USF Summer Baseball Blog No. 23 - Jonathan Abramson
Aug. 5, 2009
Sophomore right-hander Jonathan Abramson recounts his summer in Alexandria, VA.
Jewish All-American Jonathan Abramson here, reporting from my home in Menlo Park, California regarding my summer-ball experience in Alexandria, VA. The Alexandria Aces are a second year team in the Cal Ripken Sr. League, a league whose eight teams are based out of Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. It being my first time out East, I was shocked when I touched down in Virginia to daily thunderstorms and an influx of brick buildings, both foreign to the west coast. I was able to live in one of these brick buildings, and I'd like to thank my host parents Grayson and Kristina Robertson for providing us with such an amazing place to spend my summer.
When I got over the initial shock that it's common to have pouring rain in 90 degree weather and had developed a palette for the variety of bugs I consumed while pitching, I really started to warm up to my surroundings. The Aces play in Alexandria, an incredibly old and beautiful city in Northern Virginia. My roommate and I were fortunate enough to have Old Town, Alexandria practically in our backyard, and Washington D.C. only a 15 minute drive away. Exploring the monuments in D.C. was a highlight of my summer, and seeing my brother Abe's (Lincoln) memorial was awe inspiring.
When the heavens cleared and we were actually able to get on the field, our team started to develop great chemistry that seems to define the summer-ball experience. Though we finished one game out of playoffs, our team played in a number of nail biters, and had several walk off wins that I will never forget. I had the opportunity to be a starter this summer, a role which I haven't had since high school, and really relished the opportunity to take what Coach Moore taught me at USF and translate that into my preparation for this new role. My coaches on the Aces were great as well, and I'd like to thank them everything they did for the team this summer (and for the pitcher's bp's).
I had an amazing time competing against fellow Dons on the Bethesda Big Train (Cameron Love, Connor Bernatz and Mason Morioka), and was glad to see each of them perform incredibly well (unless I was on the hill, but that is beside the point, don't ask Connor about this he might get bitter).
I had an amazing summer playing ball, and thanks to the holy redshirt- it was not my last. I'm incredibly excited to get back to the USF family and in a sick and twisted way I even welcome the thought of morning weights and SPARQ training that will soon be our weekly routine. I can't wait to see all of you guys in a few weeks... AEOP, Go Dons, and most importantly, "Have a great day!"