Connie Mack Player Entry Day #1

Jack Sexton

Day #1 for the Bayside Yankees began bright and early. We all arrived at LaGuardia Airport this morning at 6 AM. All of us were excited to begin our trip, but the early morning flight to Houston made us realize that we were a long way away from Farmington. After a brief delay on our way to Houston we arrived. With only a quick hour lay over in Houston we boarded our flight to Albuquerque. Upon arrival in New Mexico we began to see some of our competition. After we gathered our luggage a bus was waiting to bring us and a fellow Connie Mack World Series qualifying team (the Ann Arbor Travelers), to Farmington. We began the 3 and a half hour bus ride through the southwest countryside. As we approached our destination the overall excitement and energy level in the bus began to escalate. When we reached the Farmington city limits we were greeted with a police escort to Ricketts Field, for a quick tour of the stadium. The field was immaculate and everyone was getting very excited for our game their Saturday night. After seeing the field we jumped back into our bus and headed for the Farmington convention center. We stepped out of the bus and were greeted by our future host families. All of them were very excited to be having us. A local dance team escorted us into the convention center where we ate, registered for the tournament and sat through orientation, all before final splitting up with our different families. Lex and I were fortunate enough to be staying with the Ericson family. From the convention center the family brought us to get some ice cream before heading back to their home for the night. Day one was a great introduction into the Connie Mack World Series and I cannot wait to see what else is in store for us tomorrow.

Connie Mack WS Daily Entry # 2

Jack Sexton

Day 2 in Farmington for the bayside Yankees was great. The team arrived at the Connie Mack welcoming parade in the morning. The fact that the city of Farmington and all of our host families put so much effort on our float and on organizing the parade is what makes this tournament and experience so unique. The parade was a blast. The citizens of Farmington were lined on both sides of Main Street as we drove by and waved to the crowd. The entire team was having a fun on the float talking and laughing with the crowd as they wished us good luck in our games. Directly after the parade we went to Ricketts Park for a team picture before splitting up for lunch. The Erickson’s brought Lex and I to one of their favorite local Mexican restaurants so we could fully immerse ourselves in the New Mexico culture. After we finished our enchiladas we went to a local high school to practice and shed any rust before tomorrows big game. The team had a very serious and productive practice where we perfected all of our plays and coverage’s, which gave us confidence going into the tournament. After practice it was time to return back to Ricketts Park for the tournaments opening ceremonies, where each team was introduced before the second game of the evening began. When the introductions ended the team went into the stands to watch the defending champions, the Midland Redskins take on Team Puerto Rico. After a close game Midland pulled away in the last inning with a walk off homerun. Watching the game and feeling the energy of the crowd got the team pumped up and mentally prepared to take on the Cardinals. The stage is now set and the team is as ready as ever to play some baseball.

Connie Mack WS Daily Entry #3

Jack Sexton

When today began the team had only one goal in mind, and that was to beat the hometown Cardinals in our opener later that night. We started the day off with an early morning practice where we took batting practice and groundballs just to sharpen us up before the game. Coach talked to us and told us what to expect tonight and told us to not let the crowds input be a factor in our game. After practice everyone went home and anxiously awaited the 7:30 start time. After desperately trying to kill time for five hours it was finally time to report to the field. We all gathered in the batting cages behind the first base dugout. Everyone was very excited to play, the team energy was very high and everyone felt confident in our ability to win the nights game. When the game before us finally ended we took over the third base dugout and quickly warmed up. After each teams introductions it was time to play. The first four innings were scoreless; good pitching and strong defense from both teams dominated the game. Starting off in the fifth inning we were able to put together some hits, bunts, and smart at bats, which enabled us to squeeze a run across and take a one nothing lead. Without wasting anytime the Cardinals struck back, starting their half of the inning off with a triple. The run later scored on a passed ball. The game seemed to be at a stalemate until the bottom of the 8^th inning. Again good at bats and timely base hits moved runners into scoring position for our third basemen Robbie Knightes, who drove in the winning run, ending the extra inning thriller. It was an amazing feeling to get our first win under our belts, but now its time for the team to refocus for our next opponents, the D-Bat Mustangs-Dow.

