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6.16

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. That’s all I can say about that!!! Let’s hear it for your National Champions.

I broke from my daily routine of writing as things happened. My mind was too focused on this game to write during the day. So I’m writing you now. As Alex Prendes threw that last pitch, and I saw it pop up, my body went numb. I ran out to go pick him up, and found myself in the middle of a pile. Pain never felt so good in my life.

I am so proud of my teammates. All the hard work and extra batting practice paid off. This team was destined from the beginning to prove to ourselves, and everyone else doubting us, that we were the best team in the land. When people wrote we weren’t that good, it only provided more motivation. The fact that we were viewed as underdogs by some of the experts in this tournament, only fueled the fire. We were calm and relaxed, but that was not to be confused with unfocused.

My career here at the University of Miami has come to a conclusion. It has been an honor and a privilege to play in front of the fans at Mark Light Stadium. To those of you who came out to Omaha to support us, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I will miss every one of you out there. It has been a great ride, and I hope I have meant as much to you as you all have meant to me. I promise to try to say hi to each and every one of you that come out to Mark Light on Monday night at 6:30 PM.

Miami Hurricanes Baseball 2001 National Champions!!!

6.15

I woke up this morning a little earlier than usual. As it’s getting closer to the championship game, I’m getting more and more anxious.

Today is a very easy day. We are going over to Rosenblatt today at 11:30 to stretch and begin practice. Some of the guys here (KB, Chewy, Matienzo, Farmer and Coach) are doing a press conference for the NCAA. They’ll join us a little later. We’ll have about 1 hour on the field, so it looks like we’ll hit BP and after that, probably do some TV interviews.

Just got back to the hotel. We are going to be in game meetings most of the day, so I’m going to be cutting today’s diary a bit short. We will be watching a little film and going over our different scouting reports for most of the evening. I’ll probably grab a bite to eat from room service and spend the rest of the evening here in the hotel. We have an 11 PM curfew tonight, which is the earliest we’ve had all season. It’s for the best. No reason why we should be focusing on anything else, other than the championship. Make sure you tune into CBS tomorrow or listen to it on our web site. Wish us luck

6.14

You will not believe what happened last night after I finished my diary. Very late in the evening, I was watching TV and I heard a siren outside. It took me a little while to figure out exactly what it was. Then in dawned on me that it was a Tornado alarm.

We went down into the lobby, where the Double Tree staff directed us into the Grand Ballroom. There were no windows around us, so I guess this was the safest room in the hotel. Anyway, we were there for about 40 minutes and were allowed to go back. I was a part of Hurricane Andrew back in the early 90’s, but I’ve never seen anything with such short warning as a tornado. Fortunately it didn’t come near us, but just the same. I’d rather see it, than be surprised.

We’ve had breakfast and are about to board the bus to Rosenblatt Stadium. Today we’ll be facing Tennessee. Kiki Bengochea will be on the mound for us. Our pitching staff is ready. We gave up 13 runs last game, and we are committed not to repeat that. Rosenblatt is so tough to play in, in the sense that the wind is usually blowing out. That makes it more offensive friendly.

One More!!!!!! We’ll be taking on Stanford Saturday afternoon. They’ve got a really good team. We’re going to go over the scouting reports tomorrow. Tonight? We’re going to a steak dinner. Mr. Dee, our Athletic Director, is taking us to a really nice restaurant. I’m just finishing up ironing my shirt and will write when I get back.

What a meal. I had a t-bone steak, baked potato and desert. It was a very cool evening, full of entertainment. There’s a tradition with this team that every rookie on the road, at some point or another, must get up in front of the group and sing. We’ll since there were no more rookie players, we made our Assistant Director of Marketing Alex Kelley get up and sing before the group. After being introduced by our pitching coach Lazer, and some coaching by Kevin Brown, he performed a stirring rendition of I’m a Little Teapot. That wasn’t all. For most of you who didn’t know, tonight was pitcher Vince Vazquez’ birthday. We had a cake brought over and sang Happy Birthday. When pressed for a speech, Vince gave us very few words. We’re going to have to work on that.

I’m going to bed in a few minutes. We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow. We’ll have practice at about noon, but there’s a pre-practice press conference. Just one more win. That’s all we need.

6.13
I woke up this morning feeling really anxious. We’re going to go to breakfast now and from there practice. I can’t wait to step onto the field tomorrow and play Tennessee. It was a marathon of a game, and I have a feeling that this one might be a little different. Some of our pitchers were playing in their first CWS game and it’s not unusual to be a bit nervous. I know I was in my first game out here in Omaha. I’m looking forward to Saturday.

