• Schedule
• 
• Roster
• 
• Stats
• 
• News
• 
• Archives
• 
• Photos

It took exactly 24 hours from the time we left the hotel in Brno to get to my home in Norfolk. The long day of travel included leaving the hotel at 4 a.m., driving two hours to Prague, flying to Frankfurt then to DC, taking a taxi with Mike to BWI to catch our Southwest Flights, and finally making it back to Norfolk. The day went fast though since nearly everyone stayed up all night after the unbelievable game the night before.

The team could not have asked for a better way to end the summer. It was only fitting that the most difficult game to win all summer was the last. Both starting pitchers went into the 10th inning. We missed several opportunities to score early, we couldn't get a bunt down, got picked off, and just couldn't find a big two-out RBI even when the ball was hit well. Mike Minor faced the minimum 27 batters through 9 innings, walking none and giving up only 2 hits (and then picked the first guy off and induced the other into a double play).

When Tommy Mendonca (Fresno St) got thrown out at home in the 12th to make the second out of the inning, we thought the game may never end. Hunter Morris (Auburn) then came through though with his second game winning hit in our last three games. Watching from the bullpen was a better prospective than the dugout, because the shortstop shielded the ball and it looked like he may have come up with the catch to end the inning.

After we scored, I continued to get Kendall Volz ready to close out the game for us. After a single to lead off the inning and a sacrifice bunt, the Japanese runner attempted to steal third. The umpire was behind Mendonca and didn't see that he had the base blocked and called the runner safe at 3rd. Volz came up with a huge strikeout to get the second out and then gave up a groundball that Christian Colon (Fullerton) fielded and made the final out, leading to the dog pile at first. Eric Campbell had packed an American flag that he kept in the bullpen for me to run in with from the outfield to jump on top of the dog pile. It was the first dog pile in my life and was a pretty special experience.

The team celebrated with the flag, trophy, and medals for awhile after the game, almost in disbelief at what we had accomplished. The 2008 National Team had the lowest ERA ever for a summer (0.88) and was the first team ever to go undefeated! Although it was sad to leave everyone, it's very nice to be home after being away since June 10. I'm excited to have a few weeks at home before coming back to Nashville to start grad school.

Thanks for reading my summer blog.

The last two days have been unbelievable...off the field we took a little excursion and also had our game against Canada earlier today.

After arriving in Brno yesterday, Coach Giarratano (USF) and Coach Walton (ORU) impulsively decided to rent cars and drive 200 kilometers to Prague for the night. Coach G and his family, Coach Walton, Ryan Lipkin (USF), Mike Leake (ASU), Mike Minor and I crammed 10 people in two little rental cars for the trip. The sights we saw in the one night in Prague were well worth the uncomfortable car ride. In just a few hours, we were able to see most of the main tourist attractions in Prague. We ate dinner in Old Town Square beneath the Astronomical Clock and were able to take a walk across Charles Bridge to go to the Prague Castle.

We left so quickly from Brno that we didn't take the time to remember how to get back to our hotel. When we arrived in Brno at 2 a.m., we drove around the city for 30 minutes before getting pulled over by the police. The police were understanding and ended up giving us an escort back to our hotel.

Today we had a hard fought game against Canada that we were able to squeak by in 11 innings 4-3. We were able to overcome the single worst call that any one had seen in a baseball game. With one out and a runner on first, Matt den Dekker (Florida) hit a ground ball to the pitcher that he flipped to second and the ball was errantly then thrown to first. The first baseman came off the bag by a few feet to catch the ball and stood there as he flipped it back to the pitcher as the umpire signaled "out" to everyone's amazement. When Coach Price (Kansas) argued the call, the umpire told him "the sun was in his eyes" and the other umpires couldn't overturn the call.

Down 3-0 in the 8th, we were able to put up three runs and take the game into the 11th. Jared Clark (Fullerton) led off with a double and was advanced to third on a ground ball. With two outs, Clark kept the perfect record alive when he scored on a wild pitch! We have to wake up early tomorrow for a 10:30 game against the Japanese before rounding out pool play with Chinese Taipei on Thursday.

