College Baseball Opening Weekend Recap

The pop of the mitt, the crack of the bat…….it’s back! While the snow continues to fly in Wisconsin, baseball has begun for many college teams across the country. This weekend marked the official start of America’s favorite pastime in the college ranks. I will try to provide weekly updates in the blog on the incoming Rafters players as the spring progresses. Not all incoming players saw action this weekend, as many colleges have yet to begin their schedules. However, a couple of incoming and former Rafters enjoyed some early season success.

Even though the Cal Baptist University got their season underway prior to the official “Opening Weekend”, sophomore LHP Jesse Arreola has picked up right where he left off for the Rafters last summer. In 6 games, 2 starts, for Cal Baptist, Arreola has posted a 2-0 record to go along with a very nice 3.38 ERA. In 18.2 innings of work for the Lancers, he has stuck out 18 batters while also managing to record 2 saves out of the bullpen.

Tommy Organ got off to a nice start for the University of North Florida. In two appearances this weekend for the Ospreys, organ tossed 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball while allowing two hits, one walk, and recording 2 strikeouts. Fellow North Florida teammate and former Rafter outfielder Michael Smith enjoyed a terrific weekend that saw him bat .385 (5-for-13), with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. Smith also went 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts.

A key cog out of the pen for the Rafters in 2010, Brad Douthit appeared in two games out of the bullpen this weekend for USC, while surrendering 3 runs in 1.2 innings pitched. The Trojans went up against Missouri, Cal Poly, and North Carolina while going 2-1 in the first weekend.

Illinois third baseman Brandon Hohl began his spring season by going 3-for-8 (.375 batting average), while scoring two runs and driving in 3. He appeared in all three of Illinois’’ games, while making two starts.

Valparaiso shortstop Bobby Martin enjoyed some early season success, as he belted his first homer of the spring while also driving in 4 runs in the team’s second game against Austin Peay. He got on base at a .400 clip while going 1-for-2 in stolen base attempts during the opening weekend.

University of New Mexico freshman third baseman DJ Peterson began his college career batting in the #3 spot in the Lobos’ lineup. In 11 at bats he recorded two hits, both which were doubles and drove in 1 run.

Incoming catcher Jordy Snikeris appeared in two games for the LSU Tigers, making one start behind the plate. The Tigers were ranked No. 15 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 22 by Baseball America in the 2011 preseason polls.

University of Nevada-Reno freshman outfielder, Curtis Frisbie, got his first taste of collegiate baseball as he appeared in all three of his teams’ games and recorded his first collegiate RBI.

Former Rafters third baseman Ryan Palermo went 3-for-7 (.429 BA) in UC-Santa Barbara’s first two games against La Salle this weekend. He scored 3 runs and knocked in 2 RBI as Santa Barbara got off to a 2-0 start.

Rafters field manager Scott Laverty’s University of Redlands Bulldogs are off to a 5-3 start to their season. This past weekend, Laverty led the Bulldogs to wins in 2 of their three games against the University of La Verne.

Stay tuned to Diamond Dialogue throughout the spring for all of your updates on current and former Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.

Only 100 days until the home opener!

-John

What is it like Being a Rafters Intern?

As fun as the summer nights at Witter Field were in 2010, they wouldn't have been possible without the hard work and dedication of all of our interns during our Inaugural Season. They spent tireless hours at the ballpark leading up to the first pitch hurled by starting pitcher Matt Baudino on Opening Day, June 6th, 2010. Over the course of one summer these special people gained a greater understanding of the Northwoods League, helped start a franchise from the ground up, learned how to effectively run a baseball team from a game day standpoint and, most importantly, built relationships that will last a lifetime. With that being said, I will let one of our Marketing Interns in 2010, Mary Friday, be a guest blogger and describe what a typical day for her was like last summer. Mary is currently working as the Director of Group Sales for the Rafters.

