Ty Pryor is a junior pitcher at North Florida. He was 5-4 as a
freshman at USF in 2005. Pryor was 1-1 as a sophomore at Tennessee in 2006 with
52 strikeouts in 38 innings. He sat out last season and served as a radio color
analyst for UNF home games. Pryor was taken by the Indians in the 26th round of
the 2006 draft and by the Angels in the 28th round of the 2007 draft. His
brother, Tucker, is also an Osprey.
April 14, 2008
Salute to the Military
A lot of times during the season we tend to take
our sport too seriously, to put the game above all other things
we do. We forget the fact that we play a child’s game at a high
level and tend to overlook the things that really matter in the
world.
Sometimes we don’t keep in touch with our family
as much as we should, sometimes we take school for granted and
sometimes something or someone comes along and puts everything
back into perspective. An event like that occurred recently to
my teammates and I this past week. The United States Military
All-Stars spent a week in Jacksonville practicing and
eventually, it culminated in an exhibition game this past
Thursday night.
Spending
time with each individual on the team over the week really
reasserted my support for the men and women who put on a
different uniform and defend my right to live in the freest
country on Earth and play a game that millions of people across
the nation would love to participate in.
These men on the Military All-Star team have
signed themselves up for service, potentially placing them in
harm’s way, yet still love the game of baseball enough to add it
to the list of all their other duties and responsibilities. We
all know that joining the team is not just like adding another
lab to your class schedule. These guys put in the time and
effort required to be competitive, not to mention the fact that
they are in a state of constant travel and flux, as any could be
called into active duty at any time.
People may also tend to forget that we are a
country at war, and these men are the ones volunteering so you
and I don’t have to. For that I am forever thankful, and if any
of them are reading this, thank you guys for a great game and a
fun week leading up to it (They know what I’m talking about).
In other baseball news, we just recorded our 20th
win of the season yesterday, beating Mercer 9-8 to clinch the
series 2-1. Any win on the road is a great win and we barely
pulled it off. (At this point I would like to give a shout out
to freshman infielder Sam Perry for getting a spot start at
third and getting two hits, a stolen base and driving in the
tying and go-ahead run in the top of the ninth in that rubber
game). Hopefully I will be this excited to type my next blog
because we have a literal murderer’s row approaching with the
Nos. 1, 2 and 4 teams in the nation lurking on the horizon.
On a final note, God Bless America and look out
for my new teammates serving over in Iraq and Afghanistan right
now.
Ty Pryor
