LOUISVILLE --It has not been the fall baseball season that Anthony Kidston expected.
Yet, the 2012 Defiance High School graduate remains upbeat as he gets ready for his first season playing at the University of Louisville.
"I had a long summer and my first couple days down here my back started getting sore," explained Kidston, who spent the summer playing for the Midland Redskins Connie Mack baseball team based out of Cincinnati.
A back issue is nothing new for Kidston, who missed some playing time in baseball and basketball during his sophomore year with the Bulldogs.
A bone scan and MRI were taken as a precautionary measure. It was discovered the L5 vertebra on the left side is broken and will never heal again.
"That's no problem, I'm not worried about that one," said Kidston in reference to his previous injury.
What was new was issues on the right side of his back.
"They found some small fractures," Kidston noted.
It meant rehabilitation instead of baseball.
"I've been rehabbing the past seven weeks and it feels pretty good," Kidston said. "What I've got to do is get to the point that once I start going hard again it stays good. I don't want it to be like in high school when it's fine one day and then bothers me and I had to go light on it.
"It's felt good now for awhile. We're just trying to get three fractures to heal before I go forward. The trainer told me in the middle of October I could starting throwing and hitting again."
Until then weight lifting and swimming are on the agenda for Kidston.
"I've been lifting for more than two weeks now," Kidston said. "But there's no throwing or hitting until mid-October."
That's quite a change from the summer when Kidston helped lead Midland to the championship of the Connie Mack World Series. Kidston started pitching the first game at the tournament against Puerto Rico and also threw in the finals against California.
"It was an experience I will never forget," Kidston said of playing in New Mexico before more than 5,000 fans per game. "I played with some of the best high school players in the country. I'll never forget that."
Kidston is hoping for another memorable experience at Louisville.
"I love it here," Kidston said. "We (freshman baseball players) have to do study hall three hours every night but I'm getting used to it."
He remains positive about the back problems as well.
"I think it will work out great," Kidston said of not playing in the fall. "It's giving my body some rest, not like (in high school) playing basketball. I hope my arm is in mid-season form when the season starts."
That will be in mid-February when the defending Big East regular-season champions open the 2013 campaign with the first 10 games in Florida followed up by five more in South Carolina.
Defiance High School baseball coach Tom Held is confident Kidston's work ethic will help the healing process go faster as he gets ready for the spring.
"He's doing everything they've been telling him to do," Held said. "I'm sure it's disappointing for him, fall ball is a chance to compete and win a spot. But now he can focus on hitting and throwing every day.
"Once he gets to spring we'll see what happens. Things happen for a reason and Anthony's the type that will make something good out of this."
For now Kidston, who will be playing next summer in the Cape Cod League, will spend his time in rehab while the rest of the Cardinals, including former high school teammate Dace Kime, play in the seventh annual Pizza Bowl (intrasquad games) the rest of this week.
"Since I've been out I'm doing the book a lot behind home plate," Kidston noted. "The scouts are really talking about him (Dace). He's doing really well."
Kidston hopes the same kind of talk is in his future.
"I'm definitely looking forward to being back," said Kidston, who expects to be a two-way player with the Cardinals. "I'll be ready to play."