Nov. 23, 2014
Freshman Will Toffey is keeping a daily journal for vucommodores.com on the Dores’ Dominican Trip.
11/22/14
The first day was a long travel day where the team was split into two groups. My group took off on an 11:30 flight headed to Miami and everyone was excited to get the trip under way.
The first flight was smooth but not quiet, as an older woman was extremely loud and talked with everyone on the team. The layover in Miami was about two hours and the whole team called their family members to say one last goodbye before the flight to Santo Domingo. The week ahead would be filled with a disconnection from friends and family back home, which is nice because we all just get to have fun playing baseball with no distractions. As we boarded the plane to Santo Domingo the captain came on the speaker and informed us that the plane was facing difficulties with the A/C and technicians needed some time to fix the problem. It took about an hour to fix the problem and by that time everyone on the plane was sweating and so glad to finally have some air back in the plane.
We finally took off for the Dominican and landed around 10:30 p.m. local time (Santo Domingo is two hours ahead of Central time). We finally were in the Dominican after a tiresome travel day and boarded a bus that took us to our hotel in Boca Chica. Few of us have been to the Dominican and everyone was glued to the windows taking in the broken down buildings and small neighborhoods that reminded us, we are no longer in the United States.
11/23/14
The wake up was a quick turn around with a 6:30 a.m. wake up and breakfast at 7 a.m. in the hotel cafeteria. The breakfast was set up just like a normal hotel breakfast but the array of foods was a big difference. A chef cooked fresh eggs, which everyone had, and most of us went with the fried salami and pork sausage as a side. The cafeteria was filled with many tropical fruits that no one ate because it is the first day and everyone was timid to try the foreign fruit.
We took off for the field on a bus and now with the light of day we really got to see the streets of the Dominican Republic. The streets had trash all over and I counted 16 wandering dogs that were looking for anything to eat. The dogs were the most eye-grasping things to me, as they looked weak and hungry. There were a ton of mopeds flying around, as that seems to be the choice of vehicle to most here. Another interesting moment on the bus to the field was the coastline we traveled along for miles. The light blue waves were rough and moved swiftly as they would crash against the rocks on the shore splashing high up into the air.
When we arrived at the field, we were all taken aback by the field conditions. The field had puddles all over and the perfect picture to imagine what the field looked like is thinking about the field in the movie “Sandlot.” This would be a change from our turf field but all of us were welcoming to the challenge that lied ahead. About thirty Dominicans were walking the field with large sponges soaking up the water, a method I have never seen. As we approached game time the community and young baseball players started to flock to the field and soon enough there were a few hundred Dominicans lining the fencing of the field.
We got an early lead from a home run by Dansby and then Kilo [John Kilichowski] kept the fans quiet with a dominating six innings. Then a three-run home run by the Dominican National Army team finally ignited the fans and the bench. People were climbing the fences and screaming and singing. The whole team lined the third base line and congratulated the player as he trotted towards home. It was probably the coolest moment of the day and I can say that now because we managed to come back and ended up winning 9-4.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the moment they were in and appreciated the love of baseball that all the fans had. Kids were asking for bats, gloves, balls or pretty much anything in sight and a funny encounter is when one boy asked to trade gloves with me. The language barrier was tough between the community and us, which made it hard to communicate with them. The language of baseball is pretty similar though and that is all they care about so many of us were able to have conversations with the children around the field and players on the other team.
After the game we headed back to the hotel and had lunch. The sun was beating down on us for a few hours but that didn’t stop us from experiencing the beach just across the street from the hotel.
Freshman Will Toffey will be providing daily updates of what the Commodores are experiencing in the Dominican Republic on and off the field.
