Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Eagle
Delivering American University's news and views since 1925
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Eagle
AU Nats night

Students celebrate AU Night at Nationals Park

Herds of AU students, alumni and staff sporting red shirts filled Nationals Park on Aug. 28 as the Washington Nationals took on the Miami Marlins for the fourth annual AU Night at Nationals Park.

The first 25,000 fans into the stadium received the free red Nationals-AU shirts, which had the Nats curly “W” logo on in the front and AU’s logo in the back. The free t-shirt was one of the many AU-themed elements featured throughout the night, and the Nationals also offered students a discounted ticket price for the game.

Some student groups even received free admission through programs and partnerships at AU. This year, 65 tickets were distributed to students, including Frederick Douglass Scholars, STEP students and students who receive need-based financial aid. Fifty-five additional tickets were purchased using the WONK discount code, and group sales tickets for students totalled 1,469, according to an email from Director of Public Relations Kelly Alexander in an email.

To start the evening, D.C. Council Chairman and AU Alum Phil Mendelson (SPA/BA ‘81) threw out the first pitch with a hardy strike right over the middle of home plate, and AU a capella group Treble in Paradise followed Mendelson’s pitch with a performance of the national anthem. Clawed Z. Eagle, AU’s mascot, supported Treble in Paradise on the field with Screech, the eagle mascot for the Nationals.

University college freshman Annie Roebuck said she enjoyed watching her friends and classmates come together to cheer on the Nationals at the game.

“I went night monumenting in a small group yesterday which was a lot of fun, but this is nice because you can see all the AU spirit together,” University College freshman Annie Roebuck said.

Despite the crowd and the Eagle spirit, the Nationals failed to gain a lead over the Marlins and gave up the first run early in the game. The Nationals ultimately tied the game in the second inning but faltered in the end 4-3. Friday’s game marked the third consecutive AU Night loss for the Nationals.

After the third inning, fans watched the “American University Wonk Showdown,” a traditional AU promotion, on the Nationals scoreboard. The showdown included two AU students facing each other in a trivia contest, and the winner won a special nationals prize pack.

The Nationals trailed 4-1 with more than half of the game to play, but enthusiasm still ran in the “AU section” in the outfield bleachers as chants of “AU-AU-AU” and “Nats-Nats-Nats” echoed through the crowd. Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos also drew support from the local crowd when he came to bat, and fans chanted “Wilson”, imitating Tom Hanks’ emotional cries in the movie “Cast Away.” The “Wilson” cheer remains a Nationals’ tradition, and Triegaardt said the chants made the game more exciting.

“I didn’t think there would be this many chants,” Triegaardt said. “Its so fun to just chant, every moment of the game there is something going on.”

Even students who had never seen a baseball game before said they found the game interested and met new people.

“I don’t really know what’s going on, but this is very exciting,” Tori Triegaardt, a foreign exchange student from New Zealand, said after the second inning. “This is my first time seeing a baseball game ever. I didn’t think I was going to be this interested in it, but I’m here with all my fellow foreign exchange students, and we’re all here socializing and trying to figure out this sport.”

Triegaardt was joined by 90 foreign exchange students, many of whom are experiencing their first U.S sporting event.

Riss Sato, a foreign exchange student from Japan, previously attended baseball games in Japan and said the game in Washington, D.C. offered a fun new experience.

“[The] last game I went to was Japanese national baseball game,” Sato said. “Baseball is so popular in Japan. So this is very exciting.”

Friday’s game also held special meaning for Soto and her friend Yuriko Mori, another Japanese exchange student, because they saw Japanese mega-star Ichiro Suzuki of the Miami Marlins.

“He’s [Suzuki] really popular and really famous in Japan,” Mori said. “It was so exciting to come here and see watch him for the first time.”

The Nationals have partnered with AU for AU Night at Nationals Park since 2012. In 2014, AU offered post-season Metro train services for any weekday baseball games that went past the normal station hours, but the offer ultimately went unused because of the Nats early playoff exit last year.

Although the Nationals proved unable to pull out a victory on Friday night, freshman University College student Michael Giampiccolo said attending the game gave new students the opportunity to see something new and meet classmates.

“It was a lot of fun,” Giampiccolo said. “I think this was a good way to meet people.”


jreyes@theeagleonline.com


Still mourning that one show that was cancelled before you could see how it ends? Couch Potatoes co-hosts Sara Winick and Sydney Hsu have you covered as they discuss all the series that shouldn't have ended when they did.



Powered by Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Eagle, American Unversity Student Media