Stepping in to Fall 2009

Hello Ram Fans!

Welcome to the first installment of my newest project, this blog – “Going Down – Towne.”

For those of you who do not yet know me, I’d like to give a little background about myself. My name is Keith Towne and I am a baseball player here at ASU. This will be my second and final year of school here in the Concho Valley, as I will be out of NCAA eligibility and course hours to take. I will graduate at the conclusion of the spring semester with a Business Management degree.

Prior to ASU, I attended Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. I really enjoyed my time there, but found that it was not the perfect fit for me personally. At Lamar, I redshirted for my freshmen campaign and worked hard to get many of my academics out of the way. Over the next two years I was able to contribute on the baseball field, make some great friends and some special memories, but decided it was time for a change.

Shortly thereafter, I was getting off of a plane in a strange city I had never been to before, meeting three guys at the airport that I had never met before. I remember thinking as I was getting off of the plane, “How will I know how to find Coach Brooks?” Needless to say, I was able to sort through the bustling crowd and find Coaches Brooks, Smith and Lambert sitting at the end of the hall. Actually, aside from the lonely clerk at the rental car desk, I was only able to count four people, including myself. From there, I guess they say the rest is history. I signed to come to Angelo State a week later and have loved every moment since.

So this begins the first week of my final year in school. I took on this project thinking it would be fun to write a blog about the day to day activities of a student-athlete. I also thought it would be a lot of fun to include insight about school, sports and other things related to college life from a fifth year senior’s prospective. I’m going to dedicate this blog to updating all of our Ram fans about the happenings around campus, on the field, at practice and who knows what else throughout the year.

That brings me to today. The Rams have begun their fall semester and we’re already at full steam. Following a week of boring meetings and a lot of housekeeping issues that must be taken care of, it was finally time to hit the ground running, literally. Aside from our busy class schedules, the Rams have started working out on a daily basis. Often times on their own. Pitchers have begun long tossing, hitters taking swings in the cage. It’s has been a bit quieter at the SAY complex this week without Coaches Marty Smith and Blaze Lambert. I want to say thank you to both of these guys for an amazing year and for the knowledge they were able to share with me about the game. I hope they both have a great future at their respective new schools, on their way to outstanding careers. Angelo State will surely miss you.

The first week was a great time for all of the returning guys to catch up on things. It was also a week of getting to know all of the new players. We do have quite a few. We also added a new assistant coach this week, Coach Goodale. I haven’t had much of a chance to get to meet him, but look forward to getting to know him in the coming weeks.

Aside from going to class and meeting all of our new professors, collecting syllabi and trying to get oriented on campus, the players took full advantage of a light study schedule and attended several of the other sporting events on campus.

A group of us were there to cheer and witness volleyball win its own tournament at home and start the season at a perfect 4-0. Congratulations girls. Keep up the good work. We made it over to the soccer field and caught some of the action. It looked as though the girls had a productive scrimmage before they headed to Colorado for the weekend. The football team had a rough first half but pulled it together in the second half to secure a 21-7 victory over Texas A&M Commerce. I’ve bumped into a few football players this week on campus and they are very excited about the upcoming Texas State game. I know a few of our new friends and teammates are making the trek to San Marcos to watch the game first hand. Good Luck Guys!

So, I hope to see you all around campus or at the yard. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on all of the things happening around the ballpark and in the classroom. So here’s to stepping up to the plate for another great year.

GO RAMS!!!