Oswego club baseball heads south for spring break

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The season for the Oswego club baseball team will start even earlier than usual this year because of a rare opportunity.

The story starts over winter break when club president Sean Gillis received an email about a spring training showcase in Tampa, Florida.

“I did not think anything of it at first,” Gillis said.

Gillis thought the team would not have the money. But then he found some extra room in the budget. The team does not have a coach. Which means they do not have a coach to pay like they normally do.

“So we have three thousand dollars sitting in our budget that was not going to be used for the whole year,” Gillis said.

With money not being an issue, the trip seemed like a reality even though freshman Matt Upson did not believe Gillis at first.

“I thought he was kidding me,” Upson said. “Sometimes when you are a freshman you get pranked on.”

But this was no prank. With the funds, the team was all ready to head down to Florida for their spring break tournament. They then found the perfect place to practice in preparation of it through a connection with their former coach.

“He texted me saying he had a buddy who has a batting cage like a gym with a couple batting cages we could use,” Gillis said.

The gym, Spizman’s Strength Systems, located at 765 East Seneca Street in Oswego, provided the golden opportunity to get back into the swing of things.

“We didn’t want to go down to Tampa not having thrown a ball or swung a baseball bat in four, five months,” Gillis said. “So that was definitely a plus.”

The team will be driving to Florida at the beginning of spring break. After completing the 20 hour trip, Oswego will be going up against division one schools Marquette, Kent State and Wisconsin-Whitewater.