Osaka Dome

This is a video of the opening game for the season. After the Japanese anthem, you can see me wearing the number 44 uniform lined up with the Rangers.

Kishu Rangers

Found this on youtube from the Kishu Ranger days!

End of the Year

The baseball season is officially over! It's been a wonderful 4 months of being with the team. Our last game was played at the Chatan stadium in Mihama. We fell to Meio University a mist the wind and rain 10-6. It's been a long season for all these guys and I believe everyone just ran out of gas!

Training continues starting next week, but baseball operations are over. We'll see what's going to happen next as the field of dreams continues. Stay tuned! Stay blessed!

robby

Fukuoka

In the beginning of this month, we headed to Fukuoka for a week long tournament. It was baseball and everyday hotel living for the entire week. When we first arrived, the very next day we had a game against the top University in Fukuoka. We lost in the bottom of the 9th 5-4! it was just a practice game to prepare for the tournament. The tournament consisted of about 5 games maximum with losing 2 games and you're out. So it was a double elimination tourny. To make things brief, we lost the first game 8-1 to a technical college team before going on to upset Nissan in the second game. It was quite incredible to have the chance to play Nissan in their last game as a company team and beat them. Nissan has shut down all baseball operations as of November.

The final game for us was against Mittsubishi, who shut us down 13-0. I was blessed to throw a few innings here and there. The first full tourny I was able to participate in was quite interesting. Just another day of life playing ball in Japan while sharing the good News of Jesus Christ. Thank you for continuing to pray for the work God is doing through baseball! Amen.

Okiden Defeated!

Well, we finally beat Okiden! The final score was 7-3! Okiden is the Okinawan Electric Comapany, and by reputation, the top team in Okinawa. Every year, Okiden takes the top high school players from around Okinawa to compete in company tournaments around Japan. Although it was a practice game, this was the first time Enagic as a team has beaten Okiden, and it's the first time in over a year that Okiden has lost to an Okinawan team. The management was impressed since one of their primary goals was to defeat Okiden in any kind of circumstance. I was extremely blessed to be part of the destruction, throwing 2 scoreless innings in the 6th and 7th.

Now we will be headed to Fukuoka for the 36th annual yakyu senchiken tournament(Company baseball tournament). Please stay tuned!! Blessings from the Lord!

Robby

The New Uni is Finally Here!

I finally recieved my full uniform yesterday. We have two uniform styles; blue with white lettering(pictured above) and all white with blue lettering(not pictured). #30 was the new number of choice. Thanks to my sister, Tiffany, who e-mailed me about having the number 30 in relation to her birthday on the 30th of April. I thought that was a great idea to be able to think of my sister everytime I wear my jersey. Love you Tiffy!

Praise the Lord I was blessed to have my last name on my jersey for the first time. Thanks also to Enagic for allowing me to be a part of the team. Please continue to pray for the team and also for all the baseball players here in Okinawa and also throughout Japan. May they come to know about Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

May all come to know about God's saving grace!! Amen!

God bless you all and look forward to some sweet action coming up!

robert

Another Step

Sunday after church, we had an afternoon game in my hometown of Ginowan down at Okinawa International College. It was more of a practice game leading up to the All-Okinawa tournament in late August. It was such a blessing since church family all came to cheer us on. We ended up winning the game by a large final of 14-7. I was called in the bottom of the 7th to retire the final batter. I then went on to pitch the last 2 innings. I gave up 1 run, 2 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, in 2 1/3 innings. I was able to get my first save of my career, and a max speed of 140km.

The story of the day was not even about the win...Nor was it about my pitching...It was definitely the 25 or more Japanese and Americans from the church who came out to root on Enagic! After the game, some of the guys and gals took some pics with the coaches. Shuta, our equipment manager, then brought out a stack of hats and passed them out to everyone. Everyone got some sweet gear, and the kids got a sweet memory. It was a great witness to the players, coaches, and the community for most of the church to come out to the game. I hope my coach was encouraged as a Christian and ministered by them in the name of Jesus.

Only the Lord knows what's going to happen next! Thanks to everyone who came and blessed me while I was sweating all over the place! God bless you!! robby