Sept. 8, 2006
A busy week at Notre Dame is nearing the football team’s opener while the Irish baseball team is completing its first week of fall practice. In addition to upcoming coverage of the fall baseball season, several final Summer Baseball Diaries still need to be passed along over the next few days, including the most recent submission from sophomore infielder Jeremy Barnes.
Barnes began his summer playing in Ohio with the Delaware Cows of the Great Lakes League before opting to return home to his native Texas, where he trained for several weeks with an Olympic sprinter, in addition to completing various baseball workouts. Barnes will be one of the key position players in the 2007 season, as six of the graduates from the 2006 team were top position players during their Irish careers.
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Upcoming diary entries will include submissions from another sophomore, Kyle Weiland, followed by some bonus entries later this month (see updated schedule posted below). A wrapup of all Notre Dame baseball player summer stats also is forthcoming (including former ND players in pro ball and the incoming freshmen).
An archive of links to the 2002-06 ND Summer Baseball Diaries can be found at the following link: http://und.cstv.com/genrel/basebl-summerdiaries.html.
Notre Dame Baseball 2006 Summer Diaries (updated schedule)
- Thur., July 20 – Mike
- Mon., July 24 – Brett
- Fri., Aug. 4 – Sam Brezovsky (Hays Larks; Jayhawk League)
- Sun., Aug. 27 – Wade
- Wed., Sept. 6 – Eddy Mendiola (Altamonte Springs Snappers; Florida Collegiate League)
- Fri., Sept. 8- Jeremy Barnes (Delaware Cows; Great Lakes League/also speed training)
- Sun., Sept. 10 – Kyle Weiland (Delaware Cows; Great Lakes League/also Team USA trials)
- Tues., Sept 12 – head coach Dave Schrage
- Fri., Sept. 15 – assistant coach Scott Lawler
- Mon., Sept. 18 – assistant coach Sherard Clinkscales
- Wed., Sept. 20 – volunteer assistant coach John Fitzgerald
- Fri., Sept. 22 – 2006 graduate Craig Cooper (Eugene Emeralds; single-A Northwest League)
- Mon., Sept. 25 – 2006 graduate Tom Thornton (Oneonta Tigers; single-A New York-Penn League)
Notre Dame 2006 Summer Baseball Diary #6 (Jeremy Barnes; Delaware, Ohio, Cows/Great Lakes League; also hometown speed training Sept. 8)
“Hello Irish Baseball fans! I wrote this summer diary from my home in Dallas, Texas, before returning to Notre Dame for my sophomore year. This summer has been one of change for me as well as the Notre Dame Baseball family. As we all know, we have a new coach who everyone is very excited about, congrats coach Schrage for the position, we can’t wait for the fall to get going. And to coach Mainieri, good luck at LSU. We all appreciate everything you have done for us individually as well as with the program.
“Now down to business, I began the summer in Delaware, Ohio, playing for the Cows. I was joined by my teammate Kyle Weiland as we stayed with our host family the Flahives. I could not have asked for a better family to take me in. The father, Tim, was a lawyer in the area and had two kids. Maureen (we all just call her Mo) is a freshman in high school and Phil, who will be a freshman in college, really took me in and made me feel welcome in the house. I could not have asked for anything more from my situation with the Flahives.
“Obviously it was very nice being home for an extended period of time. Homecooked meals, my own vehicle, family and friends all were welcomed after a long season. I worked out with a professional sprinter by the name of J.J. Johnson. He was a member of the USA track team, running against the top sprinters in the world. For the five weeks I was home, we met 3-4 times a week doing various sprint workouts as well as weight workouts.
Jeremy Barnes set the Notre Dame freshman record for RBI in a season, with a team-best 49 in 2006 (photo by Pete LaFleur).
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“It was a very challenging five weeks, to say the least. It was all worth it, in just one week I dropped my 60-yard sprint time a 10th of a second. All in all, I came away from the experience dropping my time 2-3 10ths of a second, all while gaining overall body strength.
“Along with all the training, I did find plenty of time to do baseball workouts while back home in Dallas. I played in scrimmages with my old summer team to get at-bats and I kept up with a throwing program, as well as hitting multiple times a week with my former hitting instructor. And I must mention a few chances to play some golf with my dad and friends (I still cant quite beat ny dad).
“I had an amazing summer being with the family and accomplishing goals that I set at the beginning of the summer, but words can’t describe how excited I am about getting back up to ND and starting the fall. We are going to have a great team this year, starting with the fall. It is going to be competitive and done the right way. I just want to say thanks to all our followers, you guys make it a lot of fun.
“This is Jeremy Barnes signing off – hope everyone had a good summer and I’ll see you all back at Notre Dame. GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!”