Another Gem Pitched by Jack Rodgers

Newport faced Bothell at home on Wednesday, March 28 with Jack as the starting pitcher. Due to a rainout, Newport had played the previous day as well - they had lost that game 15-3 and ran through almost all of their pitchers in the process. So Jack took the mound with limited bullpen support available, facing a good pitcher from Bothell.

The game wound up to be a tight pitchers' duel, with Jack shutting them down in each inning except the fourth, when they scored one run. Newport wasn't able to score much either, putting one run across in the fifth to tie it, 1-1.

In the top of the 7th (the last inning), Jack went back out to pitch and while Bothell loaded the bases with one out, he got them to ground into an inning-ending double play. In the bottom of the 7th, Newport got a runner on third with two outs, and with two strikes on him Coleman came through with a single up the middle to score the walk-off winning run!

Jack threw 86 pitches, scattered seven hits and struck out four over the seven innings. He had a strong defense behind him with Newport making zero errors and turning a couple of inning-ending double plays.

Jack strikes out a Bothell batter to end the fifth inning

Newport @ Inglemoor - March 23, 2018

Jack got the start in the fourth game of the year, at Inglemoor High School.

Inglemoor is one of the few schools that has lights - the game started at 6pm and ended around 8pm. It was a crisp night, in the 40s by the end of the game.

Dad was able to use his zoom lens that he had gotten for Christmas and took a bunch of photos of Jack on the mound. Inglemoor came into the game 6-0; Jack pitched well, leaving in the 5th inning with a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately, Inglemoor came back and won the game in extra innings, 5-4.

Newport Baseball Begins

Jack is on the Junior Varsity team this year, and pitched in the second game of the year, a tight match against Auburn. The game went into extra innings and the Newport Knights won, 8-7. Jack pitched the final four innings and gave up four runs (though just one of them was earned - three scored on one play where the ball was thrown around the infield allowing all runners to score).

Here is a video of Jack starting a double play in the sixth inning:

Henry's Spring Band Concert

Henry played with his middle school band in their Spring concert. Here are some photos - Henry is to the far left, first chair in the front for the trumpet section:

Joseph Travels to Mexico

For the University of Michigan's Spring Break, Joseph traveled with his engineering club "Blue Lab" to Mexico City to work with a Mexican corporation on the project they have been working on. Here are some photos from the trip, along with descriptions Joseph provided:

This is the sensor prototype that we sent down! It measures H2S and methane from the air; here we have it hooked up to a tube of biogas for calibration. The sensor didn't work great when we arrived, but thankfully two of the four people on the trip had worked with it before so we were able to get it running accurately by the end.

The black bag on the ground is a biodigester set up by our partner, Sistema Biobolsa, in a park/community center area in downtown Mexico City. This is where we did a lot of our calibration and testing.

This is the top tower of the castle in Mexico City, in a big green park near our hotel. The castle was home to the emperor of Mexico and later its presidents until it became a history museum in the 1930's. 

This is the Angel statue, also near our hotel and in the financial district 

ACC Tournament

In March, John went to see the #1 UVA basketball team play in the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn as a "50th birthday celebration" with Dave, Walt, and Paul. Not only did we get to see seven great basketball games, in which UVA went 3-0 and won the entire tournament for just the third time in its history, but we also were on TV multiple times throughout the games - a few people (thx Joseph and others!) took photos of their TV screens!

Me, Walt, Paul, and Dave in the custom tee-shirts Dave had made
(Actual photo, not from TV!) 

Halftime at the Louisville game - the four of us are right above the score banner

Closing seconds of the final - John is in orange hat and shirt taking a photo with his phone

ESPN coverage of post-Game celebration after the final

Final Scoreboard!!

John's Trip To Europe

In early March, John took a whirlwind tour through Europe for work, hitting five cities in five days.

Day One: Luxembourg

Walking from the old city to the Amazon offices

Day Two: Munich

Fountain at Marienplatz - it was cold!

Day Three: Ljubljana

Dragon Bridge with castle in the background

Day Four: Vienna

Josefplatz in Vienna

Day Five: Bratislava

Bratislava Castle