Undefeated?

Sort of.

The day after I returned home from school (for good, yikes) I was in the high school main office filling out paper work so I could be the assistant coach for the JV baseball team at the school. I was getting right into it. Not having baseball anymore to play, it only made sense to take up my former coach on his offer to help him with the JV squad.

If I couldn't play, I might as well stay as close to the game that I love. So now I am a coach.

I graduated from college and now I am a coach. What in the world is happening??? A month ago we still had two weeks left to our season.

Since I made my coaching debut last week, we have gone 4-0. That's the most winning that I have been around in a while. I hit fungos (with my senior baseball gift) to the first baseman during infield/outfield and coach first base during the games. It truly is a lot of fun and I now have an extra appreciation for what a coach does. It really is super frustrating when the shortstop boots a routine grounder, or when a guy strikes out with the bases loaded or pops up to lead off an inning. I have done all of those things as a player but to experience them as a coach is quite something. It's all starting to make a little more sense now that I've seen it from the other side of the equation. I still have tons to learn as a coach but I'm starting to get the hang of it - or at least the assistant part!

Meanwhile, my apartment search in Boston continues. My job with the America East Conference awaits and I start in August. I've been all over Craigslist and have spoken to a very prominent family friend in the area to help me out. Things are looking up, too, as we get close to move in time and real world time.

On a side note I'm not sure how much longer I will be blogging for St. Mike's. If my duties are relieved by the school I will definitely keep the blog up and make sure to tell you where you can follow everything!

That's all for now. Just got back from practice and need to help dad with dinner...

Alumni

No more dorm rooms. No more 8 am class. No more dining hall food. No more baseball. No more documentaries. No more school.

Today was the last page of the final chapter of the book called "College."

Today was graduation.

A bittersweet day to say the least, graduation is something that I have been looking forward to for the last four years. The effort that I have put into school at all levels has physically and mentally drained me and it was time for it to be done (at least for the time being). I don't think it has fully sunk in yet that I won't be returning to St. Michael's next fall but I have definitely started to feel weird. I said goodbye to my roommates Ben and Mike today as we finished cleaning townhouse 106. It was an awkward moment, probably the most awkward moment the three of us have shared during our four years together. It started to sink in just then.

The graduation ceremony was very nice. Our commencement speaker, Jim Wall '74 who is an international HR executive, was engaging, humorous and very real with the graduates. I was skeptical about the speaker and was anticipating a dull mantra of cliche advice to follow our hearts and dreams. While Wall did throw in a few pieces of advice, he spoke with a tone that connected with us and added a freshness to his words. One of my good friends was named Valedictorian, another friend was our student speaker and I graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Finishing with a total running time of about 3 hours, graduation was a very fun day for me. I felt such pride and jubilation walking across the stage and I could see the same feelings with my classmates as they received there diplomas. Some raised them up over their heads, others made the Ric Flair "Wooooooo" sound, some kissed their diploma and others just walked down the stage face lit up by what they had just achieved. I am proud to be a member of the class of 2011 and to have shared my graduation day with my family and so many great friends.

Am I excited to not have to go to school again? Yes. But am I saddened by the fact that I said goodbye to professors, friends and a campus that were my life for four years? You bet.

Like I said, it was a very bittersweet day but there is so much that I am looking forward to and have been looking forward to once school was finished. I will be able to shower without sandals and cook all my own food without having to worry about philosophy reading. I have officially been hired by the America East Conference for a 10-month paid internship starting August 1st working with the communications and media relations department. To go along with that, I am moving to Boston and living in the most exciting sports city in America once again. I get to start coaching baseball and use the super #fresh fungo bat that Ben, Mike and I received on Senior Day. And I get to go home and have a little bit of a summer vacation with my family for the first time in a long time.

As I sit in my living room writing this post, I am thankful that I have a family here and that I will always have a family at One Winooski Park in Colchester.

I am proud to say I am now an alumnus of St. Michael's.