Here are some photos from the past few days -- CLICK HERE

I'm on the bus to Regensburg, Germany, right now for an exhibition game with the German National Team. The ride has been very long especially with all of the extra equipment we've had to travel with.

The week in Haarlem finished very successfully with a championship game victory over Cuba. On Saturday, Stephen Strasburg (SDSU) beat Chinese Taipei 5-2 for our eighth victory over that team this summer. Mike Minor then got his second start of the week against Cuba in Sunday's title game. On way to Pitcher of the Week honors, Minor gave up just one unearned run as we defeated Cuba 4-1. Eric Campbell, general manager for the club, said that it was the first time USA had ever beaten Cuba's Olympic team in the finals of any baseball tournament and both victories were the first wins for our college team over their pro team since at least before 1996.

The celebration after the game was really exciting. The team received a huge ovation from the packed stadium of 5,000. We had become the crowd favorites after their own team played poorly. The fans in Haarlem love to watch good baseball and we performed well for them all week, in addition to having fun on the field with all of their dances and helping out their grounds crew (since it rained almost every day and they don't have a tarp for the infield).

Hopefully we'll be able to continue our run of 14 straight wins. We play Germany tomorrow and the Czech team on Wednesday in scrimmages. On Friday we'll open with Korea in our defense of Coach Corbin's FISU title that he won in Cuba in 2006.

. CLICK HERE to view photos from the postgame celebration.

-Steven Goldburg

Today was one of the best baseball atmospheres I've been a part of in my life for USA's game against Cuba.

The crowd was pretty full to start the game with Commodore Mike Minor taking the hill for USA. He pitched well for the first two innings and then rain started in the top of the second. Instead of taking cover, not a single person left the stands as the umbrellas and ponchos came out. When they stopped the game, the favorite Dutch and American songs came on over the loudspeaker and every one of the 4,000 fans in attendance started singing and dancing.

People were up on the dugouts leading the songs and when the rain started to lighten up, several of our players started watching. The fans started doing the "train" so I told AJ Griffin (USD) and Kyle Gibson (Mizzou) to lead our own "train" on the field. The crowd, which was somewhat neutral at the beginning of the game, erupted when they saw this and was definitely behind us the rest of the game.

When the game resumed the next inning, Matt den Dekker (Florida) laid down a bunt that he beat out by half a step but the umpire called him out. The crowd behind us began yelling at the umpire and said "HE WAS SAFE" (with an accent).

When play started up again a guy with a megaphone yelled some more at the umpire, and then the umpire stopped the game and asked security to remove him. At this point another guy with a cast on his leg got on top of the dugout, pulled his pants down to his knees and mooned the umpire, again to an enormous eruption by everyone in the stands. He did it again in slow motion five minutes later, and when the police came over, he got back up on the dugout and started a chant that everyone repeated while the policeman said nothing to him.

The best part of the game obviously was holding on for a huge 1-0 victory over Cuba. Minor was honored as "Player of the Game" and afterwards he signed three balls in front of home plate and had me throw them into the crowd for him. Tomorrow we have an off day and should get to go sightseeing in Amsterdam.

The roster for the 2008 National Team has been cut down to 20, with two more to be named later. Now that the exhibitions and trials are over, we start the real portion of the summer tour tonight in Greenville, S.C., with a six-game series against Chinese Taipai.

The last three days of trials down in Columbia, S.C., were really nice. South Carolina's boosters hosted several nice meals for the team at Columbia Blowfish Stadium. We had two intersquad scrimmages with a game in the middle against the Blowfish. In the real game, Kentrail Davis (from Tennessee) hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 8th to take the lead for good.

