Aug. 23, 2007

The seventh and final entry in our 2007 Around the Horn Baseball Blog comes from junior utility player Brett Mendoza. Mendoza spent his summer locally, playing for the Southern California Glory and working as a counselor at the LMU Baseball camp. Mendoza batted .397 for the Glory, with 38 RBI, two home runs, and 23 stolen bases. He was also selected to the Southern California Collegiate Baseball Association All-Star team.

Mendoza batted .286 in 37 games for the Lions in 2007. He also led the team with five pinch hits, including a extra innings game-winner against Cal State Northridge.

Mendoza writes: This summer I played for the SoCal Glory. It was a great opportunity to be able to play so close to LMU because it gave me a chance to take a summer school class and maintain a couple of steady jobs. It was also helpful living close to school with my teammate Nate Keadle, who was a great workout partner for the summer.

Playing for the Glory allowed me to become very versatile playing all three outfield positions, middle infield, and catching. Our team could hit well, but unfortunately, we were a little thin on pitching. We also did not have a home field which meant all our games were on the road. We traveled everywhere from San Luis Obispo to Palm Springs, and had a lot of memorable road trips.

Because most of our games were in the late afternoon or evening, I was able to work the summer camps at school during the day. The camps were long, but very fun because of the time I was able to spend with a bunch of my teammates like Keadle, Michael Glomb, Andy Beal, Steve Connolly, Angelo Songco, and Jeremy Burrell.

To finish up the summer, I was chosen to the SCCBA All-Star team and played in the game at Palm Springs Stadium. The All-Star game was a lot of fun, especially since I was able to play and hang out with other players that I competed against the whole summer.

After the All-Star game, I was asked to play on an LA Dodgers scout team for one last tournament. We played five games and lost 2-1 in the championship game in 16 innings to the Houston Astros scout team. I ended up catching the whole game that day, and boy was I tired afterward! Overall, it was a great summer experience and now its time to get ready for a great year of LMU baseball.

Also check out previous Around the Horn Baseball Blogs:
•Blog #1: Xavier Esquivel
•Blog #2: T.J.Bernardy
•Blog #3: Mike Kenney
•Blog #4: Will Dugoni
•Blog #5: Angelo Songco
•Blog #6: Lee Roberts

-GO LIONS-