.jpg)
Austyn Gannutz, an eighthgrader at Maury River Middle School, traveled to the Dominican Republic in early August to play baseball with the USA National baseball team in the Latin American Baseball Classic. Austyn is 13 years old and plays travel baseball for USA Prime out of Crozet. Austyn, who has played baseball for about seven years, played 14-and-under baseball for USA Prime during the spring 2023 season.
His primary position is catcher but can play multiple positions on the baseball field. Austyn is a prospect for the Rockbridge County High School junior varsity baseball this coming spring.
Austyn’s father, Sean, said his experience in the Dominican Republic was “absolutely amazing.”
“To play baseball in a foreign country internationally is a dream come true for any competitive baseball player,” said Sean. “Austyn made many new friends from all around the United States as well as a few in the Dominican Republic.”
Austyn found out about this opportunity through one of his coaches.
The games were played at several different fields in and around Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, some of them a two-hour drive away. The first consisted of a large group/team meeting and then a three-hour practice.
There were two 13-andunder teams competing in the Dominican Republic this year. After their practice, they attended the opening ceremony for the event. There were teams from St. Croix, Cuba, the U.S. Virgin Islands and several from the Dominican Republic.
Austyn’s team also had its first game in the afternoon, which did make for an extremely long day for everybody attending.
The next two consisted of three additional games, with the fifth day dedicated to the semifinals and finals.
Although Austyn’s team went 1-3, they had “an absolutely incredible experience and enjoyed playing baseball in a foreign country,” said Sean.
In the Dominican Republic, Austyn caught for 129.1 innings, catching 13 runners stealing.
During their downtime, they did hang out at the resort together as a team, ate lunch together and swam in the ocean together. During the war ceremony, the boys traded jerseys and other equipment with players from the Dominican Republic. Austyn traded a pair of Axe batting gloves for a jersey from one of the Dominican Republic teams.
Members of the team were able to bring down used equipment and donate it to the kids in the Dominican Republic. Baseball is played the same in the Dominican Republic as it is in the United States, although some of the rules are a little more lax in the Dominican Republic. At the plate, he recorded 16 hits and had a batting average of .308.
Because Austyn does not speak a lot of Spanish, he said he communicated with the other players in English and used a lot of hand gestures with locals in the Dominican Republic.
Austyn, who moved from Springfield, Mo. to Rockbridge County with his father in 2020, is playing for the 14-and-under team for USA prime in the fall as well and attending fall workouts for Rockbridge County High School baseball in preparation for the spring of 2024.
