April 15, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. - During the 2010 baseball season, lefthander Josh Spence will be writing about his life as a student-athlete who prepares for his final season of college baseball as well as graduating from Arizona State. Spence will check in periodically to write about school, baseball, life and other things.
Pac-10 play has started and we're off to a 6-3 start. We've played some good teams, battled through some adversity and here we are, 6-3. Losing is a difficult thing to deal with, especially after we have experienced so much success earlier in the year, but if we can learn from our mistakes it's only going to make us stronger in the end. The small things which we got away with earlier in the year are the subtle things holding us back from being the ballclub we know we can be. That's the funny thing about baseball; you can only control what you can control. We've never been overly concerned about who's in the other dugout, just on what we are capable of doing that given day.
This weekend we have USC coming into town, they're a quality team whose record isn't an indication of what type of baseball they play. It should be interesting to be playing under the sun again, instead of through the rain and in the snow like the last two series; we're very fortunate to have this weather all year round basically, but we understand that at the next level, our most crucial games are going to be played in what we've been through the last two weeks (and what those two teams have to play in nearly every week). We know that, and we respect that.
School is almost over, about 3 weeks and counting. Everyone is scrambling around getting their final pieces of work in and soon will be studying for their finals. I think it's fantastic that the duration of our season stretches past the final dates of school and into summer. It's a great feeling when you're playing for a team you're passionate about, and that team is literally the only thing on your mind.
Now onto big news! Mike Leake makes his MLB debut and it was awesome to see. It's not very often someone you know plays the game at the highest level , but when their road to the show is quick, it's exciting to see! 6 plus innings and going 2 for 2, the kid's a stud. What blows my mind now is that there are other Sun Devils on the brink to possibly be up this year; guys like Ike Davis, Brett Wallace, Colin Curtis, CJ Retherford and many others; it just shows you how strong this baseball program is.
Till next time, Josh Spence #45