Back on the road after a wild, Wednesday morning win

Hey Rebel Fans,

We picked up a huge win over No. 5 Arizona State this week and that was really good for our guys. We were coming off a rough weekend so it was really nice to see us bounce back against a great team.

After the game I found out that it was our first win against a top-five team since 2003 and our first win over Arizona State since 2002. It’s really fun to experience that with the guys.

The game was a little weird as we were scheduled to play on Tuesday night. We got a couple innings in then, but because of a lighting issue we had to put the game on hold. It was a tough situation because we had to stay loose and focused at the same time. We couldn’t just goof around and let our concentration slip away.

In the end, the lights didn’t turn back on and we went home, regrouped and came back Wednesday morning to finish what we started. I was really proud of our guys and the resilience we showed.

One thing that we did a little differently against the Sun Devils is that we took more of a “Johnny Wholestaff” approach from the mound. We had a total of eight pitchers throw in the nine-inning game. Every pitcher is different and they all need to be handled a little differently. Behind the plate I needed to keep my awareness up and stay sharp. It really helped me lock in for the entire game and I enjoyed it. All of our guys came out and threw well.

As a team we played pretty well, but one guy who has really stepped up as of late, especially against Arizona State, is my younger brother A.J. VanMeetren. He has started getting some chances to get in to the lineup and he has proven he belongs there. He is stepping up when we need him to, getting some big hits and putting the ball in play. Hopefully he can keep that up and, as a team, hopefully we can feed off of his play.

It’s pretty awesome being able to share these experiences with my brother. We played together in high school, but being able to do it at the collegiate level is pretty cool. A lot times when you go home, baseball is over. We can go and talk to our parents and our friends about things and usually it’s away from the diamond. A.J. and I can talk about baseball 24/7 and that’s awesome because we experience the same things, but sometimes we have different perspectives on it.

Today we are traveling to Ohio State and we will play the Buckeyes for a three-game set starting on Friday. I love traveling and I have a blast doing it. I really like seeing new places and I’m sure Ohio State is going to be incredible. They have storied programs across their entire athletic department.

What I think I enjoy about being on the road the most is just seeing other campuses and seeing how their guys live. It’s also pretty neat seeing different parts of the country. We traveled quite a bit last season and to have an opportunity to go to The Ohio State this year is pretty neat.

We don’t know much about the Buckeyes, but we have been told they have three really good arms. We are gearing up to go out there and compete. If we can show up like we did against Arizona State, we will be in really good shape.

Our next home series will be April 17-19 against New Mexico. We really appreciate all of your support this season and we look to bring back a few wins before you all see us take on the Lobos.

Talk to you soon!

-Erik VanMeetren