The Varsity Baseball team departed from Buffalo on Monday, April 6th, to travel down to Tampa/St. Petersburg in Florida for the program's annual spring training trip.

Through daily journal entries written by the seniors, fans at home can follow the team's journey.

MONDAY, APRIL 6th
By: Nicholas Scime '26

The boys got after it today at the crack of dawn, arriving at the Buffalo airport at 4:30am for our flight to Tampa. Although everyone was tired, we were all excited to get into the warm weather and play some ball.

The flight was easy and smooth, touching down in Tampa at quarter after nine. After a short wait in the rental car line, we headed to the hotel to settle in and unpack.

Lunch for the day was the Chick-fil-A across the road, sure to be a common stop for the boys throughout the week. The next stop was Publix, where we stocked up on food for the week. Although I can technically only speak for my room, it seemed that we weren't shy about spending on snacks or other questionable items — there are ice cream bars that have turned into liquid sitting in our trash can currently.

Next up on the agenda was practice at Baseball City. It was hot and the sun didn't let up, but the boys came ready to work. The outfield took fly balls and worked on flips, the infield worked on ground balls and bunt defense, and the pitchers worked on PFPs and pickoffs.

When we came back to the hotel, many of the boys jumped into the pool, splashing and racing around. Then, a lot of us went to a local bowling alley to eat, play pool, and watch the Sabres game.

Finally, after coming back to the hotel and sitting around the fire for a few minutes, the boys turned in early. Curfew was at 11pm, but almost everyone was in bed by 10pm, ready to hit the ground running early Tuesday morning with our first game in Florida. 

TUESDAY, APRIL 7th
By: David Barczak '26

The boys woke up on day two ready to go in the lobby early for a 10am game, but the rain had other plans. After grabbing some bagels from the private team breakfast, coach broke the news to us that the game had been delayed to 2pm. Many of us went back to our rooms for a nap.

We woke up from our nap with a text from Coach Santonocito that the game had been delayed again to 5pm. This was disappointing news because we were very excited to get to playing ball.

In the meantime, I took a trip to Chick-fil-A, where I picked up a chicken sandwich meal.

Eventually, 3:15pm came quick, and we were in the vans all suited up to play some ball. We arrived at Baseball City and headed to the cages for some pre-game BP. The game started, and we struggled to string some things together. We ended up falling short to Hancock by one run, which had everyone pretty disappointed.

We headed back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and piled into Coach Hop's van — the "Hop-mobile" — to head to dinner at American Social in downtown Tampa. The boys got oysters as an appetizer, and I followed that up with steak fried rice, which was to die for.

Everyone was exhausted as we made our way back to the hotel once again to get back before our curfew. We were all ready to go for another early game on Wednesday.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8th
By: Justin Ostempowski '26

Wednesday was definitely our longest day so far. We got to the field at 9am for our 10am game, and even though we were a little tired, the team still came in with good energy and ready to compete. There was a pretty quick turnaround between games since the first was nearly four hours long, so after the first one we had to reset fast and get focused again for the (delayed) 1pm game.

It wasn't the outcome we were hoping for in either game, and it was a tough day overall. Still, no one really gave up, and the team kept competing even when things weren't going our way. Days like today can be frustrating, but they also show what we need to work on and where we can improve. It felt like one of those days that doesn't look great but will help us get better as the year goes on.

By the time we got back to the hotel around 5pm, everyone was pretty exhausted from being in the sun and playing two games. We ended the day with a team grill-out, making hamburgers and hot dogs, which was a nice way to relax after everything. Everyone hung out for a while, and it was good to just unwind and keep things positive.

Even though it was a tough day, it brought the team closer together and gave us something to build on. We're all looking forward to bouncing back and having a stronger day tomorrow.

THURSDAY, APRIL 9th
By: Gianni Latella '26

Today, we played a team from Kentucky, and despite getting crushed in both of our games the day before, I think we all understood that if we didn't start pushing in the same direction, we were going to lose every game. While we did not win today's game, we competed throughout, exchanging leads throughout the game but falling just a little short.

After yesterday's two tough games, the pitchers had a long conversation about how good we are and how we should be able to throw strikes, and today, we proved that to be true with a good performance.

Later, we went to dinner at a local hibachi place, but unlike in the past, they didn't even cook it in front of us. They made it in the kitchen while we sat around the grills waiting for the chefs to come out. The food was mediocre at best, but it was fine because we had the company of our teammates, and, in my opinion, still had a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we had our team initiation to welcome in the new teammates, which was a lot of fun for us returners, and I think it was for the rest of the team, too.

Overall, this day was an eye-opening experience, showing all of us that every game needs to be separated from the others and that there is no limit to how much better we can be from one day to the next.

FRIDAY, APRIL 10th
By: Josh Kandefer '26

My roommates, Cole Hoffman and Chris Burroughs, and I woke up at about 7am for our 9:30am game. I was starting the game at pitcher, so I made sure to get a good breakfast and to get myself moving around quick.

When we arrived at the fields, we could already feel the heat on what was to be the hottest day of the trip. Regardless, we definitely were ready to play and to round up our trip in Florida.

The team we played was, like yesterday, from Kentucky, and they had some highly-ranked collegiate prospects. Despite a competitive start and comeback, we ended up losing, but we showed great perseverance and also were able to get a lot of players in. This was really good for our squad's morale and good experience for the younger guys.

After the game, about half of us went to the beach for the first time during the trip. It was a blast, and the bonding we had was an experience I'll never forget. 

We got dinner and then had to be back at the hotel by 11pm, but we had plenty of time to be at the beach, which was great. Once we got back, I spent time with a couple of younger guys in their room, and we stayed up pretty late, which was another great bonding experience!

Overall, I think this trip has been the most formative part of our team's progress as a squad. Regardless of the game results, it has shown us what we need to improve on and has brought us closer to each other.

The team returned to Buffalo on Saturday morning and will be back in action on April 14th at Frontier.