DOVYDAS NEVERAUSKAS SIGNS WITH THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES; FIRST LITHUANIAN IN HISTORY TO SIGN A CONTRACT WITH MLB TEAM 7/13/2009 For the first time in the history of Lithuanian Baseball, one of its own has signed a professional contract with an MLB squad. On July 9th Dovydas Neverauskas, a 16 year old pitcher from Vilnius, Lithuania, agreed to terms of a professional contract offered by the Pittsburgh Pirates, making him the first player in Lithuania's history to do so. Neverauskas agreed to sign with the Pirates only after considering proposals from several MLB Clubs. The 6-3, 170-pound [View Full Entry]

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I returned to Lithuania after a long and restful, yet somehow also hectic and very busy, two months being home with family, grandparents, friends. It was a really great visit, and also special because Viktorija traveled with me and it was her first visit to the U.S. It was fun and exciting to see her experience my home for the first time, and especially to notice the ‘firsts’ that she found most exciting. Things, for example, that you don’t see/have in Lithuania that I never thought about. A short list: fireflies, turtles (she never saw them in the wild!), skinks, krispy [View Full Entry]

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Sveiki!!! Life and baseball in Kaunas, Lithuania, rolls on. Kaunas is still undefeated in both Lithuanian and Interleague games, but all of this might change as our US Tour approaches and the competition stiffens. Not to forget also that we have two tough games to close close out the first half of the season against Vilnius Logipolija. It has been two busy weeks of hosting MLB Envoy Coaches and CFS End of Year Trips!!! So here are a few updates!!! *********************************** 3 LITHUANIANS INVITED TO MLB EUROPEAN ACADEMY, TIRENNIA, ITALY, AUGUST 11TH-29TH!! For the seco [View Full Entry]

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I have been in Lithuania for probably its most crippling economic period since their post-occupation economic growth began just after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early ‘90’s. Teaching English at a small English school in the center of town, on ‘Freedom Avenue’, a pedestrian street that stretches the length of the whole downtown of Kaunas, I have seen shop after shop close down. And they all have a common series of events. First a sign goes up saying ‘sale’, then big circle-shaped ads in bold colors advertising that everything is on sale. 50%, 60% [View Full Entry]

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As summer arrives, time seems to be moving faster and faster. A week flies by, seeming like just a few days. A few interesting events regarding Lithuanian Baseball: May 28-June 5: Sam Dempster, a Major League Baseball Envoy Coach, will be giving baseball clinics to youth ages 13-18 in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Utena, Lithuania. This is an exciting 'first' for Lithuanian Baseball, to host an MLB coach. We hope it will be a great experience both for the visiting coach and for the players involved. June 8-24th: Kaunas Lituanica Baseball Club travels to the US!!! We will be playing aga [View Full Entry]

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Hi everybody, I am back and there is much to write about. I want to let you know that, for the moment atleast, my blog will take a slight twist. It will once again become a bit more baseball-oriented. This is because, yet again, my life has become more baseball-oriented as well. I have been here in Lithuania since January; I arrived in the bittery cold winter, near-zero temperatures, heading directly to Juodkrante with Viktorija and family to celebrate the New Year with family by drinking champagne, dancing in the bitter cold around a huge decorated christmas tree in the square [View Full Entry]

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A few highlights from the first few weeks of games: ************************* LITHUANIAN CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK 2: LITUANICA (KAUNAS) AND VIKINGAS (VILNIUS) TAKE TWO FROM LOGIPOLIJA AND VETRA Kaunas Lituanica extended their record to 4-0 in ’09 Championship Play with two wins over Vilnius Logipolija this weekend, beating Logipolija 13-7, 16-5 in two games. In game 1 Will Gordon and Marijus Dargis shared the pitching duties for Lituanica, recording 11 strikeouts and giving up only 4 hits in 9 innings. Lituanica outmatched Logipolija, recording 16 hits on the game, led by strong hitting p [View Full Entry]

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Here are some photos from our last days in South Africa. After baseball in Durban and and saying goodbye to Thanda, we rented a car and drove north to Hluhluwe National Park, a game reserve several hours north of Durban. We spent a day there, two nights, and then headed back to Durban to catch our flight back to Europe. ***Don't forget to check page 2 of this blog for the crocodile pictures!!!! You'll see a real crocodile hunter who is missing four fingers he lost during his crocodile adventures!!! [View Full Entry]

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As sort of a culmination of our work teaching the baseball and on our final weekend in South Africa, we traveled to Durban to take part in the school youth baseball league. The league, supported and organized by Kwazulu-Natal Baseball Association, begins in July and runs for 8 weeks. It is sort of a pre-season to the Club league that starts up after the completion of the school league—the school league gets kids into baseball, it is less competitive, and then those who wish to continue on (and who are selected by the club teams) can play in the club league. [View Full Entry]

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Some photos from our time with Thanda Afterschool. [View Full Entry]

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