Louisville baseball's experience in the Dominican Republic beneficial
Louisville baseball traveled to the Dominican Republic for a trio of games against professional competition along with community service opportunities in early October. Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said the trip was two-fold for his team.
His team is immersed in a baseball driven country and has the opportunity to serve in a third-world country.
In the program’s second international trip, the Cardinals worked with a youth baseball clinic, visited an orphanage spent time feeding a village. Louisville played against Estrellas Orientales, the reigning champion of the Dominican Winter League, on their second day. Louisville traveled to the Kansas City Royals Academy to play Leones del Escogido before playing Toro del Este, a team that has two Dominican Winter League titles.
“You’re playing a lot of talented players, mostly professional, these guys are already in the professional ranks, some are big leaguers,” McDonnell said. “It’s neat for our guys to see how they stack up against Double-A, Triple-A, big league guys, it’s a good message for them because it really opens their eyes because they realize in a year or two, ‘I’m going to be playing against these guys’ trying to be one of the 800 big leaguers in the world.”
McDonnell believes the experience helps players prepare for the next level. He estimated 20 players were drafted on the team that traveled internationally four years ago, which included Brendan McKay, Nick Solak, Will Smith, Drew Ellis, Kyle Funkhouser, Corey Ray, Logan Taylor and Kade McClure, among others.
The players learned from the experience beyond baseball.
“The opportunity to serve, to serve in a third-world country, you don’t realize how good you have it in America,” McDonnell said. “To give your time and heart to others is very uplifting.
“My challenge to the team when we got back was the flame is lit, so let’s keep the flame lit now, don’t let the flame burn out because we did a great job in the Dominican.”