Friday, May 16, 2008

TUSCULUM BASEBALL NOTEBOOK: PLAYER BLOG NO. 2 – AARON HUDGINS

TAMPA --- The following is the second player blog by junior shortstop Aaron Hudgins. Hudgins, a native Kingsport, Tenn. Scored Tusculum’s lone run in the Pioneers’ 5-1 loss to Catawba College Friday night in day two action of the NCAA Division II South Region Baseball Tournament.

Aaron Hudgins Blog No. 2

Friday, May 16, 2008

10:30 a.m. --- Today I woke up around 10:30, enough time to lay around and get ready for lunch at Ya Ya's, a chicken joint in downtown Tampa.  We went there a few times last year and had to make the trip back again. 

1:00 p.m. --- We arrived at Ya Ya’s for lunch. Great to be back.

1:45 p.m. --- After leaving Ya Ya's we arrived back at the hotel, then a few of the guys including me took the shuttle to Channelside because we had some time to spare, it's only about a five minute drive. 

2:00 p.m. --- Once we arrived there we went to some shops one of which being Sports City which had a lot of Yankees and Red Sox apparel that I'm not that fond of, being a Cleveland Indians fan.  We spent about an hour or so walking around just checking out the little shops.  If there was more time we may have had the chance to go to the aquarium which looks very nice from the outside. 

3:05 p.m. --- After a short ride back I came back to the room for a short nap before we headed back to Yankee Town for batting practice.  Today was a lot less rushed because we were able to leave on time and had time to take full rounds of BP.  After leaving Yankee Town we decided to try to find a quicker way to the tournament site, and actually did imagine that! 

5:45 p.m. --- We arrived a bit early so the Tampa v. Florida Tech game was only in the seventh inning.  Tampa ended up winning the game 10-7 and eliminating Florida Tech. 

7:15 p.m. --- Our game got started about 15 minutes late because the previous one took so long.  Catawba got off to a quick start going up 1-0, then added to their lead with a two-run homer by SAC Player of the Year David Thomas.  But (Rob) Currie battled and settled down striking out the side in the next inning.  We hit the ball hard all night, but couldn't find the holes. We had to tip our hats to starting pitcher Alex Fairweather… he pitched a good game.  We finally pushed one run across in the ninth but it wasn't enough, so we match up with Carson Newman again tomorrow at three o'clock. 

10:00 p.m. --- After the game we came back to our hotel rooms and ate pizza and watched the second half of the Celtics v. Cavs game and got ready for bed to go at it again tomorrow.