Mother's Day

When some college students arrive on campus, it is a glorious day for them because they feel like they have shed the bondage of parenthood. They do not have to live with their parents anymore, they can be free and finally "live."

When my parents left campus at the end of orientation four years ago, it was not an excuse to go wild or live it up because parents were gone. College was the first time that I did not go to school with one of my parents. My dad was my principal during elementary school and middle school while my mom was a business teacher at my high school. If anything, college was an invitation...

...an invitation to become closer to my parents, especially my mom. The first day of classes, after my Biology of Exercise class where I was completely confused about what would actually be due for next class, I called my mom. And so it continued for the next four years. My mom as listened to ranting and r

aving about classes, the work I have to do, professors, how the toilet is clogged or that there is a new hole in living room wall. She has heard it all over the last four years. I call my mom every morning on my way to the dining hall before breakfast even if I have nothing new or interesting to report. Being able to speak with her as soon as I wake up makes me feel at home which has allowed me to be successful in college. I usually call her at least once again later in the day as well. When I didn't have a meal plan last semester, any trip up to Burlington she would be stocked with frozen leftovers of lasagna, mac & cheese and Salisbury steak just so I would be able to easily whip up dinner. Spoiled? Maybe a little, but thankful every single day.

While college is something that I am still attached to and am not ready to give up just yet (I still have about a week before graduation), I am looking forward to getting back home and spending some time with mom. And dad and sister, of course, but today's is mother's day. So if you haven't already, get on the phone and call your mom. Tell her Happy Mother's Day.

And, perhaps, give her a call tomorrow morning on your way to breakfast at the dining hall.

So Long to the 'Doc'

Today was 'Senior Day.' I joined my fellow seniors, Mike McDonough and Ben Yodzio, in what would be our last home games of our 4-year careers at St. Michael's College.

We still have 2 more games on Wednesday against Norwich before we can officially hang up the cleats and let our mangled bodies recover from the wear and tear of playing close to 40 games in a month and a half.

Today got me thinking, though, about the best moments that I have experienced on our home field - 'Doc Jacobs Field.' The Doc is a one of a kind park. And I will miss it so. I speak for Mike and Ben for that same sentiment. We will all miss it and the fun we have had playing on it.

So, here we go on another stroll down memory lane counting down Moments on the Doc...

5. An 'Almost' Bat Flip: Four years ago, one Senior Day no less, we welcomed Amherst College to the Doc. We lost the first game of the double header but rallied to be knotted in a tie contest late in game 2. Bottom of the seventh, we have a runner on second and our senior captain Evan Grenier is at the dish. Evan laced a ball up the middle and around came Jimmy Chadwick from second. The centerfielder's throw was just in time to get Jimmy at home. When Evan hit the ball he promptly bat flipped thinking the run would score easy. In retrospect, it was obviously a preemptive flip but it was still a great moment. We would end up losing the game in extras.

4. A Battle Under the Line My sophomore year was marked but sporadic appearances in the outfield when our centerfielder would enter the game to pitch. I finished the season with 10 officials at-bats. In one of our final home games that season (against the College of St. Joseph), Jeff McLaughlin and I were very close to each other for the top batting average of those who did have enough at-bats to qualify for the team lead. I entered the afternoon 3-7 on the season and Jeff was 2-5. I went 2-3 with a triple and Jeff was 0-3. I finished the season hitting .500 - tops among below the line hitters.

3. My First Collegiate Win Before I got to college the last time I had pitched was in 8th grade. Southern New Hampshire University led 8-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning and 11-5 entering the eighth, but we scored three runs in the seventh and six in the eighth to tie the game. After a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, SNHU reliever Mike Evans had trouble with us in the bottom half. With no one out and the bases loaded, Matt Beaulieu drew a four-pitch walk forcing in the winning run for a 12-11 come-from-behind win. I earned my first collegiate win that day pitching the final inning and a third.

