June 2, 2008

Regional

Regionals began this weekend and it was a very competitive one at that. We
started off against Stony Brook on Friday night and they played us extremely
tough and never gave up, but we were able to pull that game out, 9-7. On Saturday,
we played Oklahoma, who had beaten a very strong Vanderbilt team on Friday. We won, 15-3, behind Mike Leake and his customary eight strong innings…not to
mention the offense banged out 15 hits.

On Sunday, we faced Oklahoma for the second
time and cruised to a 12-0 victory and clinched a super regional berth. Josh
Satow took the hill in the decisive game and threw 7.1 three-hit scoreless
innings and still had plenty left in the tank. It was also nice to get Ike
Davis back on the mound where we have missed him for the last month or more
because of a rib injury. He threw a hitless and scoreless ninth Sunday.

This
weekend was a lot of fun. Playoff baseball is always exciting because every game
is so intense and against such good competition.

Super-regionals are next
week and we will play the winner of Fresno State and University of San Diego’s
game tonight. Fresno State has come on very strong as a four seed and USD has a
great starting rotation anchored by my buddy Brian Matusz. He has been lights
out all season and they are rolling, so it will be fun to see how that plays out
tonight so we can start preparing for the weekend.

I’ll check in with you guys again
next week, and I want to wish all my friends and teammates good luck on Thursday
with the draft.

May 20, 2008

Stretch Run

The Pac 10 is winding down and we are currently up three games on Stanford, who played our instate rival Arizona this weekend and lost two out of three. Just this past weekend we faced the University of Washington in a home Pac 10 series. They came in with a good record and good pitching numbers across the board. We came out ready to play and ready to finish this stretch run strong. We were boosted by the return of Ike Davis, who had been rehabbing a rib injury. His return to our lineup brings back another big time weapon and presence. We took all three games from visiting Washington and put ourselves in place to control our own destiny for the Pac 10 championship.

This season has been flying by and I cannot believe we are coming in to the last Pac-10 series of my junior year. I remember back to my first series at Washington State during my freshman year and how anxious I was. Now, I can’t believe that we have just one weekend left and it’s winding down and we are one week from completing my third year in the Pac, let alone my college career. I’ve been trying not to think about the draft and just focus on winning every game day in and day out. Sometimes it can be hard though as p
eople are always asking how you are feeling and what are you going to do once
you are drafted. To be honest, I’d like to go out, win a national championship and finish what I started three years ago…then I can focus on everything else.

On Friday, we save the best for last, with a final regular season trip to Tucson to take on ourrival, Arizona. Those games are always played with a lot of passion and intensity and I cannot wait for that series.

Thanks for checking in, I’ll let you know how the trip to Tucson goes, the NCAA selection show and more next time.

May 12, 2008

On the road… again

This has been a busy last week and a half for us, but school is finally over.

It started with our bus ride to UCLA. We played a hard-fought series with them and left winning two out of three and taking a one-game lead in the Pac 10 home with us. And that’s were it got a little crazy.

We bused back to Tempe and got in around 1:30 a.m. Then half the team had to get on another bus heading to the airport by 6:45 a.m in order to fly to Wichita, Kansas. The other half of the guys had to stay behind to take final exams. Then, in the morning, the team had to drive two hours to Manhattan to play Kansas State, while the other half of the team drove straight from the airport and arrived at the field about an hour and a half before the game. We dropped that game 7-6, though Jason Franzblau started and threw very well for us.

But wait, that’s not all. We then bused back to Wichita and stayed the night, playing Wichita State in the cold and rain the next night, winning 6-1. In that game, freshman Matt Newman started his first collegiate game and went 6 2/3 IP and only gave up one run. That was the highlight of my trip: seeing a freshman step up like that.

We flew home the next day and got ready for LMU (Loyola Marymount) Saturday-Monday. So far we have taken the first two from LMU with the final game tonight in Tempe. Then we finish the season with six conference games, three at home against Washington and then the final series of the regular season down I-10 at the University of Arizona.

Thank you for all your comments so far and good wishes. I look forward to hearing from you guys and I’ll be back soon.

May 5, 2008

Greetings from ASU

My name is Brett Wallace and I’m excited to get the chance to share my experiences with everyone – from my three years at Arizona State, to the final few weeks of my college career and leading up to the draft.

Just to give you a little background on how I got here, I was drafted as a senior out of Justin-Siena High School in Sonoma, Calif., by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 42nd round. Before the draft I was pretty set that I was going to school. I had wanted to play at ASU ever since I can remember and even had an Arizona State flag hanging in my room since I was about five years old.

I knew that coming from a small school in a small town, I would need to go to college and prove myself. So, heading into the draft I was prepared for that, but getting picked up by the Blue Jays was a definitely a cool feeling.

Looking back at my college experience and comparing myself to the player I was out of high school is incredible. My game has matured and evolved immensely. My coaches and teammates at ASU have taught me so much and have really played a huge role in my development. I think that the biggest thing that I have learned in college came during my freshmen year when I got off to a slow start and wasn’t playing very often. I learned how to be a student of the game and prepare to capitalize on my next opportunity. I decided that there’s a chance I may not be in the lineup, but it wasn’t because I wasn’t prepared or ready. I wanted to make it as hard as possible for my coaches to keep me out of there.

My three years here at ASU have flown by and my teammates talk about it all the time, when we were the new little freshmen just trying to keep up with the crazy schedule and now we are the guys trying to help stabilize this team and offer help and support to the new guys.

As the season moves on, things don’t get any easier. We drove up to play UCLA this past weekend in a heated conference series. Monday, we drive back to Tempe and fly to the Midwest for a couple of mid-week games at Kansas State on Tuesday and at Wichita State on Wednesday. Thursday we fly back to Tempe and host LMU in a non-conference weekend series, so there’s little time to rest this time of year.

With that in mind, I’m signing off. Until next time, goodbye from Tempe.