Connie Mack WS Daily Entry #4

Jack Sexton

After yesterdays hard earned win, the team was rewarded today with a bye. The team was able to relax, practice and get ready to play the D-Bat Mustangs-Dow (TX). We had practice at 11:30, just to keep us loose and get couple of extra swings. Straight from practice we all rushed over to Ricketts Park to watch the Connie Mack WS Homerun Derby, where our very own, Quinn Carpenter would try to take home the trophy. After watching some very impressive rounds by players from the Florida Legends, Midland Redskins, and the Ann Arbor Travelers, Quinn was up and knew that all he needed was to hit three homeruns to advance into the next round. After starting off hot with a homerun to dead center field that carried close to 450 feet, Quinn simmered off and collected a couple more outs. He blasted one more homerun, but just could not get the third to advance. Never the less, Quinn proved the entire coaching staff wrong and hit two more homeruns than they thought he was able to hit. The team had a great time at the derby watch the shots being hit, and cheering for Quinn. The derby was ultimately one by a member of the D-Bat Mustang’s Carpenter team, who only needed to hit one HR in the final round to clinch the championship. When the derby ended Lex and I went back home and enjoyed a great dinner, and then decided to play a friendly game of badminton in the back yard. Robbie and Sage came over shortly after, and we began playing the sport more competitively than it had ever been played before. Today was a fun and relaxing day but tomorrow will be all business as we return to the diamond to seek another victory.

Connie Mack WS Daily Entry #5

Jack Sexton

Going into the day we knew that our game tonight was going to play a close one. The D-Bat Mustang Dow team makes few errors, has good pitching and a very strong offense, but we were up for the challenge. We took a light batting practice around noon, and worked on situational hitting, knowing than any time we had a runner in scoring position we would need to drive him in.  From practice we had a team dinner and Olive Garden. The team mood was very energetic, and we were excited to play another game under the lights. When everyone arrived at the ballpark, it was all business. Taking serious BP and a focused warm up. As the home team we took the field first. Quinn was on the mound and had very good control of his stuff early on. We started the game off with a strong one, two, three inning, and then immediately went on the offensive putting one running on the board to start off the game. The D-Bat’s wasted no time, returning fire with two runs of their own. This back and forth style of play was a reoccurring theme all day until we were finally at a stalemate with five runs apiece. The game went into the eighth inning, The Mustangs were pressing with a man on third and two outs. Luckily for them a single up the middle scored their runner and gave them a one run lead going into the bottom of the eighth. Isaac led off the inning with a walk, which gave us a resurgence of energy and hope, until he was doubled off on a line out hit by Lex. The loss was bitter, and disappointing but after fighting hard and coming back from multiple deficits we felt that we had played a good game, but it just wasn’t enough to win. Now tomorrow we face the Ann Arbor Traveler in hopes to resurrect our season, keep our Connie Mack hopes alive, and most importantly, get Coach Cuseta his 2,000^th carrier victory.

Connie Mack WS Daily Entry #6

Jack Sexton

This afternoon we were playing the Ann Arbor Travelers in an elimination game. After a short BP session we arrived at the field hoping that tonight would not be the last night of our season. The Travelers wasting no time putting runs on the board, scoring two in the first off of an RBI double, one in the second, and then two more in the third. Eventually The Travelers grew their lead to eight. We were only able to get two of those runs back, one of which came from a homerun from Andrew La Mura. It was a rough game from top to bottom with the final score being 8-2. Being eliminated is very disappointing but our overall experience at the Connie Mack World Series was unforgettable. I would like to thank all of our host families, especially the Erickson’s, for than amazing kindness, generosity, and hospitality that they showed us. I would also like to thank the city of Farmington for putting together such a great experience for all of us, and of course our coaching for all that they have done for us. Playing in the Connie Mack World Series was a once in a lifetime experience, and it is something that I would treasure with me for the rest of my life.