We just got back from practice. Coach is giving us the afternoon to rest up. It was a pretty good practice. We did a bit of situational drills and took batting practice. Kevin Brown and Danny Matienzo both hit a couple of home runs that went out of the Bellview East High School field and hit the houses across the street. Granted the wind WAS blowing out, but I think they could have done it anyway. Mike DiRosa and I were working on some catching drills with Coach Kingston.

Tonight I won’t do much. I’m going to watch the Stanford vs. Cal State Fullerton game, though. If Stanford wins, they will be in the Championship game. If they lose, the two will play again on Friday. Stanford hasn’t lost yet, so Cal State has to beat them twice. This is the same in our situation. We are in control of our destiny right now. Let’s hope we know where we’re going.

6.12

This morning should be a lot of fun. I’m about to go to breakfast right now. From there we are having an autograph session in the hotel lobby and will be going to the Boys Town this afternoon. I’m curious to see the facilities there. I’ve heard that they are nice, and that it is definitely an experience everyone should undertake.

The autograph session was pretty cool. There were a lot of our fans there. I ended up doing a couple of interviews with Fox Sports Net in the lobby, and from there went into one of the ball rooms for the autograph session. We signed quite a few posters and baseballs, but it was a lot of fun. It amazes me how many of our fans have taken the time off of work to follow us here and cheer us on. It means a lot to me and the players to know that there are people who care about us that much. My family is here as well, so it’s given my family a chance to meet the families of our other players as well as our fans. My years here at UM have been very special and it’s moments like these I’ll never forget. We’re getting ready to board the bus leaving for Boys Town. I should be back here at the hotel in about 3 hours.

I never imagined how difficult life has been for some of these children. Words can’t describe what I was feeling while we were there at Boys Town. The event started with us coming into this giant room and seeing hundreds of kids waiting on the floor for us. As we walked in, they started clapping and screaming for us. It gave me chills to see this many kids so happy to see us. Chewey and KB got up and spoke to the kids. One of the priests there acted as a moderator and took questions from the kids. They were a smart group, and asked a lot of interesting questions, such as: As a leader, how do you rally to keep the team together when times are tough? Who is the player on the team that keeps everyone in check? How is the team disciplined when someone does something wrong? Who is the best player?

Chewey was great up on the platform. He spoke to the kids and was able to relate with them. Having come from a similar background, he just wanted the kids to know that he’s been in their shoes and was able to graduate college with a degree. He stressed the education factor, and told them to always follow their dreams.

After the speech, we took a tour of Boys Town. The tour guides were students at Boys Town, and they led us through the Hall of History. We saw the actual Oscar Award presented for the movie about Boys Town, as well as statues and interactive models about the entire history. Life for these kids has been so difficult. It makes me very appreciative of all I have been given. When I’m going through a hitting slump, or an injury on the field, you can sometimes get down on yourself and wonder why things are going to bad. A trip like this helps put all of that into perspective. After all, baseball is only a game. But through it, I hope that I have impacted the lives of some of these kids. If I did, then my career here at UM was a success.

6.11

We are in for the game of our lives today. As I’m writing this, we have just finished our team breakfast, and are about to go into our scouting report meetings. The pitcher on the mound for USC today is the real deal. I’ve been told that he will be starting his 4th College World Series game. So he’s a veteran. It’s time to see how to play these guys.

We’re just about ready to leave to the park right now. It will be good to get into the cages and work out some of these jitters. We’re in for a dogfight. They said the wind is blowing out, so I hope weren’t not in for another marathon of a game.

WOOOOOH!!!! I am pumped. I hope you guys stayed up to watch that game. If not, check out ESPN. We had a whole highlight reel of Plays of the Day. Chewey’s catch in centerfield was spectacular. And KB (Kevin Brown) made a remarkable catch over the first base wall as well as catching one of my plays. I’ve already heard my name mentioned in Sportscenter like 10 times. The first highlight was of my double. I got a real good pitch to look at. As I said in the press conference, with the infield playing in, they made a 300 hitter a 400 hitter. The final highlight involved a wild pitch. I thought one the strikeout, the batter kicked the ball as it got away from me. I chased it and made a diving underhanded toss to Kevin at first. He did an incredible job in fielding that one. There wasn’t a whole lot of room for error on that one.

