The University of Tampa baseball team had a storybook ending to their season last year. The Spartans defeated Minnesota State in the national championship game in Cary, N.C. and recently, UT was ranked #1 in a national baseball poll conducted by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. It has only got better from there.
The team was invited to travel to Cuba for an eight-day cultural exchange trip throughout the country. They had a cultural literacy and international education license through the student organization People to People, and Head Coach Joe Urso also gave credit to local Tampa area residents Charlie Miranda and Julio Gonzalez for helping to plan the trip, which lasted from Jan. 12-19.
The next few days included many tours around Cuba that did more than just establish Baseball Diplomacy. They even played three exhibition games versus three Cuban professional baseball squads. The team also met with the manager of the Mananzas baseball team, Victor Mesa, at dinner. Mesa, who is also the manager of the Cuban National Baseball Team, decided to invite the baseball team to his team’s playoff game on Thursday. The team then learned a lot from what their experience, especially since Cuba shares a love for the game of baseball the same way Americans do.
Later on, the team traveled to Central Park, which is referred to as “the hot corner” by the locals. During their visit, the team talked to former Cuban major leaguers about the game of baseball. The locals also mobbed the defending NCAA champions for pictures and autographs and the team met with Cuba’s Commissioner of Baseball.
Coach Urso seemed very pleased with how well they got along with the locals. “It is amazing at how friendly and welcoming everyone has been,” Urso said. “You learn so much about their culture and how much we take for granted.”
On Wednesday, UT played their first exhibition game against Cuban professional team Las Habanas, and the Spartans won the game by a final score of 2-1. Preston Packrall picked up the win by pitching 3.0 innings. Kevin McNorton came up with the save after getting out of a bases loaded jam in the ninth inning with the help of Ben Johnson’s diving play, which was coach Urso’s favorite on the field moment of the trip.
This victory only boosted the confidence of the Spartan baseball team. Regardless, the play of the day came from the Cuban team when the shortstop made a diving by in the hole that impressed the spectators and the Spartans dugout. All the Spartans knew was that these Cuban teams were ready to play.
In the second game, the Spartans had to face off against an Artemisa squad that was notorious for a rowdy crowd. This environment made it a tougher place to play. Urso even described the environment as a “playoff atmosphere.” Artemisa had several big league level Cuban players on the roster so the Spartans has their work cut out for them, but the defending champs had some talent of their own. In the end, the Spartans dominated by a score of 13-5 and also got a record of 14 hits in the process. With that win, they improved to 2-0 on the trip.
The trip concluded with a final game against Mayabeque. The competition did not get easier for the Spartans. The contest was a lot more competitive but UT rolled to victory again as they defeated Mayabeque 8-6. Orlando Rivera got on base four times and Tyler Ding and two hits and a RBI. Quinn Pippin broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning by hitting a two-run double.
The Spartans finished the trip to Cuba 3-0 and was described as “a momentum builder ” by pitcher Preston Packrall.
Also, Right fielder Zach Gawrych gave his input about the travel experience.
“The food, competition, sight-seeing and being able to see the ability of a lot of different arms [were great], but we have to rev it up and focus on the first game,” Gawrych said.
The players seemed to learn a lot from the Cuban players and natives. Baseball is usually seen as an American game, but to see two different cultures collide and bond over baseball might be a step in the right direction in terms of Cuban-American relations.
UT will begin their season Feb. 1 in a three game series against Bentley.
Phil Novotny can be reached at philip.novotny@spartans.ut.edu.