TAME | BB | Dominican Republic - Recap 3

12/13/2023 3:11:00 PM

The ETBU Tiger Baseball team began Tuesday with a quick breakfast before traveling to San Pedro de Macoris for game two of the week in the Dominican Republic.

Tuesday’s matchup included a different Dominican team, made up of MLB minor league baseball players from the San Pedro area, which is known as the “cradle of shortstops” because of the history of MLB shortstops from the region.

The Dominican team took an early 3-0 lead on a three-run homerun. The Tigers responded with two runs in the top of the third on a RBI single by Cameron French and added three runs in the fourth on a hit by Parker Perez, giving ETBU the 5-3 lead.

In the sixth, the Dominican team scored three runs, to take a 6-5 lead. ETBU tied the score in the eighth after Connor Massarini reached after being hit by a pitch and scored on a single by Charles Gordon, leaving the final score 6-6, after nine innings.

Day two of our trip started a little earlier this morning. We got up and ate breakfast before we left for our 10:00 game. Once we arrived to the field and it was already swarming with kids between the ages of 10-14. As unfortunate as it was for Robichaux, one of their guys hit what some would call a ‘tape measure shot,’ but in the moment you got to witness the joy and passion Dominican baseball players play with each day. They were jumping up and down, screaming and yelling, nothing but smiles

BRADEN KARNES | JR. | GODLEY, TEXAS

Karnes adds, "During the game a local vendor came to the entrance of our dugout selling ‘Tubo-Frio’s’ at two for a dollar and we almost put him out of business. It was a hot day and those popsicles hit the spot. After the game was over we were gifted with raw sugar cane. It was shaped like the core of a pineapple and about the same consistency as well. You couldn’t swallow it however, bite, chew, swallow the juice, spit, and repeat. It was fantastic.

From there we came back to our hotel and split into two groups to go to the two separate kid’s camps we were running. At the camps we hosted several stations of drills for the kids to learn a little baseball from the Texas boys. We got to have fun with them and even participate in some stations. By the end of the camp we had made new friendships, taken lots of pictures together, and most importantly we spread the word and love of Jesus Christ, which was a perfect finish to our day.”

We started our day off at with a nine inning game. The culture around the game of baseball in the Dominican Republic is definitely an amazing experience, for example having to use two throw down bases and one piece of foam for third base. The love that they share for the game, is one that almost everyone shares, especially the locals living around the field. One shocking part about our game today was that there were kids sitting in the outfield and on the outfield wall and a guy selling popsicles in the dugout with us.

ETHAN BRISTER | FR. | PAINCOURTVILLE, LA

Brister finishes with, "The experience we had at the baseball camp we worked to finish the day was amazing as well. The atmosphere at for the camp was filled with so many happy kids, as they were excited just to be out there playing the game they love. One part I loved was during the devotional time where some of the children had John 3:16 memorized. We were able to share God’s love and also the love of the game of baseball with over 100 kids today at our camp.”

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