All year long, we’ve heard that on paper we’re not the favored team. But it’s like we feed off each other. When we’re out there, we have total confidence in each other’s ability. Remember, this isn’t an individual sport…it’s a team sport. And that’s exactly what we are.

6.10

Boy it feels good to have won that first one. I woke up this morning feel good about our chances. It was good to see that when one part of our game is struggling, the other part steps up and gets the job done. I think that this has been the key to our success so far, that when one guy is done another steps up.

We started the morning by having breakfast. From here, we are going to Bellview East High School for practice. It will be good to go out there and get some hitting in. I hope we can keep our hot bats going.

We just got back in from practice. I never thought I would see the day where our pitchers would step up to the plate. It happened today. Just when I thought practice had finished, and we were all in a huddle, Coach Morris told us that he wanted the pitchers to divide themselves into two teams, and take their hacks at the plate. I knew from the beginning, this would be fun. All season long, they have been telling us how easy hitting is, and that it is much harder for a pitcher to try to get someone out. It was put up or shut up time. All I can say is that we did our fair share of heckling the pitching staff. Some of them actually put together some good at bats. TJ, Dan and Alex all homered, with TJ almost hitting two. The rest, though, didn’t fair so well. We’re heading out of here at 3:30 to the Oak Hills Country Club. The Downtown Rotary Club has invited us out there for dinner and competition. From what I’ve heard, we’re having a driving contest and a putting contest.

After a few awkward swings, I am proud to tell you that my last drive went 300 yards. Thank you. Thank you. Some of the coaches thought I wouldn’t fare too well, but I showed them. I also showed ESPN just what I could do. Stay tuned, you’ll witness it for yourself. ESPN was on hand to film a “Behind the Scenes’ show about the University of Miami baseball team in Omaha. In fact, they have given me a video camera to use for the next day and a half. They want me to take film of all the different things that we do between games. I can say that during the banquet, I put the camera to good use. Coach Morris was called up to speak, and he invited us Co-Captains (Vince Vaquez and myself) to get up and speak. You know me…I was the first to the microphone. But Vince managed to wrestle it away from me so he spoke first. My remarks were short and sweet, but it was the perfect stage to introduce the winner of the driving contest, freshman pitcher TJ Prunty. And in keeping with freshman tradition, we invited TJ to step up in front of the crowd and sing to the audience. TJ chose to sing Happy Birthday to Vince, who’s birthday is next week. And I am proud to say, that we have it on tape. I hope ESPN uses it.

We’ll meet tomorrow morning and go over all we need to know about USC. I hear that their pitcher is very good. I’m positive that our coaching staff will give us the information we need to take advantage of any weaknesses they have.

6.9

Today is the day! It’s round one of the College World Series. I had a little trouble sleeping last night. I guess it’s because I’ve realized that this is going to be my last change at a National Championship. We woke up this morning at about 9 AM and had our team breakfast. Most of the morning will be spent getting into focus.

I had lunch at one of the local outdoor grills. The food here is pretty good. We’re just about to board the bus, heading for Rosenblatt Stadium. The guys are pumped. We have been given some good information about Tennessee. The pitcher that’s starting tonight was chosen in the sandwich round of the draft, between the 1st and 2nd round. He’s supposed to be pretty good. I guess time will tell just how good he really is. We’ll be arriving at the ballpark at about 4:00 PM. I’ll be taking some pictures, so make sure to keep checking our web site for them.

It’s about midnight right now. We just got back from the game. What a slugfest! We were up on them 9-0 and they had a sixth run inning to start making things real close. It was just one of those games. The final score was 21-13. I heard that we set some new records, including longest 9 inning game (4 hours 22 min.) and number of pitchers used. It was good to see that our offense came alive. I’m just happy to be back in the hotel with a win. You can take a long game like that, as long as you walk out the victor.

6.8

Similar routine this morning, but with a twist. We woke up again at about 9:00 AM and had our team breakfast. We practiced this morning at Bellview West High School. Again, we discussed the different tendencies that Tennessee has. If there’s one thing our coaches are doing, it’s preparing us for as many scenarios as possible. As I write this, we are on our way to meet the President of the United States. Each team’s head coach and player captains (Vince Vazquez and myself) have the chance to shake hands with the president before his first pitch during the Tulane vs. Stanford game. I’m a little nervous to meet President Bush. But it should be fun.

What an experience! I’m still pumped about meeting President Bush. We brought a digital camera along with us, and the pictures should be on our web site, along with my diary. You definitely need to check them out. I never imagined there would be this many secret service agents around. We went through quite a few medal detectors and met with the President in one of the locker rooms. He was cracking jokes with the players and seemed to really be enjoying himself. I sure know I was.

