CARROLLTON, Ga. - For UWG first baseman Dan Oberst, the spring of 2020 was one that will likely never be forgotten. After the first 20 games of his senior season with the West Georgia Wolves, the world came to a standstill as the COVID-19 pandemic swept throughout the world. 

Oberst started strong in February at Cole Field, hitting .351 with seven doubles, three home runs, and a team-leading 19 RBI. A solid opening to a senior year after hitting .313 with eight home runs and 46 RBI as a junior in 2019. But despite the trying spring that saw his senior season ripped away, Oberst made the best of things, continuing his training and returning to Savannah, Ga. in the summer for a second consecutive season of summer ball with the Savannah Bananas of the Coastal Plain League. 

After a solid summer of baseball, playing with and against some of the best competition in the nation, Oberst is back on campus to take a second shot at that senior season. He received a waiver from the NCAA, giving him another shot at a senior year in 2021. We had a chance to sit down with him recently to discuss his two summers with the Bananas. 

Dan Oberst Stats - 2019
Dan Oberst Stats - 2020

You've played for the past two summers with the Savannah Bananas of the Coastal Plain League. That's a unique name and I'm sure a unique experience, talk about your experience in Savannah over the last two summers. 

"On the entertainment side, there are 5,000 fans in the stands every night. It's a fantastic environment to play in, and being able to dance in the dugout and interact with fans on a nightly basis."

"Playing against some of the best players and pitchers in the country is definitely a way to elevate your game. Every night, you get a chance to play against an elite level of talent, and that challenge made the experience truly memorable."

Who would you say was the best pitcher you played with or against the past two summers?
"This summer was different because the famous Cape Cod League did not play, so a lot of those guys played in the Coastal Plain League. I would say that our closer, Zach Cable, was probably the best pitcher I saw. He consistently hit 98, 99, and 100 mph on the radar gun. When had the promotional night where we played in a kilt, he threw a 100 mph pitch. Speed like that on your pitches will likely land you in the big leagues some day. I also played with Logan Workman from Lee, and he is a very good pitcher as well."

What is the most unique promotion that you did with the Bananas?
"In the ninth inning, the Bananas have a player go up on top of the dugout like in old boxing movies with a "ring guy" holding up a sign that tells you it is the ninth inning. We were encouraged to get fans up and on their feet, and I took my shirt off to try and get them fired up."

What is your biggest takeaway from an experience on that?
"The Bananas' motto is "Fans First" and literally everything they do is in the interest of putting the fans before anything else. People are more interested in you as a person than as a player, and the one-on-one impact you can have on someone's life in that type of environment, just being a good person, is very fulfilling. The other part of it is that we were the first to play in the pandemic, and now I feel like I'm ahead of everybody because I've been doing it for four months."

What is a typical day like in pandemic baseball?
"We have to be at the field at 3 p.m. and half of the team has to be in the home dugout while the other half is in the visitor's dugout and the lockers are spaced out. You can't get into the stadium without a mask, and when you are greeting fans, you have to wear a mask and gloves."

"If you aren't playing, you have to wear and mask, and that is a difficult thing because there are a lot of people who watch you to make sure that you are wearing that mask. We had temperature checks when we arrived at the stadium, and if you had a fever, you had to go home. We had weights that are usually used to hold down the tarp placed around the backstop during batting practice to give us a place to stand."

Where did you live when you were in Savannah?
"Both summers, I lived in a house owned by Suzanne Pablo on White Marsh Island. She was such a wonderful host, and she did everything you could ask for and more in terms of what we needed on a day-to-day basis."

Dan Oberst Mic'd Up with the Savannah Bananas in the summer of 2019