No Time for Kiddie Games, It’s Game Week!

Valentine’s weekend: A time to express your love to your significant other through flowers, chocolate and a nice dinner, or just a weekend to be reminded again that you’re single.

Many players on the team have girlfriends, and we spent a lot of time trying to think of the best way to make Valentine’s Day special for them. Some guys took their girlfriends to nice, extravagant restaurants, but not me. Bret Atwood and I decided to be different, and we showed our girls what wonderful cooks we were. I made my specialty, and Courtney, the GF, was amazed by my culinary skills.

Last Wednesday, Bret Atwood celebrated his 21st birthday. I want to say Happy Birthday Bret; you’ve waited a long time for this special birthday. You’re officially a man. A group of friends took Bret to dinner, but unfortunately, I had a night class and missed out. Night class always interferes with my social life.

Last week in Fort Worth, my hometown, they received a record 12 inches of snow. All we got in San Marcos was one day of freezing rain. While my younger brother got to enjoy the snowfall, miss school and go sledding … all I could do was look at pictures on Facebook. Even though missing that seemed to be a downer, the weather in San Marcos was perfect for baseball. We had clear, sunny skies and the pale, bare arms of players who decided to workout in short sleeves came out for the first time this spring.

The great weather allowed for some intense, productive practices. We were able to scrimmage Friday through Sunday, and it was great for the hitters to take at-bats in consecutive days. We could actually feel our hands when we made contact, so this was a huge stride. Daniel Neumann (freshman) and Shaun Garcia (senior) both hit the cover off the ball this weekend and were consistently on base. Now, we just need them to save some hits for the season.

Enough with the hitters, I need to give some love to the pitchers. Carson Smith, a JUCO transfer, has been dominating on the mound. He has a fast-paced pitching style and is getting better and better each time he takes the mound.  I can see him in our weekend rotation easily. We do have the 15th-toughest non-conference schedule in the nation. Whichever role the coaches choose for Carson, we’ll have a great chance to win with him on the bump.

As I mentioned in my last journal entry, this will be my first year to play first base. As a convert, I’m still getting comfortable with the new position, but I was able to do some work with former Bobcat great and current Arizona Diamondback, Paul Goldschmidt. Paul was nice enough to take a break from his fiancé and teach me a few things, and now I’m feeling more comfortable and ready to start the season.

Well, it is finally here baby, Game Week! In less than four days we will be traveling down to Houston to play the University of Houston. We are very excited and hoping for some good weather to start off the season. We have been training all year and we are ready to get this year started. We have a few more practices this week and we will be trying to get better every day. As Coach Harrington told us yesterday, “It’s time to take the kiddie games out of your back pocket, it’s game week.”

Eat ‘Em Up Cats!

Kyle Livingstone

(photos courtesy of Texas State Media Relations Office)