"Going, Going, Gonzo" - A baseball blog by Kevin Gonzalez

* Last weekend was a great one for us, as we swept a good Le Moyne team. It felt good to get out of the routine of practicing every day and actually get the opportunity to play someone other than yourself. To us, it didn’t really feel as if it was a season opener but more along the lines of picking up where we left off last year, without even having a break in between. I really felt that the team came out strong and ready to play, especially after getting the jitterbugs out on Friday and getting down to business on the weekend. All-around, we felt that the team did an outstanding job of throwing strikes, swinging the bat and fielding on the diamond. It was great to see how Coach Childress was able to use mutiple guys in the games, and get them a chance to play and get all the nervousness out of the new guys. When you see a performance like that out of freshmen and transfers that have never played on a stage like you do here, with a great crowd that we have, it makes it that much better to say, "Wow, we have a great team that didn’t buckle under the lights."

* You may wonder why we play the "wolfpack" song after the third out in the top of the first inning, as we're sprinitng off the field. I see a lot of fans up in the stands giving the "wolfpack" sign and I always wonder if they know what it actually means. Well, here it is: Four years ago, Coach Deggs took over a new set of offense and the way to describe us hitters, he called us a pack of wolves. They are some of the most dominant hunting animals on the earth that cannot function without each other. So from that day, we took it on ourselves to be known as a "wolfpack." One guy after another being there to back the other up in any situation. It's like our own fraternity … no pitchers are allowed, except maybe Stilson. But, hey, we let that guy do whatever he wants to do as long can he gets wins for us … haha. Some of us have taken it to a certain extent to where the 'pack means so much to us that they actually went and got wolves tattooed on their body. That just shoes how much chemistry and belief we have in one another.

* Let it be known that a lone wolf can never take down buffalo on his own. But in a pack, you can take down much greater things in life if you work together. So there you have it, ladies and gents … that is the reason for the wolfpack song. So now you have some story to put behind it, on how we came up with that song. Next week, I'll let y'all in on a little secret on what Coach Childress likes to call his pitching staff. Even though the pitchers and hitters are on one team, the 'pack always stands strong. “For the strength of the 'pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the 'pack.”

* In regards to our new third base coach, Andy Sawyers, I feel that he is doing a tremendous job with the offense. Yeah, we miss a couple of signs here or there, but hey, who is to say that we're perfect … we had one month to learn a whole new set of signs. But as a team, we feel we let him right in and gave him the wheel, and he's been great in steering us in the right way. A lot of the guys didn’t know Coach Sawyers since they never played for him. But me, I'm like a, what, eight-year veteran (lol … I'm just messing). But because I was here for so long, I was able to play for Coach Sawyers my first year that I actually caught for the Aggies (2008, after redshirting in '07). I'm more familiar with him than the other guys on the team. I think the way he runs the “pack” is great in the fact that not a whole lot has changed from the way we ran it before. We are familiar in the way that we want to create havoc on the basepaths and make the other team spin out of control in our favor. You'll never know what the 'pack is capable of at any given time, so be on your toes.

* We have another great weekend coming up for us, with a three-game series against Gonzaga, and I look forward to coming out and winning three more from them. They have a well-coached team and, after having a 0-3 record, are blood-hungry for a win. So we are going to have to show up like we do every day and be prepared for a dog fighting weekend.

-KG