Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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"I've been playing both sports my whole life. I'm not going to give one up without trying it and trying to see if I could play it professionally before I make my decision." Connaughton may have played both sports his whole life, but this summer the focus became dis- tinctly baseball. A professional's life obviously differs from a collegian's. Throwing for the Aberdeen Iron- Birds — a member of the short-season Class A New York-Penn League — he took it easy on the mound having just finished a full season of college baseball, but the right-hander still threw 14 2 ⁄3 innings in six games, striking out 10 and walk- ing only three with a 2.45 ERA. Even on the five days between starts, Connaughton's life revolved around baseball. "You eat, drink, sleep that game," he said of the minor league life. "That's all those kids do. That's all they want to do. They get up every morning and love doing what they do. It's a dif- ferent feel from balancing basketball, school, social life, stuff like that. "All it is, is baseball, practicing base- ball, working out and more baseball." When Connaughton says "those kids," he differentiates from himself only because he knew all summer that he would return to Notre Dame for one last season on the hardwood, where a dive for a ball hurts more than it does on a baseball field. He had assuaged Brey's concerns for months, and he did not want to return rusty, so before heading to the ballpark — usually ar- riving around 3 p.m. for a 7 p.m. first pitch — Connaughton would wear out a nearby rim, if he didn't wear out his rebounder first. "I was able to get up in the mornings, play some basketball, shoot some hoops," he said before chuckling. "The funny story is, my host dad, because you stay with a host family down there, rebounded me for two hours. He was exhausted by the end of it." Those shootarounds may or may not have been necessary, but ei- ther way Connaughton has returned to campus intent on captaining the Irish to a more successful season than last year 's trying 15-17 campaign. In fact, after spending a summer focused on baseball, he plans on using that experience to help a winter solely fo- cused on basketball. "I know what I need to do to suc- ceed at another level, even though it's a different sport. One of the similar things is that I don't play baseball here anymore, so I can focus on basketball for a solid seven months," he said. "Just like baseball, I've never focused on one sport for an extended period of time. It'll be cool to se how much I can excel in basketball over these next few months." Cool? Brey's just happy he's back. ✦ Connaughton, once a two-sport athlete for the Irish, doesn't want to give up playing baseball or bas- ketball without trying to play each of them professionally at some point. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND