Hingham Baseball Team Returns From Annual Florida Trip

The record may say one win and two losses for the over April Vacation, but head coach Bob Rodgers is hoping the team will bring back memories that go way beyond what happened in the box score.

Rodgers kept up with the tradition with this edition of the Harbormen by spending the seven days off from school in a much warmer climate perfectly suited for baseball, facing off against some high-end competition from sunny Florida.

“I’ve been traveling with our teams for years,” Rodgers explained. “It’s something I really believe in. It’s a great opportunity for the team to come together to build team unity and to get the guys to appreciate each other off the field. I think it really translates on the field.”

The Harbormen left for Florida on Patriots Day (April 18) and played their first game against The Benjamin School the following day. Rodgers said his team didn’t compete well after settling in just 24 hours before and the team took a loss out of the gates.

Rodgers’ club fell 8-5 to Astronaut High School in the middle of the week but were able to get off the snide with a 9-3 win over Poinciana High School in the final game of the trip before heading home.

Rodgers, who also takes his Whitman-Hanson boys basketball team on similar trips, said he has seen teams in the past use this team-building strategy as a spring board to really solid play when the Harbormen return to the much cooler weather.

 “We are able to have great practices in great weather. It’s baseball weather,” he said. “If we have stayed home this week, we would have given the kids time off with vacation week. It’s cold out, rainy. This is a much more productive way (of practicing).”

But most importantly, it’s about building bonds in a sport where unity and togetherness are usually what brings a team higher numbers in the win column.

“Baseball is the kind of sport where there are only nine guys playing and there are other guys on the bench who are important,” said Rodgers. “The players I hope know that the coaches feel that way, but they really need to know that the players and teammates feel that way. I think when you have this experience it helps the players to achieve that.”