I don’t plan on doing too much tonight. I’m pretty anxious about tomorrow night’s game. Right now I’m watching the Standord vs. Tulane game. Stanford had an 8 run lead on Tulane, and lost it. Tulane had a big inning and kept chipping away. As of now, Tulane is up. We gotta remember this game tomorrow. If we should find ourselves trailing, don’t give up. Let’s just keep chipping away. We’re capable of scoring runs…we have to remember that. The night before a game involves a lot of mental work….trying to get focused, and remember all that you went over in the previous two practices.

I’m going to try to go to bed early tonight, but I’m not sure how much sleep I’ll get. It’s been an adrenaline filled day. Can you blame me for a little insomnia?

6.7

I got up this morning at 8:30. Today is going to be an exciting day. There are a bunch of things going on at Rosenblatt Stadium. It should be pretty cool. We get to take our head-shots for ESPN and then we practice on the field. After a team barbecue on the field, there will be a team autograph session in the concourse as well as the Opening Ceremonies, with a homerun derby and fireworks.

We just finished up our practice. I felt good out there, but the conditions were a little weird. The ball didn’t’ feel like it was jumping off the bat. The win is coming in from left field, so if you’re a right handed hitter, it feels impossible to hit one out. The ball gets help up in the wind and dies. Now if you’re a lefty, look out. You definitely have the advantage. We’re heading over to the concourse now for our autograph session. There sure are a lot of fans out here. All the teams will be participating. They have it set up so that if you are a fan, you can start on one end and keep working your way down all the tables. By the time you are done, you have all eight teams’ autographs. From here, we’re going back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the Opening ceremony.

Opening ceremony was a little longer than I expected, but it was fun none the less. There were a couple of surprises. They had a parachutist land in the stadium carrying each team’s flag. They almost forgot to mention us, since we were the last team. When they did, the parachutist referred to us as the University of Florida. It was funny to watch one of the NCAA representatives go over and correct the guy…which he did. There was a home run derby during the ceremony. Just like practice, the right hand batters had their shots hang up in the air. The lefty who came up was hitting bombs. Definitely paid off for him to hit left handed. But from what I’ve heard, wind direction at this ballpark can change from one day to the next.

6.6

I woke up this morning at about 9 AM. We went downstairs to have our team breakfast. Pretty good meal…eggs, toast, waffles, etc. After breakfast, we’ll be heading out to our practice. This morning, we’ll start to go over the different situations that may occur during a game. That means, what some of their players might do if they’re batting with two outs, or what sort of pitches their pitcher likes to throw when there’s a guy on first base.

Practice went pretty good. There definitely is a lot of information to go over. We can not take Tennessee too lightly. At this point, every team in the College World Series is the best in baseball right now. I’m probably just going to take a shower and watch tv for about 2 hours. From here, we’re going to go out to dinner as a team.

It’s about 10 AM right now. We just came back from one of the local restaurants. I can’t remember the name right now. But they had a very nice buffet. We all just sat around and talked. Mostly about nothing. I kind of began to realize that this will be my last roadtrip as a Hurricane. I have definitely had some of the best years of my life with this team. I hope we can make this last just a bit longer. Not really planning on doing much this evening. I guess I’ll watch some TV for a while. Tomorrow should be a big day.

6.5

This is the first day of my diary from Omaha. With this being my senior year, and my last at UM, I feel a little more excited about this trip to Omaha then the previous ones. I guess it has to do with the fact that this will be the last time that I’ll be putting on a Hurricane Uniform. I definitely know I’ll miss it.

Well, we just got on the bus, leaving to the airport. We just had an incredible send off at Mark Light Stadium. The new president at UM Donna Shalala is really cool. She gave us a speech about how she played softball when she was a little girl and was coached by George Steinbrenner. Very interesting. She also mentioned that she was confident that we would come home with the title. I sure hope so. This was the most number of fans I have seen for one of our send offs. In 1999 it was kind of quiet. I can’t describe what it felt like to know that all these fans were behind us.

We just got into the hotel in Omaha. We are staying at the Downtown Double Tree Hotel. It is a pretty nice looking hotel. Our rooms have a work station, which makes it much easier to work on my diary. Our flight was pretty long. Right now, it’s about midnight here, which makes it 1 AM in Miami. We’ve got practice early morning, so I guess I’ll go to bed.