A Night in Charlottesville with ASBA
On a freezing cold night back in December, I decided to pick one college baseball game to attend this spring outside of the Philadelphia Area. I came across an interesting matchup in late April down in Charlottesville, Virginia. Little did I know that I would be seeing the #1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers vs. the #1 RPI ranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. After our weekly staff meeting at the ASBA West Chester facility, Steve Van Note and I jumped in my car and made the 4 hour drive to Davenport Field on the campus of The University of Virginia. On the drive down Steve made about 100 phone calls to various contacts for our college coaches’ camps in Cincinnati and Western PA. I was consumed with the always daunting task of navigating I-95 and the Beltway in DC.
Upon arrival we were instantly greeted by two friends of All Star Baseball Academy, Chad Oxendine and Joey Hauge, coaches from the University of Richmond. Both are graduates and former players from Coastal Carolina University. We made the short walk to the stadium with the Spider coaches and in true college coach fashion all they wanted to know was how the 2011 prospects were doing in the Philadelphia area. Of course Steve and I spilled the beans on every ASBA player!
You might be asking why did I choose this game. Simple! There were former ASBA players and instructors all over the field. Where do I start? Phil Gosselin (Malvern Prep) crushes a 2-1 curve ball deep into the left field bleachers for a grand slam for UVA in the second, John Barr (Germantown Academy) plays a great left field and crushes two balls that were caught for outs. Jerry Oakes was making laps from the Coastal Carolina dugout to the bullpen every other inning. Reed Gragnani seemed to square up every pitch thrown at him. Keith Hessler warmed up twice but never got in. Dan Bowman was swinging out of his shoes on every pitch. His family was there cheering for UVA, except when Dan was hitting. Interesting situation there! Dan grew up right near UVA. Casey Fay, KC Royals Scout (former Temple Univ. Coach and former Univ. Delaware player) was locked into every pitch. Chris Cowell, former ASBA player and Univ. Richmond catcher, was there rooting for his high school teammate, Phil Gosselin.
Virginia prevailed 6-3 in a well-played game by both teams. Post game was almost as fun as watching the actual game. Steve and I caught up with all the coaches from both teams; again they all wanted to know how the 2011 area players were doing. Jerry Oakes had to jump on the bus for the 8 hour ride back to Myrtle Beach. I think he had a test on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. It was great to see him. Then said hello and caught up with players Rob Amaro, Steve Bruno, Keith Hessler, Dan Bowman, Reed Gragnani, John Barr and Phil Gosselin. UVA Coach McMullan took Steve and me on a tour of the stadium. All I have to say is WOW! The upgrades to the locker room, indoor hitting area, video room, weight room, board room, visitors’ locker room and coaches’ lounge were incredible. The last 20 minutes of our stay we spent time with the entire UVA coaching staff in the coaches’ lounge. What a facility!
Then, 4 ½ hours and two wrong turns later, Steve and I pulled into ASBA West Chester. I think I picked the right game back in December. This one was well worth the ride.
