Bavarian Road Trip.

The toughest of weeks was behind us. We lost two big games to Pulheim at home. At the time it seemed terrible because Pulheim was a lower league team with a bad record and we were in first.

However, Baseball is baseball, and the important thing to do is move on and realize that anybody can beat anybody! Epspecially in Germany.

The fact is that each team is allowed 3 foreign (non European) players. Those players like Danny and myself have an exorbinant amount of pressure from coaches, management, and fellow teammates to be "the show," or the best players around. The other players are typically local athletes that fell in love with and play the game with as much enthusiasm as a good high school or college player. Our teammates are outstanding, and many of them would have been superstar ball-players if they had faced the constant competition Danny and I had seen growing up, through college and beyond. We faced a pitcher from America last Sunday that pitched at LMU ( a confrence rival of Portland ) and the Kansas City Royals organization. He threw tremendous. The difference between the US and here however, is the acceptence of losing a baseball game when another pitcher straight beats you. The biggest problem in losing two games in one day is the fact that you have to wait an entire week to play again.

After and array of what seemed to me as unaceptable losing behavior, our team regrouped, refocused, and began to look forward to a true 3 game road trip, just like our college days at Portland. The best part of the week was that we took a short practice on Tuesday, took Wednesday off, and by Thursday we felt better. Danny had his girlfriend, Sara, come in to visit, and she will be here until the 2nd of June. Everyone was really excited for the three game tournament in Regensburg, which is roughly 45 miles from Munich in Southern Germany, or the better known Provence of Bavaria. I was really looking forward to playing against the southern leagues best teams, Regensburg and Heidenheim (Heidenheim was the reigning German champions from 2009). Regensburg was undoubtdly the favorite in this tournament because they were not only the hosts, but the only undefeated team in Germany with a perfect 14-0 record going into the tournament.

We did not play until Saturday, but the idea of playing three days in a row was extremly exciting. Another exciting aspect of the tournament was that each of the four teams was allowed to play as many foriegn players as they wanted. Of the four teams, each team represented foriegn-non German players that either played organized professional baseball, college, and even major league level baseball. We picked up two American players from the Manheim Tornados. Dennis Kelly is a middle infielder who was leading the southern league in hitting this season and is tremendous defensively. His teammate and fellow American Cory Stevens is a right handed pitcher with electric stuff. Needless to say we were very happy to add the depth and it was shaping up to be a competitive weekend!

Also, around mid-week one of Paderborns former American players from the past two years, Gavin Nga, appeared at one of our practices. He is a native Hawaiian who played his college ball at The University of San Diego, which was a rival school to Portland, especially this season considering the Pilots and Torreros played an important 3 game series to decide the eventual WCC Champions.

Regardless of our affiliation, Danny and I respectfully engaged and talked with him about being a foreigner in Germany and our experiences thus far. He came back to Germany to look for work and be near his girlfriend, who is from Paderborn.

The drive south to Bavaria was long but fun. We got a chance to see a long stretch of Germany which was lush green, beautiful with rolling hills, Mustard fields, windmills, and the occasional European Castle. Not to mention the architecture of the homes and town centers we passed were incomparable to anywhere else I had been. It was delightful.

Upon our 10 p.m. arrival in Regensburg we went to the facility that the Regensburg Legionare call home and I must say that I was impressed, even in the dark. This area was the sight of the 2009 Baseball World Cup which featured Germany, China, Venezuela, and the United States. For the event, they added about 9,000 seats and it was the first time Germany had been graced with a beautiful baseball facility. (Pictured)

Needless to say, I was excited to play at a facility like this in front of good crowds, although I knew that 9,000 seats were missing from the photo above, and we most likely wouldn't fill the house unless we were playing the Legionare, which wasn't until Sunday night. Once we parked the vans beyond the right field fence we were treated to a delicious pasta and hamburger meal at the facilities mess hall and Guasthaus. We sat down as a team, enjoyed our food with traditional Bavarian Weisen Beers and went over the itinerary for the rest of the weekend.

We were staying at a local dormitory about two miles away and once we got there we quickly took over the fourth floor, got settled in and were told to be at breakfast at 8 a.m. just down the hall. It was the first time I had slept in a twin sized bed since college, but I was happy to have my own room with some privacy. As we visited each others rooms and told stories over a few beers I couldn't help but feel like I was back in college anxiously awaiting the next three days and mentally preparing myself for some good old fashioned Hardball.

Once things settled down I listened to some music and waited up for a bit. Danny and Sara were traveling with our teammate Heiko because our youth team had a game in Dortmund. I was fortunate enough to travel with the team vans because they had to stop in Manheim to pick up the other American guys we added for the weekend and it was a long trip. Upon their arrival I introduced myself, said hello to Danny and Sara and soon went to bed. I was excited about the weekend!