A Day in the Life of an Intern...or at Least How I Saw It!
By: Mary Friday, Former Rafters Marketing Intern

Most Rafters fans know me as one of the girls that did the all the between-inning promotions, but there was a lot more that went into being a Rafters Marketing Intern. Countless hours were spent before game time getting ready to put on the production of a Rafters game.

A normal day in “Rafterland” started when we all arrived to Witter Field around 9am (I say “around” because, let’s be honest, we were tired and sometimes is was more like 9:15 by the time we all got there). As we filed in, we were all sent off to begin our various game day tasks. For me, this usually meant gathering up my coffee, computer, and the dirty uniforms and heading for the laundry mat with Ms. Hilary Bauer. (As a side note, our players were great guys… but, man, did they STINK!)

While at the laundry mat, Hilary and I would get the laundry going and then sit down to work on that day’s game script. Game script, you ask? Great question. The game script is written for every game and contains all the advertisements, promotions, meal specials, ect., for each game. It also outlines the order of the game production (i.e. line ups, national anthem, first pitch, between inning promotions, and so forth) for the public address announcer.

When we finished at the laundry mat, usually around 11:30 or so, it was back to the field. After we put the laundry away, it was time to hike up to the press box for more script work. Now, there are a few really great things about the press box. One: It was the ONLY place at the park with air conditioning. Two: It has a GREAT view. And three: JW Cox. JW (or as we all call him, J Dub), is our radio broadcaster, and on game days the press box was his home. If you’re ever feeling stressed on a game day, I recommend taking the (what seems like a billion) steps up to the press box to say hi to J Dub. Without fail, he’ll make you smile.

(Rafters Staff at NWL All-Star Game in Eau Claire--- Back Row L-R:Greg Kennedy, Brian Reuter, Max Daven, John Fanta, Hilary Bauer, Mary Friday. Front Row: Liz Kern, JW Cox, Laura Shepard. Not pictured: Brody Busho.)


Back to the story. This part of the script writing usually took a while, probably because it was usually interrupted. There were a number of interruptions that included John calling to see if we’d come watch the ticket office while he and Max (ticketing intern) ran to lunch, us going to make our own lunch (usually a grilled chicken sandwich), or Liz misplaced her keys. Let me tell you a little about Liz and her keys. She has them on a carabiner so that she can literally hook them to herself, but she still manages to lose them. I’m not talking every once in a while—NO!--she lost them multiple times a day. It’s almost unbelievable, yet hilarious, the places she loses those things. For example, it is not uncommon to find them sitting on a random picnic table or still in a lock somewhere. I could go on, but, I digress…

Once the script was finished, it was time to go help with other random tasks. This could mean helping Brody (official statistician/operations intern) and Greg (field maintenance intern) do whatever random thing they happened to be doing at the time or helping get ready for pre-game picnics. One thing I did a lot was portion potato salad and coleslaw. Not real glamorous, but there is never a dull moment when our Director of Operations, Mr. Brian Reuter, is around… funniest person I’ve ever met, seriously. My least favorite pre-game job had nothing to do with cleaning or heavy lifting. Not even close. It was cotton candy. That machine and I were NOT friends. I might even go as far as to say it was my nemesis. The cotton candy machine we had did not have a nifty little hood like most do, so little tiny pieces of it would fly EVERYWHERE! I would wear my sunglasses as eye protection and--had a thought of it before this very moment--I would have worn a ski mask to prevent from getting it caked on my face and hair. After fighting with that for what seemed like days, all we had were a few bags of cotton candy and an unhappy, sugar-coated, marketing intern. Everyone else found it rather humorous. Me? Not so much.

All this, and we’re still a few hours away from the “Big Show”. After a few more of those random tasks, it was time for the game day staff to start rolling in. This brought on a whole bunch of jobs, people, and laughs that I could go on and on about, but we’ll save that for another time…

A special thanks to Mary for taking the time to share her experiences! There is only one other thing to say before this week is finished and it will probably be the only non-baseball related statement ever posted on this blog.....GO PACKERS!

-John