People always ask me why I don’t have season tickets for the Railriders, especially considering how much I go. I didn’t really have a good answer, until now that I have them.

For those who don’t know, the Railriders season ticket perks include VIP parking, promotional packages, and most importantly, earlier gate times. How early? A whole 15 minutes. That seemed like an hour to me, but maybe that’s because I hardly ever see BP. Not like it mattered now, as it rained and there was no BP.

Despite that, there WAS a ball on the field. One singular ball. Just sitting there on the warning track in center field, waiting to be rescued.

Rescued it soon was. By whom?

A groundskeeper that came out of nowhere! The interaction with him was fun for that short while.

I didn’t even ask for it, he just saw me there and said,

“It’s a little wet but it’s all yours!”

Then proceeded to toss it up.

Me: “Hey, a ball’s a ball! Thanks!!!”

Him: “It’s not too bad.”

Me: “Oh no, I’ve gotten WAY worse.”

We both had a chuckle. Wish I had more interactions like that. I also wish it lasted longer considering there was NO sign of life on the field. So, I figured I’d use that time to check out my seats for the year.

WOW. Just…WOW. And I didn’t even choose them. Didn’t have to I guess. I don’t even have words for how amazing it is for foul balls.

I quickly noticed that the pitching crew from both rosters were making their way out to the field. I kid you not, I hadn’t ran that fast in so long. But, I made it in time.

That’s Bats pitcher Brandon Leibrandt warming up. And while I didn’t get that ball, it’s always cool to watch the pitchers warm up.

At that point the game was only 15 minutes away, so I hustled back up to the seats just in time for the national anthem. Soon after, the game started. And with it came my 1st foul ball opportunity. I don’t even know who hit it, but it went literally 5 feet to my right. Got right in line with it, but it clanked off the metal of the wall behind me about 2 feet up. You may be able to see that mark here:

I’m not sure which of those it is, but it’s one of them.

Right after that, my phone rang. It was my best friend Liv! She’s been featured on here one or two times. For those who are new here though, here’s a little bit about her (First 2 paragraphs).

She called saying that she saw the play from down below. Sure enough, there she was in section 26! Later on when I met up with her, we had one goal in mind: snag a ball for her.

The task alone doesn’t seem too hard. You would think, right? Wrong. I had realized up until that point that the Bats SUCKED with toss ups, and it seemed as if the Railriders weren’t any different.

We decided to position ourselves on the berm in right field, more towards right center. Yankees star rookie Jasson Dominguez was down for like the 6th time this year, and after I explained to Liv his case, she was determined to get one from him.

The seemingly lack of generosity from either team proved to be true. Inning, after inning, after inning. No luck. And it seemed as if every time we moved, one got thrown to the same general area we had just been in. I wasn’t ready to give up though.

Fast forward to the top of the 7th, and I had taken a walk to a concession stand along the first base line to grab a drink for myself and Liv. She opted to stay on the berm in hopes of working something out, however on my way back, it was I who was on the receiving end of such a plan. Right as I was heading towards the bleachers, Jacob Hurtubise pulled a foul skipper down the line.

How convenient. An opportunity had just appeared out of thin air. This wasn’t my first experience with such a situation, so I knew all I had to do was hurry down the steps to where that ball boy sits and ask him for it. That sounds EXTREMELY simple, and it 100% was.

I mentioned earlier that it was my goal to get a ball for Liv. As much as I wanted this one to be hers, I felt kind of bad that I walked right past a kid and who I’m guessing was her big brother to get into position. Both had gloves and tried going for one or two as well, so I made the decision to sacrifice the one I had just gotten. Liv didn’t mind at all once I explained.

I mentioned to her that if she’d like, she was more than welcome to come back up to the club level with me. I didn’t even finish asking and she was already on board, so we headed back up that way. Unfortunately, no more balls would find my glove, so I gave her the one I had gotten earlier. Neither of us really minded, all we cared about was that we got to spend quality time with each other. That, and fireworks were to follow.

STATS FOR THIS GAME

2 baseballs total:

• Toss up from groundskeeper in centerfield
• Foul ball from Jacob Hurtubise/ball boy

LIFETIME TOTAL: 312