BILLINGS — Maybe we take the beauty of Montana for granted getting to wake up here on a daily basis.
Billings Mustangs left-handed pitcher Pat Maybach certainly doesn’t. It’s quite a change of pace for Maybach here in Billings having come from one of the country’s most densely populated states — Rhode Island.
“I had never seen anything like this. You don't see that much into the distance in Rhode Island unless it's over the ocean," Maybach said. "Big Sky didn't make any sense to me, but I love it out here. The pace of life is a little slower because it's less congested and everything.
"It's cool. It has its own sense of beauty. Rhode Island is beautiful, but in a very different way. Out here, the natural landscape is probably the coolest I've ever seen."
Montana offers plenty of things that Rhode Island doesn’t. To the dismay of Maybach, though, the ocean isn’t one of those. He does, however, have a list of things he wants to check off while out west.
“I have a goal this year of riding a horse. I've never done that. I'm going to get cowboy boots at some point, a belt buckle. There's a lot of things out here that I can't do at home," Maybach said. "The steak out here, all the meat is so good. We have seafood at home, obviously, because everything is fresh, but I eat a ton of steak and chicken out here because everything is so local."
Maybach is a graduate of Salve Regina, an NCAA Division III school in Rhode Island where he got his accounting degree, but he’s hoping his use of that is still years away.
“It's a good understanding of what money is and how money works, taxes and how businesses work," Maybach said. "Obviously I'm here to play baseball and I love that more, but just kind of understanding the behind the scenes of how businesses and operations work and how cash flows work and all that. It's cool to see a different part of how society runs behind the scenes."
Maybach earned the win for the Mustangs on Thursday night after picking up his first quality start of the year. The Rhode Island lefty’s numbers are continuing to improve.
