The Varsity Baseball team departed from Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Monday, April 1, to Florida for the program's annual spring training trip.

As part of the trip, the boys on the team worked collaboratively to update friends, family, alumni, and supporters back home. This year's journal entries have been written by seniors that gives a day-by-day update of the week.

MONDAY, APRIL 1
By: Cooper Prizel '24

The team started their morning off bright and early with a 4:15am arrival to Buffalo Niagara International Airport to catch a 6:30am flight. The boys head to Charlotte, NC then flew into Tampa, Florida. The boys were full of adrenaline and excited to get into some sun. They had a couple laughs early in the morning with junior pitcher Caleb Jackson's iPad shouting out commands that was done on the iPad. The boys then boarded the hour and a half flight into North Carolina.

We landed smoothly and rushed through the Charlotte airport to make our connecting flight. The boys luckily arrived just when boarding started and got on board to their second flight. Unfortunately, the team then sat on the plane for the next two hours without moving. There was a mechanical issue needed to be resolved. After a long two hours the boys were finally headed to Tampa, Florida. The boys then landed safely into Tampa and proceeded to luggage and to get rental cars. Another delay has happened with renting cars that took around 45 minutes. Luckily the smoking red Hop Mobile (named after Coach Hopkins) came around the corner and the boys were energetic again.

Due to the delay for flights and rental cars the boys couldn't get to there scheduled practice to prepare for tomorrows game. So, they then packed into the hotel and decided to get a scheduled workout in while also going to Publix to stock up on food. The Publix run was a tradition for the baseball trip while shopping with your roommates was a harder task than people thought. After a nice workout and some food stocked up in the rooms the boys decided to call it lights out at 10:00pm. They needed to get some sleep for an afternoon game on Tuesday.

TUESDAY, APRIL 2
By: VJ Verni '24

Tuesday started off with a calm morning when the boys got some rest after a long two flights on Monday. Coach Sanocito texted the group chat the night before telling us to be in the lobby at 11:00am sharp to get ready for our first game against Paul Laurence Dunbar (KY). Instantly, it was clear that a good amount of the boys were jet lagged from the flights the day before. The boys did not seem to have much intensity or "Dawg" in them like Coach Newman '12 (aka Coach #00) would say, which was very true. This led to our first loss. of the trip.

Later in the evening after the game, we went  to the Tampa Bay Rays game against the Texas Rangers. The Rays ended up taking the victory. Coach Sanonocito worked with Texas Ranger Jonah Heim when he lived in Buffalo, and so Coach was able to get the team a picture and a quick chat with Jonah after the game which was awesome. We ended off the night playing ping pong in the rec room and decided to call it a night with our next game at 10:00am Wednesday morning against St. Edward (OH).

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3
By: Aaron Jones '24

Wednesday morning, the boys were up bright and early to face St. Edward ready to bounce back from a tough loss from the day before. We all got up and had a team breakfast to get some energy before the game. Caleb Jackson '25 was starting on the bump locked in for his first start of the year. We all got to the lobby at 7:45am to split into the three vans we were driving. All of the seniors and a couple juniors jumped into the legendary Hop Mobile to get us hype before the big game. Unfortunately, we did not come out with the win but we fought our hardest as that's all we can do. After a hot game, we all got back and half of us went to Raising Canes to get some lunch. Best meal I ever had as always.

After we got back, the returners continued to plan initiation for the newcomers of the team. They were all told to go back to their rooms while the returners set up. newcomers Coach Newman '12 and Coach Zu also participated. After an amazing time as usual, Coach Zu ordered the team some dinner from Applebee's to the hotel. We all ate while one of the guys was running to the bathroom every 5 minutes, but other than that we all headed to bed hype for the next day.

THURSDAY, APRIL 4
By: Josh Hemmerling '24

The guys got to sleep in on Thursday. The game was pushed back to 4:00pm. We all hung out by the pool and goofed off until around 2:00pm. We went off to the fields and played FIBA (FL). After our FIBA game, we had a practice focused on cuts, ultimately finishing it with last runner ups.

After practice we came back to the hotel and had a cookout of burgers and dogs. The boys hung out the rest of the night, either out by the pool or watched movies with their roommates.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5
By: Joe Cheman '24

Friday I woke up feeling rough. Whatever illness David Barczak '26 and I had was pretty bad. We had practice early in the morning so we went but ended up having Coach Hop take us back because we weren't feeling it. After taking a long nap and a couple hot showers, we both felt much better. After the early practice this day was completely free.

Coach Newman took  David Barczak '26, Griffin Zgoda '25, and me golfing at Cova Cay Golf Club and the other boys went to top golf a bit later. We had to use rental clubs and none of us played our best, but we sure had a great time. The 9th hole was a par 5 right along the water with an amazing view. This was easily the highlight of my trip. We went back to the hotel and walked to subway while the others were at top golf. After that, we just chilled watching golf on TV and I ended up going to sleep around 9:00pm to try and recover from my sickness.

SATURDAY, APRIL 6
By: Ben Czora '24

Today the boys had an 8:00am wake up call for their 10:00am game against Our Lady of Good Counsel (MD). The boys started off strong with Cooper Prizel '24 on the mound, who had five strikeouts in three innings pitched, and an early walk leading to a score by Gio Amodeo '24. However, the squad couldn't pull out the win, making a couple errors late in the game. 

After the loss, the boys had a team hibachi dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. Steak and chicken was a favorite for the group who mostly finished their meals, except for a one Louis Civisca '25. 

After hibachi, the boys regrouped for a team meeting led by Coach Chris Newman '12. We reflected on the past games and what we needed to do in order to create a formula for success. Overall a productive day for the group, looking to implement their new plan and find some success in the upcoming days.

SUNDAY, APRIL 7
By: Gio Amodeo '24 

Today we woke up very early in preparation to end our trip off and take a step in the right direction. After loading the vans up, the infamous Hop Mobile jammed out to some music trying to lock in. We had a solid session in the cages then took infield/outfield which was shaky at best. We shook it off and took the field for the game. We had a tight game with some good pitching from Caleb Jackson '25 and Jack Stiener '25. Our bats struggled to wake up until late when I walked and Cooper Prizel '24 doubled me in. After the game, we had a long discussion on what we need to do moving forward.

After freshening up at the hotel a bunch of the guys once again got in the Hop Mobile and headed to DICK'S Sport Goods to grab some gear for the beach. We hung out at the beach for a few hours playing wiffle ball, football, and swimming. We went to dinner at a restaurant on the water in St. Pete Beach called Woody's. After dinner Coach Hop treated us to ice cream after as his treat. We did karaoke in the van on the ride back to the hotel and then winded down in preparation to leave.


The team returned to western New York on Monday and will be back in action on Friday, April 12 at McQuaid Jesuit.