Blogs from Kaunas, Lithuania, Europe - page 3

Kaunas Hotel Magnus 11.40am 4 Sept just across the road from the bus station - very handy - and as train is some furtehr distance away bus to Vilnius is def. the go from here. After previous night in Klaipeda I went by train 3 hrs after very early breakfast, to Siaulai and the Hill of Crosses - its a pilgrimage sorta place with a small hill just covered with crosses. Bit underwhelming in terms of size - but its the details - thousands of crosses on every inch of it. Met on the train an Aussie woman/orig. Kiwi bloke on the train, Mark and Asher who now live in East Anglia and were visiting her Lithuanian rels. nr Klaipeda. Good to share the cost of a taxi out there - 12kms out of town - ... read more

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 flamethrower will pitch in the Florida Instructional League Program this fall and join the Pirates in Spring Training next year. Also receiving attention from several MLB Clubs was Edvardas Matusevicius, a hard-throwing RHP and outfielder who has also been ... read more

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 second year in a row two young talents from Vilnius Logipolija Baseball Club, Edvardas Matusevicius (outfielder position) and Dovydas Neverauskas (pitcher position), have been selected to attend the 2009 MLB European Academy in Tirrennia, Italy, this summer (featured photo). In addition, Lukas ... read more

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 against semi-pro teams in Chicago as well as in Davenport, Iowa!! We will be playing an 8-game schedule, seeing two Chicago White Sox games, and getting to visit Chicago! This will be the first trip to the ... read more

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 performances by Audrius Beliauskas (3-5, 2B, R, 4 RBI) Gediminas Sabalius (4-6, 2 2B, 2R), and Arunas Dankovskis (2-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI). In game 2 Arturas Eimutis of Lituanica got his first victory of the season, with Aivaras Jacyna pitched 3 solid ... read more