July 19, 2007
The second entry in our 2007 Around the Horn Baseball Blog comes from junior catcher T.J. Bernardy. Bernardy is currently playing for the Moses Lake Pirates of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCBL). Despite injuring his hand after being hit by a pitch, Bernardy found a way to send in the below blog from Washington.
Bernardy joined the Lions in the fall of 2006 after transferring in from Cosumnes River Junior College. He started 30 games behind the plate for LMU and was named LMU Baseball Newcomer of the Year.
Bernardy writes: Hello Lion fans, Lee Roberts and I writing to you from a very small
town called Moses Lake in the state of Washington. Coming into the
All-star break, we have the best record in the WCCBL, 19-8. Our team is
very good, especially our pitching staff. Our team not only excels on
the field, but also off the field- we are all very close. We have
players from a good mix of schools all over the country. Players from
schools like Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Cal, Washington, Washington
State, Oregon State, Nevada, Long Beach State, Stanford, and fellow WCC
rival San Francisco. One of our starting pitchers, Jorge Reyes, was actually the
2007 College World Series MVP for the Oregon State Beavers, so it has
been very fun to catch him and talk to him about what it is like to
reach my ultimate goal which is to get to Omaha.
Lee and I started the summer with a 5-day road trip driving up from Los
Angeles, making stops to visit friends in San Luis Obispo, Sacramento,
Portland, and Seattle. When finally arriving in Moses Lake, Lee and I
lived with the same host family: a single mom with two young
boys. The family was great! But I have to admit, Lee and I did not exactly fit in the toddler bunk beds they had for us! So Lee ended up moving out to live with another family. I stayed with my original host mom and she
has been very cool. She buys me whatever food I want and in exchange, I mow the lawn and hang out with her two kids, which is very
entertaining.
Besides that, the town we are in is very small and there
is really nothing to do. It gets very hot up here. In fact, in last
week's game, the temperature reached 107, which is brutal, especially when
catching. A couple of teammates' host families have boats, so Lee and I
have been able to go fishing and wakeboarding a couple times on our
days off, but other than that, we have just been working hard in the weight
room and on the field to get ready for next season at LMU.
As far as the baseball goes, our team and competition is very good. We
get close to 1,000 people a night and the fans get really involved in
the game, which is fun because they all get to know your name and root
for you. We have played in some very familiar stadiums: Gonzaga's, where our LMU team played in 2007, and Oregon State's, where we're scheduled to go in 2008. Unfortunately,
during our last road trip to Oregon, our whole team came down with the
flu. In fact, Lee had to go to the hospital to get an IV.
Lee has
been pitching very well, while it was a adjustment for me to switch to wood bats after swinging aluminum all season at
LMU. I have been catching very well, and started to hit too, until
Thursday, July 12, when I was hit by a pitch and broke my middle finger on
my right hand. I am still awaiting a second opinion from the LMU team
doctors, but if it is indeed broken, I will probably end up coming home
for the rest of summer to rest my finger and get ready for LMU
baseball. Other than that, Lee and I are very excited to come back to
LMU and see all of our teammates. GO LIONS!
Also check out previous Around the Horn Baseball Blogs:
• Blog #1:Xavier Esquivel
