Augustana Baseball Dominican Republic Blog

Once again, we started the day off bright and early and got some breakfast. We headed over to the home field of the Hiroshima Carp (Japanese Professional Team). It was a scorching hot day with the sun beating down on us. We jumped on them early scoring two in the first, however, when we took the field in the bottom half, it started to rain. All of us were loving the rain, besides our pitchers. We were able play a couple of innings, but then it started to pour. After a couple of tries continuing to play, it got called off.

With the rainout, we were able to head back to the hotel to eat some lunch before partaking in our next journey. We hopped back on the bus and took a nice quick drive to the Twins Training Academy. It was a baseball heaven. Anything you needed for baseball was there. While we were walking in, their pitching coach came and talked to us. He was from Minnetonka, Minnesota.

The most impressive thing about him was how fluent he was in Spanish. We toured their clubhouse, cafeteria, batting cages, fields, apartments, offices, and classrooms. Living there is a full time job. They train throughout the day six days a week. All the players sent to the academy are international. So, they have classes to teach them English. We peeked in and saw some of them learning the alph

The rest of the day was free. All of us were able to kick back and relax. Most guys sat on the beach and took in the view. After dinner, all of the guys went over to see what the event of the night was. Little did we know that it would be us. Six of us were chosen to play musical chairs to entertain the crowd.

It started off with a bang with Nate Davis breaking a chair. One by one they were eliminated and had to do a dance outro. Each guy showcased their elite dancing ability in hysterical fashion. After the intense game of musical chairs, everyone went back to their beds to get some rest before another early morning.

Today we embarked on the longest day of the trip in terms of activities. This day started like any day with an early wake-up call for some breakfast. We made our way to the bus and took a trip to a Dominican Air Force base to play the best team in the cup. As we arrived at the field we saw some minor league players hitting BP. I quickly noticed that their bats sounded different from most and that’s probably why they are where they are.

The game started out a little rocky but the Vikings gained their strength and kept the game close. It remained 4-2 from innings 2 through 8 and we tied the game up in the 8th. The Air Force quickly answered back with a run to take back the lead and unfortunately the Vikings went down in a nail-biter loss.

Next in our day was the tour of Zona Franca which translates to free zone. It was an industrial park that gave thousands of jobs to Dominicans and is a focal part of the Dominican economy. Many companies send their manufacturing tasks to the Dominican for their tax incentives and reduced cost of labor but don’t be fooled the conditions here are very good.

Next in our day, we got to go to a Dominican Winter League Finale game which sported two rival teams: Tigres de Licey and Leones del Escogido. Both teams share a stadium and are considered to be the Yankees vs the Mets in terms of MLB teams. A lot of our team was cheering for Licey but I was one of the few cheering for Escogido because I recognized many of their players from MLB teams. The crowd was electric and there was always continuous noise.

Something very interesting was that the home team had a band that would play throughout the game. The main takeaway i had from this game compared to MLB games is the noise. Dominican games are much louder and the fans are much more into it. The players show a lot of emotion on the field too which adds to the intensity. One other thing is that the stadium prices are much cheaper. I got two sodas that would normally cost $15 at a game in the US for $4 here and snacks were only 3-4 dollars as well! This was one of the most fun experiences I have had and I will continue to be an Escogido fan going forward!

We have one more game to play tomorrow to round off this amazing trip and in true fashion way let’s go out with a bang.

For day 5 of our Dominican Republic trip, we kicked it off with our 4th ball game. After a quick morning breakfast at the resort, we were on our way to a ball field in Santo Domingo to take on team Armada! In the first inning, we jumped ahead early putting up 3 runs and were able to hold our ground from there. The bats slowed down in the middle of the game but picked up towards the end putting up 4 more runs. Pitching was strong all around for us holding team Armada to only 4 runs as we won 7-4.

After a quick turnaround getting back to the resort for lunch after the game, we got to hangout for about 45 minutes before we headed to do our baseball camp for some younger kids from the area. We jumped on the bus to a small baseball field about 10 minutes away from the resort. Upon arrival, there were about 80 kids already at the field eager to play some ball.

We jumped right in and set up 4 stations for the kids so they could spread out and get as much playing time in as possible. The 4 stations included: Pitching, fielding, base-running, and hitting. It was an awesome experience for not just the kids but us as players. Being able to see the kids have so much fun playing the game even though some of them didn’t even have their own bat or glove, was super cool to see. Even with a language barrier, being able to connect with the kids through the game was a lot of fun and was an awesome way to end our day!

Day 4 in the DR was an off day baseball wise. To start the day a few guys saw Marcell Ozuna and we saw a baseball team of 12-16 year olds doing a beach workout. A couple of the guys were already signed to MLB teams. After that a group of us held a bible study in beach chairs and another group of guys hung out in the ocean using a hacky sack as a football.

The main event of the day was painting houses in a small village nearby. We got to meet some of the people living there while painting 4 houses. A few guys took some punches to the leg from kids living there while we were painting, which gave everyone a laugh. A couple guys ended up getting stung by wasps, but for the most part it was a cool eye opening experience into how people live.

We’re ending the night hanging out by the beach and watching the College Football Championship. We’re getting back after it tomorrow morning with a game against another Dominican team that should be another fun experience.

Today was the 14th day of Dominican Republic J-term, which Nate (Davis) reminds us of every morning at our team breakfast, and our 3rd day down in the Dominican. At 8:30 this morning we headed to the capital city Santo Domingo and toured the Ozama Fortress and Ciudad Colonial. After our tour, we stopped by a gift shop where all the good boyfriends on our team got their girlfriends some trinkets.

We then got back to the hotel at 12:30 p.m., for a quick 30 minute lunch before walking over to our 2 o’clock game. Today, we played the policia team and it wasn’t our best showing. We ended up getting walked off 11-10 in the 9th, but as (Sam) Seigel mentioned in the last blog we’re here to learn and that’s what we are going to continue to do.

Tomorrow we have an off day from baseball to reset and recollect. We are finishing the night off hanging out by the pool listening to Kai (Taylor) sing piano man karaoke while Ryan Clementi stands with a mic in his hands.

The first game day of the year. I was woken up by my alarm (a rooster) at 7 a.m. The team ate breakfast then loaded the bus at 8 a.m. to head to the field. It was about a 45 minute drive to the field. We played in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. It was very eye opening to drive though the city of 1 million people.

When we arrived at the field all eyes were on us. We completed our typical pre-game warm ups and batting practice then got into the game. It felt really good to finally get out on an actual field and play. The bases and outfield were giving me sandlot vibes and I had no choice but to have fun. Although we didn’t win the game there were a lot of positives.

After the game we ate food at the field and attempted to talk with some locals (using Mariano as a translator). They looked at us almost as if we were celebrities, and they were very interested in anything such as one dollar or a single ball. After we were done eating we headed back to Boca Chica to play another game against some younger prospects.

This team was very fun to play against because their average age was about 17. They were so smooth and made it look effortless. The starting pitcher was already signed with the Los Angeles Angels, along with some other signees. That game also didn’t go as planned but there was still positives to look at and steps that were taken. Coach Huber keeps preaching that this is a learning experience and that’s the perfect mindset to have. After the second game we went back to the hotel to eat dinner and shower. Finally to close the night we did some team bonding and dancing.