By Jose Miguel Romero, Seattle Times staff reporter. The Seattle Times. Thursday, August 31, 2000, 12:00 a.m. Pacific
Michael Done's summer vacation ended a little early this year, but the Washington junior doesn't mind.
Done, who started at third base in the spring for the Husky baseball team, reported back almost two weeks ago to join teammates in practice for a special series of games in Cuba.
The Huskies were scheduled to depart for Havana early this morning. They will play four exhibition games against teams from one of Cuba's sports academies. Several of the Cuban players are members of the national-team selection pool.
Washington will become the first NCAA Division I team to play in Cuba. The only other U.S. college team to play baseball in Cuba was from the University of St. Thomas, an NCAA Division III school in St. Paul, Minn.
"We'll be seeing them for the first time," Done said of the Cuban teams. "We don't even know if we'll be able to take pregame batting practice."
For all the Huskies know, they could be facing teams of teenagers or teams of older men. They could be playing in front of dozens of fans or 40,000 in Havana's national stadium. But the questions aren't pressing; the players are eager to see a different country and meet the baseball-mad people
of the Caribbean nation.
"It's going to be a great experience," said Marc Rittenhouse, UW's second baseman and a Bellevue native. "They've got great talent down there. We're not just going down for fun. We want to win.
"Besides baseball, it's going to be great seeing another culture. We're going to see how good we (Americans) have it when we go there."
After some sightseeing and a workout tomorrow afternoon, the Huskies will play morning games Saturday and Sunday to escape the afternoon and evening heat and humidity. Tours of a sports academy and a cigar factory are also scheduled during the trip, as well as a joint youth clinic with Cuban
coaches.
The Huskies will play another game Tuesday, then Cuban and UW players will split into two mixed squads for Wednesday's finale.
"It's going to be a very good educational experience for our kids," Husky Coach Ken Knutson said. "It (the trip) is something I've wanted to put together, an international tour. You only get one every four years (an NCAA rule); and if you do it right, every class gets to go."
Aside from the tourist activities and baseball, Done and Rittenhouse look forward to trading and souvenir collecting. All of the Huskies will take T-shirts, caps and baseball equipment to donate and trade with the Cuban players.
Rittenhouse said he'd even trade his glove for a Cuban baseball item.
The Huskies return to Seattle on Sept. 8.
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