From KACU:
The Mid-America League is a place for collegiate players across all divisions to get in some quality reps during the offseason. I spoke with Samson Pugh, a player on the Abilene Flying Bisons, who also plays for Texas State, to ask him about his experience with the team this summer. Samson is from Montgomery, Texas, and had never spent any time in Abilene before.
“I was expecting to get here and have absolutely nothing to do, but no, y’all have a lot more stuff than I thought and I’m having a good time in Abilene,” he said.
There are six teams including the Bisons, from Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. The Bisons travel from between 300 to 500 miles for their away games. The travel load and practice schedule of summer league ball is similar to the college environment, but generally less intense, allowing the athletes to have a bit of a mental break while also still getting better at the sport they love.
“It’s a little less rules, a little less restrictions. I like seeing the scenery and what’s around,” Pugh said. “Yes, it’s a business trip, sure, but it’s also kind of a vacation, you know you’re traveling and having a good time.”
Going into the season, Pugh wasn’t exactly sure what he would get out of the experience. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the team environment was not only super competitive but also that his team was the best in the Mid-America League. The Bisons will compete tonight at 7:30 pm for the championship game.
The Flying Bisons secured the regular season Championship with five games left to play. Even so, the Bisons do not intend to take their foot off the gas.
“I think things are going to be the same,” Pugh said. “We’re going to be hype, and we’re going to try and win ourselves a championship for the playoffs. You know, I think it’s going to stay the same.”
It looks like the other three teams to compete in playoffs will be the Joplin Outlaws, the Piney Woods TimberHogs and the Fort Smith Marshals. The Bisons will not only have the advantage of being the No. 1 ranked seed but will also be playing on their home turf at Walt Driggers Field.
The community of Abilene has rallied behind the Bisons this season and will continue to cheer them on as they compete for a Championship.
“Up here after games, we’ll sign autographs and they all show up for the game,” Pugh said. “We’ll see them throughout the game and we’ll have a lot of support. We have home home-field advantage. So we’ll have all the fans, electric. It’s awesome. It’s going to be awesome.”
Harper, Blaze and Reese expressing their love of baseball.
Katie Pantoja
The youth of Abilene especially look up to the Flying Bisons. The softball team, West Texas Revolution, shared with us their experience interacting with the team: “My name’s Harper. My name’s Blaze. My name is Reese, and we’re with the West Texas Revolution. Yeah we got a lot of signatures. Cause I guess our coach told the flying Bison owner I guess and we got to go on the field with the players. I like how nice they are. This is the funnest game of my life. ”
The excitement leading up to playoffs is through the roof thanks to the passion of both the players and the Abilene community. This is just the beginning of development for the Bisons and the Mid-America League.
