18U's soak in Divison I experience

This past weekend our 18U players got an up-close look at the level of baseball many of them hope to one day play. Friday the 18U’s took on the Purdue Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana before heading to the Windy City on Saturday to play the Chicago State Cougars.

While there were definitely games to be played and in some pretty impressive Division I stadiums, this weekend was more about the experience and to open some eyes as to what it truly takes to compete at the highest level of college baseball.

At Purdue the team got a look at several of the university’s facilities including the football team’s new $65-million football facility including their weight room and locker room.

The Purdue game was played under the lights at Alexander Field, Purdue’s beautiful home field that opened in 2013. An afternoon game was played at Chicago State the following day and while the players didn’t get a ton of time away from the field on campus, they had the chance to listen in to head coach Steven Joslyn talk about accountability, the program and college baseball.

Despite the jump in opposing talent this weekend there were still some bright spots and the two games proved to be a nice tune-up before the team heads on their JUCO trip at the beginning of October.