July 31, 2005
Rising sophomore infielder Ross Brezovsky steps into the Summer Baseball Diary batters box, as the latest in a long line of Notre Dame players to spend the summer with the Hays (Kan.) Larks of the Jayhawk League.
Brezovsky and one of his classmates, lefthander David Gruener, have helped the Larks win their fourth league title in the past four summers and it’s now off to Wichita for the annual National Baseball Congress World Series.
Like most summer-league players, Brezovsky has seen his batting avg. dip while swining the wood bat (.244, 19-for-78), with his other stats including 15 runs scored, 7 RBI, 3 doubles, 3 sac. bunts, 13 walks, 4 hit-by-pitch, 11 strikeouts and a pair of stolen bases in 27 games played (25 starts).
Gruener has logged a 4-2 record and 4.06 ERA as one of the Larks top starting pitchers, with 56 Ks, 20 BB and 40 hits allowed in 44.1 innings (10 GP/8 GS; 4 WP, 8 HB, .237 opp. avg.).
Without further ado, the Summer Diaries shift to the center of the country:
Notre Dame 2005 Summer Baseball Diaries – Entry #5 (Ross Brezovsky; Hays Larks, Jayhawk League)
Hello Irish fans, this is Ross Brezovsky checking in from Hays, Kansas. I am currently playing for the Hays Larks collegiate summer team which participates in the Jayhawk League. The Jayhawk League consists of six teams from the Kansas and Missouri towns of El Dorado, Nevada, Liberal, Wichita, Joplin, and Hays.
Alongside my Notre Dame teammate and classmate David Gruener, who also is playing for the Larks, we have stayed at the top of the Jayhawk League standings for the most part of this summer. David, who pitched in relief this past year for the Irish, has been converted into one of the Larks crucial league starters this summer. He has picked up some huge wins for us throughout the summer and also logged some excellent, but unfortunate outings.
For instance, a couple weeks ago while playing the Wichita Twins in Wichita, David allowed only two hits, one walk and one run through eight complete innings of work, only to suffer a 1-0 loss. Oh, he also had a no-hitter until the 7th inning.
Living in Hays, Kansas, for almost the past two months has been incredible and eye-opening. The people here all are so friendly and everyone knows everyone. I am originally from Florida, so I’ve never had a chance to experience some of the many sights that describe Hays. For instance, I had never seen wild buffalo out in the open, two-foot tall jackrabbits running through the outfield during a game, ground squirrels, miles and miles of wheat fields, or a place where the driving speed limit never exceeds 30 miles per hour.
I thought I had seen it all until a couple weeks ago when we were playing in Nevada, Missouri, and the game came to a 15-minute suspension because seven massive hot air balloons were passing by just over the lights of the field. Also, until this summer, I had never played in a game that had been “winded out.” By that I mean we were in the 3rd inning of a game and the wind began to blow at about 50-60 miles per hour and the umpires ruled the conditions unplayable.
I have been lucky enough to be hosted by the Karlin family this summer. I could not have wished for a better family to stay with. My host mom, Kelli, is a biology teacher at Hays High School and her husband, TK, owns a local sporting goods store in Hays. The Karlins have three awesome children. Kaycee is the oldest (21) and lives in a house just down the street and is currently attending Fort Hays State University. Ross is the middle child. He’s 14 and will be starting high school in the fall. Ross plays baseball on a local traveling team in Hays and also plays basketball in the winters. You can imagine how confusing it is around the house with Ross and I sharing the same name.
Aubree is the youngest. She is 10 years old and will be a big 5th grader when school starts back up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone who even comes close to having as much energy as Aubree. She usually wakes up, goes to the community pool in the 110-degree heat for about three hours, then heads over to basketball camp for another couple of hours, then plays a softball game for her team “the Thunder Chicks,” and finally shows up at Larks games every night playing pickle with about 50 other little ones near the third-base bleachers, and after all that, she’ll ask me to play board games with her when we get back from the games. It has truly been a wonderful experience staying with the Karlins this summer.
The Hays Larks have a longstanding Notre Dame connection and have won four of the past five Jaywawk League titles.
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Getting back to the baseball part of the summer, I have immensely enjoyed playing for the Larks. The guys on the team are a blast to hang out and play with every day and range from schools like Kansas State, Florida International and Baylor. We have just ended our regular season record 33-14 and clinched 1st place in the Jayhawk League this summer.
The Hays Larks have an unbelievable winning tradition and I’m happy to be a part of it this year. This is the fourth time out of the past five years that the Larks have won the Jayhawk League. Some other Irish players who have enjoyed becoming Jayhawk League champions are Craig Cooper, Javi Sanchez, Tyler Jones and J.P. Gagne, just to name a few.
We play at a local community park called “Larks Park.” The average attendance at our home games is right around 200 people but it sounds like a lot more than that when we scratch a run across to take the lead in big ballgame. Becoming Jayhawk League champions has allowed us to participate in the National Baseball Congress (NBC) World Series, starting August 1st in Wichita. In the NBC World Series, we will compete against college summer teams from across the country and even international teams, such as the Taiwanese National Team, in an effort to be crowned national champions.
I want to congratulate coach Grewe on recently becoming the head coach for Michigan State University. You have made me a better baseball player and I am lucky to have had you as a coach.
I hope all my teammates are also having great summers and come back to school healthy. I can’t wait to see you guys in a few weeks. One more thing, congratulations to Danny Dressman in his accomplishments on the basketball court this summer. Maybe now we won’t have to constantly hear about Mike Dury’s sweet lefty stroke from NBA range.
GO IRISH!