July 26, 2004
Danny Dressman – with his lefthanded bat and speedy legs – always has been quick out of the box and his approach to the 2004 Summer Baseball Diaries is no different. The rising sophomore outfielder jumped the gun by sending in his diary entry a few days early, providing perfect timing as Matt Edwards still is putting the final touches on his report from Alaska (look for his diary from the “land of the midnight sun” later this week).
Dressman’s entry is the fourth of the ’04 summer and comes from Warrenton, Va., where he plays for the Faquier Gators of the Clark Griffith League. As is the case in most collegiate wood-bat summer leagues, a team’s batting average usually is well below .250 – meaning that Dressman’s seemingly modest .265 batting avg. places him third on a Gators team that is batting .238 as a group. The 5-foot-9, 175-pound lefthander also ranks second on the team in walks (15) and on-base pct. (.377), third in runs (14), RBI (10) and stolen bases (6-of-7), fourth in hits (27-of-102) and fifth in slugging pct. (.304). His other summer stats include 4 doubles, 4 hit-by-pitch, 22 strikeouts and a .979 fielding pct. (1 error, 3 assists) while appearing in 30 games with 29 starts (20 in left field and 7 in center, plus single starts at RF and DH). Dressman has hit most often in the No. 2 (10 games) or No. 3 spots (6), but also has made 2-3 starts at six other spots in the batting order (all but 9th).
The Gators (16-20) are in fifth place in the Glark Griffith League, which includes a team (the Bethesda Big Train) that plays at the Shirley Povich Field facility that also is the home field for the Georgetown University baseball team (plenty of ND fans were on hand at that site last spring to see the Irish sweep the Hoyas).
See the following link for a full listing of the ND Summer Baseball Diaries from 2002-04: http://und.ocsn.com/genrel/basebl-summerdiaries.html. Also see previous release and upcoming release on baseball page of und.com for stats and website links for all ND summer players.
Notre Dame Baseball 2004 Summer Baseball Diaries – Entry #4 (Danny Dressman; Faquier, VA, Gators; Clark Griffith League)
Hello Irish fans, this is Danny Dressman writing to you from Warrenton, Va., where I play for the Faquier Gators in the Clark Griffith League. I am enjoying my time here with fellow Irish teammate Matt Whittington. The Clark Griffith League is relatively new and consists of rising freshmen and sophomores.
Warrenton is a small but affluent town located 45 minutes west of Washington, D.C. It didn’t take long for me to become familiar with the area, since most of the town is relatively close to the main road. I remembered small towns I had been to before I arrived and Warrenton was very similar. The street is lined with small restaurants and the barbershop is the place to be.
I arrived in Virginia two weeks into the summer season, because the NCAAs ran into the league’s starting date. I’ve had the pleasure of living with the McGoughlin’s, who own a beautiful house on a lake with a swimming pool. They have one son, Martin, who plays tennis but he is a die-hard Red Sox fan.
I have spent most of my time this summer working at the Hazel family ranch. This ranch is 4,000 acres, so you could imagine the amount of work to be done. By the second week, I found myself chopping down a tree with an axe and then bailing hay. This farm life was worlds away from growing up in a big city in California. The Hazel’s have two daughters who attend Harvard and compete in many horse-riding competitions. It was here in Virginia that I rode a horse for the first time.
The summer season has been one of many streaks. Our team at the moment sits at 16-20. At one point during the summer, we sandwiched a five-game winning streak in between two four-game losing streaks, but that’s baseball. Although we sit in fifth place, we’ve had some memorable games. Twice this summer, we have come back from four runs down in the ninth inning to win. In one game, both pitchers had a perfect game going into the eighth inning only to both get a no decision.
The saying on our team is “add it to the list,” because there have been countless things that we have never seen before. The adjustment of a hitting with a wood bat was huge, as I have had to adjust to the ups and downs of playing everyday. I have batted every position in the lineup, as our coach likes to shake things up during when things aren’t going as well. In the field, I have split time in center and left field.
I owe a lot to the coaching staff. While young, they all have been very energetic during a summer of firsts. Our head coach, Paul Koch, was named the Virginia high school coach of the year and it is obvious that he has a ton of knowledge of the game of baseball.
This summer opened my eyes to a new lifestyle. I’ve met some great players who enjoy playing the game and it’s been fun getting back to the days of playing ball every day. It’s only a couple weeks until we are back at school again and I wish everyone the best of luck for the stretch run in their summer seasons. Congrats to all the players who were drafted and are now that much closer to reaching their dreams! (Javi, you can call me back anytime now.)
See you guys in the fall. GO IRISH!!