From start to finish on a doubleheader Saturday , we spend 8 to 9 hours together, and the quality of the day is directly tied to the quality of people you have, helping you produce a show.

Today, we have struck Gold as all four of the Golden Bears 🐻 involved are walking the fine line of being totally focused yet sneak in some side stories when time allows.

Liam Craven plays on the WVU-T Basketball team, and today, he is responsible for the schools live feed of the games. Craven is from Canada 🇨🇦, sharp as can be, and handles the technology of our team. His favorite basketball player is Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets 🚀. Sports management as his major !

The next member of the team is freshman, Mason Divers. Divers is a red shirt this year as he recovers from an injury, and the recent graduate 🎓 of Charlottesville High School 🏫 has an understanding of the game beyond his years. The left-handed pitcher is learning the ins and outs of what it takes to have it appear that we are a well-oiled machine.

This afternoon, Divers is responsible for the announcing of the Golden Bears and just broke out the ” Another Golden Bear has found his way to Home Plate ” as we push our lead out to 3-1 here in the bottom of the fifth.

Michael Thor is the key 🔑 ingredient to the amount of polish we have on any given day. For folks back home in Carroll County, Thor is a younger version of Kevin Burress at Cavalier Park. The equipment is more sophisticated, but the level of commitment is spot on ! The sophomore from Nitro is also awaiting his time on the field, and when he’s not anchoring our team, he’s busy working on his degree in mechanical engineering.

Thor handles every aspect of our sound, which at this level is a substantial amount. We are now at the top of the 7th inning, so he is prepping our Harry Carry tribute that we do during the 7th inning stretch.

The fourth member of our team is Garrett Miller, and he has the job that nobody wants. Miller has to keep up with every pitch and the pitch clock ⏰️.

The scoreboard out in left center shows the number of items that Miller has to keep straight.

It’s now 2 pm, and game one of two is moving along at a pleasant pace ! We all made a guess at what time game 2 will end at the guesses range from 5:48 to 6:47 and the effort started at 10:00.

First Pitch 57° temperature 🌡/ time 12:00 on the nose 👃.

From here, I will give each of these impressive young men to add their own thoughts about themselves, things that would make their parents proud.

Season #18 is rapidly approaching the end of the line this weekend as it’s the next to the final trip for the 2025 – 2026 season. Midway comes to town on April 24th & 25th with our annual Senior Day festivities taking place on that final Saturday.

18 years is a long time ⌛️and being life doesn’t come with any guarantees, one has to ask the question, is this the end of the journey ?

If it is, the campaign will go down as the one that stuck the closest to the original script. Playing baseball in the mountains of West Virginia in the month of February can get a little tricky at times, but after a rocky start, things settled down quite a bit.

The home opener was slated for February 21 and 22nd in Beckley but was moved over to Marshall University and eventually condensed to the ultra rare triple header ahead of a snow ❄️ storm. Three games in one day proved to be a challenge, and the 22nd was wiped from the calendar. The opportunity for this series with Lawrence Tech was made possible by the flight ✈️ back across the country for The Basketball 🏀 Classic, Take #3.

  The only true add-on game took place three days later at Go-Mart Park in Charleston (25th vs. Pikeville) and later on March 19th replaced March 17th. That move made the original 16 home dates turn into 18. Three home stadiums 🏟, all top level and enjoyable to work in. Marshall University was a first-timer and pushed the number of parks that I’ve called a game up to 12.

The questions started when I drove under the welcome 🙏 to West Virginia sign back on Thursday afternoon. How many times had that moment taken place in 18 years ? How many hotels 🏨 were slept in ? The number of West Virginia Turnpike toll booths was there along the way ?

The difference between being a 44 year old living in Luray, Virginia, and a 62 year old living in Laurel Fork, Virginia, is as big as it sounds. The years spent out on Orcas Island 🏝 in the San Juans limited the trips to just Senior Day weekends.

How many assistant coaches have worn the Golden Bears uniform over the span ? How many miles had been driven and in how many different vehicles ? We moved the campus from Montgomery to Beckley during the run, not something that happens every day, and don’t forget the part where our engineering school was gobbled up by West Virginia University.

The game on Friday afternoon flirted with taking four hours to finish, but it will go down as one of the most exciting ones along the way for sure. Today will run right at eight hours ( 1 nine inning game, followed by 1 seven inning game ) from start to finish, and then there’s the drive back home.

If this is the end of the journey, I was thrilled to hang out at  Hawks Nest Lodge one more time because it has been part of my life forever and a day. While it’s just a dot on the map to many, The Nest 🪹🪺 is my favorite place to ponder life, and it’s been that way for 40+ years.

The hotel 🏨 breakfast is now open, so it’s a good time to head downstairs. How many times have I thought that over the past 18 years ?

Baseball ⚾️ is just a game to many, but it’s bigger than that to those on the inside. It becomes part of you, but hey, it is time to go make a waffle 🧇.

Let’s play two today !