2. Last NE-10 Win The last time we beat an NE-10 Conference opponent was in 2008 when Stonehill College made a visit. Mike was on the hill for us and we soon found out that the Skyhawks could hit some massive, massive fly balls. They obviously had never played at the spacious confines of the Doc (667 feet to dead center, 360 down the left field line and about 410 down the right). Our outfielders were playing so deep but Mike pitched to the park and we beat Stonehill 9-4. Home run balls in any other park are routine (deep) fly balls when you play at St. Mikes.

1. So Long to the 'Doc' Ben, Mike and I will never play another meaningful game on Doc Jacobs Field. Today was a bitter sweet day. We lost both games to the Assumption Greyhounds but we did celebrate our careers with 27 of our best friends. Until the alumni game next fall, So long 'Doc'.

Yours in Baseball,

Ben, Mike and Pete

Ode to Baseball

Good evening folks,

It has come to my attention, that the St. Michael's College baseball team only has five scheduled dates left in this, the 2011 season. That is correct - 5 days of baseball games left, one week and a half left, 9 games left.

That really isn't the scary part.

My dad came up to Burlington this weekend to take in our games against St. Lawrence. We played two on Friday and our series finale was rained out on Saturday. He was instructed by my mom to take me to Dick's Sporting Goods to pick out a small Easter present. I went directly to the baseball section and then stopped, thought about the rest of the season, left that section of the store and suddenly a very heavy weight came over me. We left Dick's without making a purchase. I couldn't bring myself to get anything.

Why? Because in a week in a half my baseball career will be over. I will never play a meaningful baseball game ever again in just 10 days. It is a sad realization to come to because of how great baseball is and how great baseball has been to me. To even begin to think that it is going to be over in a matter of days is frightening.

I once had a coach who believed, and in turn got his players to believe, in not making ourselves bigger than the game. "Don't make yourself bigger than the game," he would always tell us. It took me a couple of seasons without him as a coach to realize what he meant. His mantra had nothing to do with swing mechanics, how to field a ground ball, what pitch to throw in a certain count or when to steal a base. But it had everything to do with playing for the love of the game and leaving it all out there when we were between the lines. The game of baseball does not owe those who have played it anything. It is those who have played it, grown to love it and made a living playing it that owe everything to it. I understand that this sounds a bit philosophical. But it is really quite simple. What have I ever done for the game of baseball? Absolutely nothing.

But what has baseball done for me? It has provided me with experiences, with memories, with friends and with family. I will always remember my first collegiate hit during our spring training trip to Florida in 2008. There is no doubt I will ever forget my first pitching appearance - 6 strikeouts in two innings of work when I was 8 years old. Memories of being converted from a first basemen to an all-tournament outfielder, of beating Palm Beach Atlantic, of hitting three doubles in one game, of throwing out runners at home from center field and of making diving catches to rob hits, will forever be with me. I will forever cherish the teammates baseball has provided me with, the baseball family that I have come to know.

I always hate to see players arguing with umpires or quit the game because they don't like playing for a coach. That is what making yourself bigger than the game is. I don't play for the coach, I don't play to argue calls, I don't play because I feel like I can be the best player since...whoever. I play because it's baseball and it's the greatest game there is. Those who play, are so fortunate to have an opportunity to play. Compared to what? What else could I be doing instead of playing baseball? I have had the chance to do something that so many people will never do - play college baseball.

I've only got a handful of games left in my baseball career. So what have I done all day today? Watched baseball on TV all day and played a little game of catch (of course, though, taking it easy on my shoulder).

why dont you post more often, pete. i know that school is demanding right now as is baseball, but some people seem to manage it. its much better to be sharp than dull, especially when youre writing a blog. -20

Valued reader; as a matter of fact I was just thinking today that I need to post on my blog here very soon because I have been severely slacking when it comes to keeping readers happy with new content. So, keep an eye out in the next few hours for a post. I can guarantee that. Plus, it will be much more sharp than dull when finished. -1

Ask me anything!

Hope it's a good game today against Southern New Hampshire University! Say hi to Zach for me- sorry I can't be there to see you both play! Leslie LeBarron

Hey Leslie! It was nice to see Zach the other day. He didn't pitch but we chatted before the game.

Ask me anything!