Feb. 26, 2008

We disappointingly came out of our first series in Houston winning only 1 out of 3 games. On Friday we had a few opportunities to tie the game up or take the lead after they scored 2 runs in the bottom of the second and another in the fourth. McKeever started off his career at pacific with a bang, hitting a home run to right center in his first at bat as a Tiger. J.B. Brown got his first extra base hit of his collegiate career blasting a triple to left center. Cole Akins and Mark McCain did well throwing and keeping us close enough to compete, however we camp up short losing 3-1. On Saturday, we played well overall and even though Waldron didn't go as deep into the game as we had hoped, Carnevale stepped up and pitched a scoreless second half of the game while Holscher closed out the ninth giving us a 4-3 victory. Sunday started out looking good and we were swinging the bats very well, but our 9-5 lead going into the eighth quickly dwindled and we ended up losing on a bases loaded single that landed fair by about six inches down the right field line in the bottom of the ninth. It was tough to get on the bus after losing like that and coming out of there with only one win. A good thing that came out of the weekend is that some of the freshmen and junior college transfers got their feet wet and got to play in some heated situations to gain some Division 1 experience. Ching, McKeever and Olivera all swung the bat well over the weekend and Lewis made some great plays in the field during Sunday's game. Wideman also had a couple of great hits in Sunday's contest after taking a bad hop off his upper lip from a ground ball during batting practice and Martin came through big in his first college at bats on Sunday.

When we got off the plane on Thursday, it had just rained and the humidity hit you in the face right as you stepped off the plane. The other days weren't humid at all and it was actually pretty chilly on Friday night with the wind. We stayed at The Westin Hotel which was connected to the gigantic Galleria Mall. It is the 4th largest mall in the U.S. and it had an ice skating rink in the center of it. It felt like a maze walking through it because it was so big. We stopped on our way to the airport at Pappas Bar-B-Q, "Home of the best BBQ in Houston." It was finger lickin' good and it was definitely some good Texas BBQ. The flight home went smoothly and we got back to school about 1 A.M.

We have four games this week starting Wednesday night against Santa Clara at 6 P.M. for our home opener. We then take on Washington this weekend at 6 P.M., 2 P.M. and 12 P.M. Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. I had Matt Stevens and Nick Haughain from Washington as roommates last summer so it will be fun to face them in battle. Hope to see you out at Klein Family Field.

Go Tigers!