TicketsSept. 18, 2009
This is the tenth in a series of installments from UC head baseball coach Brian Cleary as he travels overseas to coach the British National Baseball Team at the 2009 Baseball World Cup.
It is early Friday afternoon here in Rotterdam and I am in the hotel catching up on emails prior to our game this evening against Holland. We play them here in Rotterdam, where they are anticipating a large crowd. We have three games left -- tonight against Holland, tomorrow against Spain and Sunday against Venezuela.
Last night we lost to Puerto Rico 5-4. We gave away some runs with some defensive mistakes, but we did outhit them and our starting pitcher, Alex Smith, went eight innings and pitched tremendously well. Puerto Rico has several former major league players, some who were in the major leagues as recently as last season. It was disappointing to lose as we are now 0-4. We have played well but there is a gap in talent between us and the other teams in our bracket. This being the case, we have little margin for error and must play clean.
Given that we are 0-4, it is very unlikely that we will advance to the third round (getting to the second round was the goal to begin with) and so the team's general manager, Alan Smith, has started to arrange travel for all of us to get back home. Alan is a stickler on detail and his job is very difficult, but he has worked very hard to make sure that the trip runs smoothly and I don't think he could have done a better job. We have had a very well organized trip because of his efforts.
On Sunday afternoon, we will return to the hotel after our game and pack up. Everyone will scatter to various airports and train stations beginning on Sunday night through Monday morning, with the bulk of the team bussing overnight back to Munich for Monday morning flights. Travel into Munich has been somewhat difficult to arrange because Oktoberfest begins tomorrow. Fortunately, I was able to change my flight and will fly from Amsterdam to Dayton, Ohio, with a stop in Philadelphia. I am certainly anxious to get home, but will enjoy my last three days with this group of players and staff - it is a great group and they are a lot of fun to be with.
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