The Arizona Baseball dugout is the best place to be on Campus

Arizona Baseball has a new coach, but more importantly, they have a new-found joy in playing the game of baseball while giving fans a closer look into the teams personality.

At the end of last season, Arizona Baseball played UCLA in three games and lost all three. Thursday they dominated the No. 18 Bruins (6-1), then lost a close game No. 2 (4-3) and came back on a very special dedication day to win game No. 3 in the series scoring five runs in the ninth inning and won on a double hit and a slide into home to beat the throw.

We caught up with Junior infielder Sawyer Gieseke to get his candid point of view as a player on the University of Arizona baseball team. He tells us how much fun he is having, what it’s like to be on this season’s team and how he contributes to the program.

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“It’s pretty difficult adjusting to a new position because college baseball moves fast,” asserted Sawyer, “I play everywhere except the outfield, right now a little at second and third, and I catch too.” Gieseke is a versatile player, to say the least, but he doesn’t know how long his body will last behind the plate.

The team has been given the green light to show fans their personalities and enjoy playing the game of baseball at the University of Arizona.

Coach Jay Johnson has instructed the team to have fun, “We are having a lot of fun this season, and it is very player oriented,” stated Sawyer. “The coolest thing our head coach has ever said is, ‘You have my permission to have as much fun as you want in the dugout, the best place to be on campus will be our dugout.'”

What do they do in the dugout? “We quote movies, we say stupid stuff, yell, we keep within ourselves and not at the other team, it’s pretty funny,” Gieseke continued, “We have a little fiesta every single time a run scores, it’s so much fun. We also have 3-2 winners, when we have a 3-2 count we go nuts.”

Arizona’s must win series this weekend against USC will start with Konner Wade. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports /

Marketing picked up on the idea, so if you go out to watch the team you could get a 3-2 towel! But none of you will wave it as much as one of the Wildcats in the dugout, “I don’t know how many times Robbie has been told to stop waiving his towel, yeah, he gets out of hand, he actually got a warning for waiving his towel.” Hilarious. We need a special camera in the dugout so the fans can watch them.

The team has a Snapchat account which was started last year, “What really gave it life was Adam Gonzalez, the SID, he just hands it to Robbie Medel,” he explained, “Robbie’s one of the most outgoing players, and I’ll say loud because I like Robbie, and he won’t take offense to that at all.”

How outgoing is Robbie? “He’ll grab that phone and fill it up with 800 words, and just cram them in and go; he’s really good at that stuff.” Take it from us, we tweet out captures from the teams snap chats, they are really enjoying the app and bringing fans closer while sharing their joy of the game. You can follow their account at ‘UofABaseball,’ you won’t be sorry, they take you behind the scenes.

But they aren’t all fun and games; they are serious about the game of baseball as well and winning is their goal. What helps them focus is a team mantra, ‘It doesn’t matter about tomorrow or yesterday; we are going to do what we can today.” Profound, we can all find a time to repeat that sentiment to ourselves for motivation.

Taken by Shereen Rayan 5-15-15 /

Sawyer saved up a bunch of money and just invested in a camera. “I’m a film and television major (minor in business administration), and I saved up for a while and bought a camera, and I use it as much as I can now. So I try to post a lot, but it’s hard with school and baseball, and plus, I play,” he conceded, “so it’s hard to post while you are playing.” So true.

Gieseke would like to continue in film after baseball, “I’d like to stay in sports with the whole camera business and what not. I really like producing and coming up with idea’s and all that kind of stuff, and then I really like actually filming it and having that kind of control,” he explained, “And then, I really like editing it and so in the film world, you really gotta pick one.”

An organization that inspires him is a non-profit named ‘More than a Game’ in the Bay Area, “He’s a one-man crew, his name is Jonathan Giles, and he’s really fired me up about the whole thing and makes a lot of really good videos about our trips,” said Sawyer, “Something like that would be awesome!”

Well, he’s on his way, and he produced this fun and entertaining video ‘Family Matters‘ parody titled ‘Clubhouse Matters’ introducing each member of his team, “The funny thing is we filmed something that each player says or does a lot,” he said, “We have a Canadian, so we had him pulling the shirt over someone’s head and punching him (hockey reference). Then JC Cloney is the best squatter on the team, so we put him in a squat. Jared Oliva is a robot; he’s talking to a machine.” He let us know Jared is one of the most athletic players on the team.

Hi Corbett Field just got a new ginormous amazing scoreboard which made it possible for Sawyer to show his video’s, “It’s five times as big as the last one, it’s really fun to look at.” He advised as that the scoreboard has been ‘ball tested.’ In other words, there have been balls hit from the plate that hit the board and it didn’t break, “I think we’re good.”

Here is your brand new baseball team Wildcats fans, get to know them, they are going to bring it this season. Watching this video, we have more questions about some of these Wildcats…like what’s Kevin doing in the shower with his clothes on? What’s he known for? Hmm..pay attention, you may just see Robbie with his towel!

Sawyer has always wanted to play in the Pac-12, and he feels it’s a dream come true to be a part of the team, he really looks forward to every game. He is planning more episodes and other types of videos for everyone’s pure enjoyment, including a montage at the end of the season.

More wildcats: Arizona Baseball plays #4Josh in miracle win over Bruins

ZonaZealots can’t wait! BearDown!

You can follow Sawyer on Instagram at ‘SawyerGieseke.’

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