, Jordan pulled back the bunt and swung away. He didn’t hit a home run or even get the game-winning hit, but his groundout to the second baseman moved the runner to third and that’s what we needed. He did his job and executed a perfect slash, so he is my hero. Now, back to the game. We had a runner on third with one out and we had the perfect guy coming to the plate, none other than fifth-year senior, Laurn Randell.

The oldest guy on the team stepped up to the plate and A&M was scared. They brought in the centerfielder to play rover and only had two outfielders. This was Laurn’s chance to shine and Randell, being the savvy baseball player, knew all he needed was his classic dink to the right side to score the runner. The Randell Classic was a hit deep, and at first glance I thought it was gone, but then it fell about 20-feet over the first baseman’s head for the game-winning hit. The place went crazy and we rushed the field. I punched Laurn a couple of times just for fun, and it was a Great Night to be a Bobcat.

We have really done a good job in coming from behind this season and scoring late in games. With our come-from-behind mentality, we really felt like we can always win even if we get into trouble early on in the game. I would much rather get out to an early lead instead of waiting until the last minute. I would say all the late wins are giving Coach Harrington grey hairs, but … well you know. (For those of you who don’t, he’s bald.)

The SFA weekend might as well as been call the Jeff McVaney Bombfest. Jeff, the dual sport athlete (baseball/football), was primarily a pitcher until this year. He hit in high school and we needed another power bat. He has really taken off and become a good hitter. The wind was blowing in hard the first two games. In batting practice, no one was even getting close to hitting home runs.  I take pride in my ability to hit massive pregame batting practice bombs and I couldn’t even get any balls out with the gusty wind. Well, Jeff didn’t really care too much about the wind and he blasted two of the most impressive bombs I have ever seen. The wind did not even affect his balls and he hit two no-doubters. We asked Jeff later what his mindset was hitting into the wind and his answer was definitely thought-provoking. The brilliant philosopher, Jeff, said “Uh, I pretend the air is not there.” Such a simple thought that the air isn’t even there. Why didn’t I think of that?

The Sunday game was the only day the wind was not blowing in and Jeff tried to strike again. He launched a ball deep down the line, and as we started to celebrate, the leftfielder jumped up and robbed Jeff of his third home run. It was a sickening feeling. Who robs a man of a HR? We ended up winning two of three on the road, so it was a successful weekend.

This next paragraph will be dedicated to the oldest, wisest, best-looking player on the team, Laurn Randell (left). Laurn is a fifth-year senior, but it seems like he has been around for ages and ages. He had a rough start to the season but has really stepped it up recently. This weekend something clicked and he had a career weekend. He raised his batting average by about 100 points, tripled his extra-base hits for the season and could not get out. He was named Southland Conference Hitter of the Week.

I only have one complaint about Randell’s weekend. In Friday’s game, we were up by 11 runs and he only needed a double to complete the cycle. One of the rarest and hardest feats to accomplish in baseball was in reach. In his last at-bat, he shot a ball into the gap and in typical Randell style, he ran right past second base despite the coach holding him up and the entire dugout yelling for him to stop at second base.

Well Laurn, now you have two career triples and no cycle. I hope you’re happy with yourself. After Randell’s great performance the last couple of weeks he has been receiving dozens of new Facebook friends, all girls.  Ladies, please give him some space and stop calling him at 4 a.m., giving him your number and stalking him. Thanks.

On a sad note, Randell’s weekend took my one sense of accomplishment, my stolen base lead. If anyone has seen us run next to each other, you know I am the much better athlete and deserve the title of the fastest base runner on the team. Now, I have some competition and will have to start stealing a little more often (right). Watch out Randell, I’m coming for you.

Always delaying,

Kyle Livingstone #2

(photos courtesy of Texas State Media Relations Office)