The Outlaws' commentator sleeps on an air mattress in a fellow team employee's living room to help keep rent costs down. He is frequently addressed affectionately by former Chico Heat star Scott Navarro, now a sales account executive for the Outlaws, with an unaffectionate term — "Joe Dirt." There was also his recent laptop incident.

While hurrying to execute an errand after an Outlaws home game, Rauschenberger misplaced the computer in the Nettleton Stadium parking lot. It hasn't turned up since and yet the 25-year-old Missouri native still talks in faith about how someone here in his new home city might come forward with information on the whereabouts.

In the same fashion, the easygoing Midwesterner shrugged off the problem of his bosses grumbling about some commercials not getting played on the Outlaws' Yuma, Ariz. road trip while Rauschenberger played Michael Jackson songs instead during inning breaks the night of the pop icon's death last week.

"They were on the missing laptop," he said about the advertisements. "It just wasn't possible to play them at that point with the replacement I had."

Rauschenberger is coping with being a broadcaster in a professional organization for the first time in a career that was previously highlighted by his broadcast work with the Northern Arizona University athletic department. He is in charge of all radio production work for the games carried nightly on the team's Web site.

His "Booth Blog" also on the site has been a hit with friends and family members of Outlaws players. On road trips, Rauschenberger regularly provides updates on what time the team bus arrives at its destinations and how good or bad the quality of the hotels is.

"My wife and I really enjoy Rauschenberger's work," Ernie Alvarado, the father of Outlaws relief pitcher Andrew Alvarado, said earlier this season. "It helps us keep up with the team."