Santa Clara senior pitcher Matt Travis chronicled his travels during the baseball team's recent roadtrip to San Diego, Calif., for their three-game series with Tony Gwynn and the San Diego State Aztecs. Below is a diary of the days in the life of a collegiate baseball player during a weekend series a road trip.
Feb. 13th, Thursday
We were leaving for the airport at 11:00, so I woke up a little bit before 9 to pack my stuff, and get down to the locker room to put my baseball gear together. Our flight was at 1:30, so when we got to the airport we had some time to kill. We were a little hungry, so Joe Diefenderfer, Mark Folgner, Ryan Chiarelli, and myself walked through McDonalds to grab some health food. Once we arrived in San Diego the coaches grabbed the vans, and we headed off for the hotel. When we got to the hotel we tossed our stuff into our rooms changed into our practice gear and drove over to San Diego State's practice facilities to get a quick workout in. We finished up and got back to the hotel around 8, then Joe D, Dave Mandley, and I were picked up by Joe's sister who was taking us back to her place for dinner. After she fed us pasta, salad, and bread, we hung out watching TV. When we drove home, it was really raining hard, and we wondered if we would even get to play the next day. We got back to our room 10 minutes before curfew and retired for the night.
Feb. 14th, Friday
The alarm went off at 9:00 am, but Joe and I, who I roomed with, didn't really move till about 9:30. We headed out for breakfast to the Waffle Spot down the street, and noticed that luckily it had dried up and the sky was clear. When we got there some of our team was already there, but were finishing up and leaving. We finished breakfast just in time to get back for the scouting report meeting in the lobby, but then had tons of time to kill before we left for the park. We headed back to our room to hang out, and relax. My parents were staying at the same hotel as us, so I went up to their room to say hi, and see how they were doing. When we finally got to the park, it was still a little wet, but definitely no problem. I was starting on the mound that day, so I really didn't have much to do before the game. I pitched ok, but gave up three runs, and pitched 6 and 1/3 innings. I wasn't all that disappointed in my outing, but since we ended losing, I was bitter after the game. This was a problem since I was expected to go out to dinner with my parents and some family friends. I didn't want to go but felt obligated, and ended up having a good time catching up with my friends. I got back to the hotel before curfew and hit the sack pretty hard.
Feb. 15th, Saturday
The day after a starter toes the rubber he has his longest run of the week, in order to flush out his arm. I really don't like running distance in my uniform, so I got up at 6 am and headed down to the work out room in the hotel. It was pretty bad, but had a treadmill, so I was set. After running, stretching and doing some sit-ups, I took a shower and went back to bed until 8:45. Joe and I got up, ate, and headed down for the vans at 11:15. The game went much better this time, and we won 9 to 6. Everyone played well, and our hitting was at its best. A.J. LaBarbera hit a sweet homerun, and we scored throughout the whole game. To top off the day Tony Gwynn got tossed out in the top of the 9th. For the stupidest reason too. The umpire said he didn't have a team jacket on, and he did so they argued, and that was that. After the game we all headed over to our teammate Scott Longergan's house in Poway, Calif. It was about a 45 minute drive but it was worth it as everyone was in good spirits, and the food was awesome. We stayed until about 8, then headed back to the hotel for a good nights' rest. The next day would be real important, and we all wanted to win pretty badly. Joe and I hung out watching the Muhammad Ali story, and packing our clothes up until we shut it down around 11:30 and went to bed.
Feb. 16th, Sunday
Sunday morning I didn't get up for breakfast, because I had some granola bars, and I was tired and wanted to sleep in. We checked out of our hotel and headed out to the field the same as before. The game didn't go so well, and we lost 9 to 3. I was in the stands the whole game doing the radar gun to check the velocity of our pitchers, so I saw the game from the fans' point of view. Our coaches were pretty upset, and the rest of our traveling back home was quiet and filled with disappointment. The plane ride home went by fast though, since I was pretty beat from sitting in the stands, and eating tri-tip. I slept most of the way home, and read a bicycling magazine that I bought in the airport. We got back to school around 9 p.m. or so, and our road trip came to an end.