In the last scrimmage before cuts, I was down in the pen the whole game when Coach Price (from Kansas) came down and told me I'm pinch hitting for Davis, and I'm up first next inning. It was a pretty interesting situation since I haven't seen real live pitching since high school. However, I got in the box, took a 94 mph fastball outside for a ball and then put the next fastball in play and grounded out to first. (here's the official box score)

It was tough letting 12 guys go yesterday, but we are really excited about the group of guys on the team and are ready to head to Europe in a few weeks to hold onto our "gold."

The last couple days have been the most interesting of the trip so far, on and off the field. We've been able to get a better feel for different areas of New England through our lodging the last few nights. It started with a ski resort up in the Berkshire Mountains called Jiminy Peak, as well as the historic Yankee Pedlar (which the guys are convinced is haunted) in Torrington, built in 1891.

Last night, on the last night of this part of the tour, we stayed in dorms at Salve Regina College in Newport, R.I. When speaking of Vanderbilt, I tell people that it is the nicest college campus I've been to, but I'd have to say Salve Regina is a close 2nd place. The edge of campus ends with the famous Cliff Walk of Newport that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean along all the incredible mansions in town.

After dropping a game to the Pittsfield Dukes on the morning of the 17th, we rode an hour and a half to Torrington, Conn., to take on the Twisters in the nightcap of a two-city double-header due to a rain postponement. We quickly turned our play around with 15 runs (four homeruns) in support of Mike Minor's scheduled four inning start in which he gave up no runs on only four hits.

The next night we had to take batting practice through a constant rain in preparation for our game against the Chinese Olympic Team coached by former MLB Rookie of the Year and manager in the big leagues, Jim Lefebvre. Stephen Strasburg (SDSU) started the game and had a perfect game through his four innings, including 10 strikeouts. Team USA finished with an astounding 22 strikeouts of Chinese batters leading the way to a 7-1 victory.

Last night, in our last game in the NECBL against Chase Reid and Joey Manning's club in Newport, R.I., Team USA was able to win its third straight game, 8-3. It's always fun coming to Newport on the tour because of how Cardines Field, where the Newport Gulls play, is oriented. Both dugouts are side by side on the first baseline, the teams have to share a single bullpen down the third baseline, and the right field foul line is the edge of a bar that juts into what would be fair territory. In my opinion, those two are the luckiest guys from the Commodores with their location of their summer team, but I still haven't been up to the Cape to visit teammates up there.

Today we are headed to Fayetteville, N.C., to start the two week portion of the tour in the Carolinas before heading to the Netherlands for the first tournament in Europe.

It was pretty exciting after USA's win Friday against Alex Hilliard's Holyoke Blue Sox when the General Manager told us the Boston Red Sox invited us to come take batting practice at Fenway Park.

So, we got up early Saturday morning and rode the bus into Boston. Pulling up to Yawkey Way for the first time since last fall made me sick to my stomach. I was able to make it up here for games 6 and 7 of the ALCS to see former Commodore Jensen Lewis and his Cleveland Indians play against the Sox to hopefully win one of two games to go to the World Series.

We all know what happened, and nothing is worse for me then to see the city of Boston and all of New England celebrate. Before two years ago when my Colts finally won the Super Bowl, I had built up a hatred for this region. Nonetheless, our time at the ballpark was incredible.

We arrived and walked the entire field and got to take pictures in front of The Pesky Pole and saw the infamous red seat. Then we got a tour of the whole stadium from the Monster Seats to the luxury boxes and up through the press box before going back down for BP.

The wind was blowing in from right so it was nearly impossible to hit it out that way. Hunter Morris from Auburn was the only lefty to go deep, and his teammate Brian Fletcher put on a good show by hitting some balls over the monster. There were several other righties who took a few deep. During the last round, they let me step in for five cuts and I got a good piece of the last two (see photo gallery below).

It was unfortunate to get our first loss that night against the North Shore Navigators, 6-3. We are on our way now to North Adams for two days and will hopefully get to watch the Lakers start their comeback tonight.

View my photos from Fenway - CLICK HERE