Series #16 vs Great Lakes

My world continued on as normal even though exactly a week ago I was in the White House with the President (!!!). Pretty lame if you ask me but the Lugnuts did play well this week and I had two good outings on the mound. We went 3-3 bringing our season record to 41-48. I got to pitch on Wednesday and Saturday.

After returning from DC late on Monday night, I felt like a zombie at the field on Tuesday. I was exhausted - mentally and physically - and probably could have put together the energy to pitch but was grateful to have the day to rest. I wrote last week’s blog on Wednesday morning, which was one of the most enjoyable blogs I’ve written; it helped me relive the experience and ensures that I’ll have those moments in writing forever. My phone was buzzing for the rest of the week with friends and family reaching out, which was incredible.

On Wednesday night, I threw three scoreless innings. I came in after the starter in the 4th inning: ground out, pop up, fly out. 5th inning: ground out, infield single, ground out, fly out. 6th inning: strikeout, ground out, ground out. I was one weak infield ground ball away from going nine up, nine down. The talk of the broadcast was my trip to D.C. since our announcer, Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, is a consistent reader of the blog. Big shoutout to him for that.

On Friday and Saturday, a couple of local Lansing new stations came to interview me about my experience at the White House. I answered a few questions about what it was like sitting at a table with the President and why it was important for me to be there. In case you missed it, here is my blog from last week.

I got to pitch again on Saturday, coming in the game in a big spot. I entered in the 5th inning - after the starter - with a 2-1 lead. My first inning went strikeout, fly out, strikeout and my second inning went strikeout, double, ground out, pop up. I felt smooth on the mound and had all of my pitches working for strikes. We ended up winning the game 2-1 and I got the win. Here is some video of my strikeouts:

In this second strikeout, I throw a 1-2 changeup in the dirt. The batter doesn't swing at it but the next pitch I throw, a fastball painted low and in, looks just like the changeup for majority of the trip to the plate - which is why he just looks at it. The changeup set the fastball up perfectly, a great sequence called by my catcher, CJ Rodriguez.

My aunt and uncle came to town from Cleveland and got to see me pitch two scoreless innings. Last time they watched the Lugnuts play was in Cleveland last summer and I hadn’t pitched as well so I was thrilled they were in attendance on Saturday

The Lugnuts are on the road for the next two weeks heading to Iowa, about seven hours from Lansing. We’ll be playing the Quad Cities River Bandits (Kansas City Royals affiliate) in Davenport followed be a series against the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Minnesota Twins affiliate).

Thanks for reading! Go Nuts