In this edition of Sundt's Scribes, Hal Sundt talks to 2011 graduate Phil Brua who is fresh off winning a Northwest League Championship.

If you had Phil Brua explain to you what it was like playing professional baseball it would probably sound a lot like the plot to the movie “Groundhog Day.” Day in and day out the routine was always the same. Get to the field at 11:30 a.m., lift weights, relax in the clubhouse, stretch at 3 p.m., take batting practice, eat a pre-game meal at 5:30 p.m. and play at 7 p.m. Then rinse and repeat.

“We always said that everyday was Thursday because every day was the same,” Brua says.

But any baseball player who dreams of playing in the big leagues itches for the chance to experience the routine that Phil Brua experienced this summer, to experience Thursday after Thursday after Thursday. And so in many ways Brua's time with the Vancouver Canadians wasn't monotonous at all. He wasn't reliving the same day over and over again. He was living his dream.

But Brua's path to this dream was a bit unorthodox.

He had originally been in contact with the San Diego Padres and Oberlin Head Baseball Coach Adrian Abrahamowicz had talked with a host of professional teams including the Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays. Brua even had a private workout with the New York Yankees and attended an invitation-only workout with the Padres in southern Ohio with a small group of prospects. For a while it looked like Brua's future would be spent in San Diego.

“I just threw to a catcher on the mound,” Brua explains of the Padres workout. “They had a couple of guys behind home plate with radar guns checking my velocity and movement. And there was a guy standing next to me on the mound telling me what to throw and asking me how I would approach a hitter in a certain situation.”

Despite performing well in his workout, when draft day came the Padres didn't call Brua's name. So Brua quickly signed with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League, but he wasn't there long.

Throughout Brua's workouts and draft day experience he had a former Oberlin College baseball player keeping an eye on him. When Joe Sheehan '06, who is currently the Baseball Information Analyst for the Toronto Blue Jays, learned that Brua was still available as a pitching prospect he suggested the Blue Jays give Brua a shot.

“I really just gave his name to our guys,” Sheehan says. “We needed some pitchers at that point and I said that I've got this guy from Oberlin that could fit into that group that we're talking about. We gave him a chance and he ran with it.”

“I had met Phil a couple of times through mutual friends on the baseball team. It was interesting to see Phil's name show up. The Oberlin connection in the minor leagues is really cool and that I could play a hand in helping play professional baseball was really pretty cool.”

After Brua's first game with Traverse City he received a call, this time from the Toronto Blue Jays. He immediately voided his contract and signed with Toronto.

“I drove home and flew out to Florida the next day,” Brua recalls. “It all happened really fast but it was definitely worth it.”

“We had a three day mini-camp. They worked us out, showed us the basics of what the organization wants--bunt plays, defenses, pitching philosophy. I threw a bullpen (35 pitches). They liked what they saw and they sent me to Vancouver.”

Brua found out very quickly that pitching at the next level was about much more than just how hard you can throw.

“All through college it was velocity, velocity, velocity,” Brua says. “You have to make yourself marketable. But once you actually get in the door it's about location, pitch selection, having quality pitches. It's all about getting outs. It doesn't matter how hard you throw, how great your curveball is, how great your fastball is. They just want you to get outs.”

And so Brua went off to play with the Blue Jays' Short-Season A affiliate, the Vancouver Canadians, and baseball literally became his life. In 79 days he played 76 games. “We had three off days and two of them were spent on the bus,” Brua remembers. With most of the other teams in the Northwest League more than eight hours away, Brua and his teammates had very little time to do anything other than play baseball, ride on the bus and sleep. And he loved it.

“It was a blast, especially at home,” Brua says. “We were playing in front of 6,000 people a night.”

Brua adjusted to the grueling schedule extremely well, finishing with a record of 7-1 and a 2.70 ERA, the second lowest of anyone in the bullpen. He also recorded five saves as a closer. As a team, the Canadians thrived. They won the Northwest League thanks to a blistering playoff run in which they went undefeated on the road (3-0) and knocked off the Tri City Dust Devils to claim the crown.

In late November the Blue Jays will call Brua and inform him of his assignment for the upcoming season, whether it be to play for a full season in the minors or a short season like he did this past summer. Brua would like to get the call to play a full season and he would like to have the opportunity to keep moving up in leagues each season.

Phil Brua would like every day to be Thursday for a long, long time.