TAME | BB | Dominican Republic - Recap 2

On Monday morning, the ETBU Baseball team traveled across town to paint the exterior of homes in a neighborhood in Boca Chica. The group of 54 were able to paint three houses before returning to the hotel for a quick lunch, before heading out for game one of the week. 

ETBU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two-run homerun off the bat of Austin Barry.  The Dominican team, made up of local players who are mainly MLB minor leaguers, tied the game in the bottom of the third. ETBU retook the lead in the fourth on an opposite field, solo homerun off the bat of Hunter Rumachik, making the score 3-2. 

The Dominican team scored one run in the bottom of the fourth, making the score 3-3. The Tigers responded with two runs in the top of the fifth inning, after Jacob Evangelista tripled to start the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Carson Wilson.  Connor Massimini walked and later scored on a RBI by Ben Lea, leaving the score 5-3.  

ETBU allowed one run in the eighth inning and was able to retire the side in the bottom of the ninth for the 5-4 victory. 

ETBU December 2023 graduate Carson Wilson provided the following recap of the day. 

“Our first full day in the Dominican Republic was very eye opening and exciting. We started the day heading to what was once a major sugar cane village. This village was extremely run down, had stray dogs, and even stray goats roaming around everywhere. A majority of houses were solely made out of scrap metal. However, there was nothing but smiles on people’s faces. These people lived to survive one day at a time, but they could not have been happier. We were able to paint three homes and were able to meet some local people who were extremely thankful. A group of 12-14 year old boys came out of their homes and joined our group to help paint as well. These were not even their homes and I don’t even think they knew the people who actually lived there. But they walked through the village with torn up shoes, some with no shoes, just to be part of our group and help their community. That is something I will never forget. 

In the afternoon, we headed to our first game. The field was just walking distance from our resort through the city. We had no clue what to expect as far as competition or what kind of field we were playing on. We walked up and the field was in rough condition, the outfield probably hadn’t been mowed in weeks and the infield didn’t have any grass. As the other team began to show up we realized what we were up against. They entered the stadium with Yankees, Red Sox, Padres, Pirates, Reds, Angels, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers written across their chest. For us it was mesmerizing, for them it was just another day at the field to have fun and play the game. We soon realized that as baseball players, we are not as far off as we thought. Regardless of the big name teams they were wearing, or the history of baseball the Dominican Republic has, we set out with the intention to win as we always do. We ended up winning 5-4. Today, I had some of the most fun ever playing baseball. The happiness and joy the people showed at the game and the entire day was amazing.