By snoadmin
Here’s a thought for any baseball player out there struggling with their batting average: Try dropping a weight on your foot. It sure worked for the Dirtbags’ first baseman Brandon Godfrey.
The Dirtbags’ starter is currently riding a 5-game hitting-streak. His .323 average puts him at the top of the Dirtbags’ starting lineup, and second overall on the team. After mounting a 10-for-15 attack against Arizona State two weeks ago, Godfrey was named Big West Player of the Week. Godfrey then went on to hit a game-winning double against Wichita State a week later.
All of this comes after a somewhat slow start for the junior. Following two strong seasons, Godfrey started this season batting only .150, before suffering an embarrassing injury.
“I dropped a weight on my foot,” Godfrey said. “That was a little frustrating.”
After sitting out with a bruised toe for two weeks, Godfrey got back into the swing of things. Determined not to let his average drop any lower, Godfrey came back against Arizona State with a bang – 10 of them actually.
“I didn’t really get frustrated because I figured that I’d get back up to [my previous] numbers,” Godfrey said. “And if I would have gotten frustrated I probably wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve been doing the last couple weeks.”
In his three seasons at Long Beach State, Godfrey has learned not to let injuries get him down. He managed to produce a .302 average and .990 fielding percentage throughout his two active seasons (Godfrey redshirted his first season at LBSU). The left-handed batter was ranked fourth on the team in RBIs last season while trying to recover from surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder.
In 2005, after playing nearly all summer in the Alaska Summer League for the Alaska Goldpanners, Godfrey tore his labrum. The injury came right before the team was set to go to the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan., landing Godfrey a ticket back to California instead of Kansas.
“That year, our team had the best record in the history of the Alaska League,” Godfrey said. “So taking that into the NBC would have been nice but I wasn’t able to go with them.”
He underwent surgery prior to the start of the 2006 season, and was able to be one of the team’s biggest producers until his shoulder became aggravated. Injury-ridden once again, Godfrey found himself unable to play summer ball until July.
Late that month, Godfrey left to play in the Cape Cod League, the elite summer ball league for collegiate players, for Yarmouth-Dennis, but only appeared in five games due to his shoulder. Despite only making a few appearances, Godfrey said the experience in the prestigious league was still unforgettable.
“I went out for about the last three weeks and got to experience all the great players and all the competition that was there. Our team ended up winning the whole thing, so that made it even cooler,” Godfrey said. “But it’s kind of tough going in there when everybody has already had a couple months to play. You’re just a guy that just came right now, trying to catch up to everybody else. But it was a really good experience.”
Taking most of the summer off allowed Godfrey’s shoulder to heal. He came into the start of this season healthy, and with high expectations for himself. But as the season began, those expectations he had didn’t exactly pan out like he thought, as he found himself hitting much lower than he was used to. And after lifting weights one day Godfrey landed in a familiar place – injured, yet again.
“The first couple times [you get injured] you kind of get that feeling like ‘here we go again,'” Godfrey said. “But I’ve learned you can’t have that attitude. You just have to keep working to get better.”
Godfrey learned to rebound, and rebound is exactly what he did. Although he said it was a relief to finally be hitting again, more than anything he was happy to finally be making a contribution to his team again. He hopes that his bat will help the team win the Big West Conference title, and reach the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
“We all want to win, and that is pressure [to do well] in itself.”
