Pawtucket infielder Chad Spann launches clays for Boston outfielder Brandon Moss to shoot at Addieville East Farm in Burrillville yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

BURRILLVILLE — On a perfect day for baseball, the Red Sox’ Brandon Moss and Jed Lowrie and the PawSox’ Chad Spann wanted nothing to do with the grand old game.

Instead, they spent the day at Addieville East Farm in Mapleville, enjoying one of their other favorite pastimes. The threesome shot sporting clays, played with Moss’ dog, Emma, and just enjoyed the day in the great outdoors.

The reason the players — along with Moss’ wife, Allie, and Spann’s wife, Tamara — were able to step away from the game was due to the major- and minor-league All-Star breaks. The last thing on their minds was baseball.

Moss, a Georgia native and avid hunter during the offseason, decided a long time ago that he wanted to spend his three-day hiatus in the woods. So, he called Spann, a fellow hunter and Georgia native, and Lowrie, an Oregonian, to join him on a trek.

If a baseball field is considered a diamond, then the 1,000-acre facility in the northern part of the state is also a jewel. Standing anywhere on the property, one would never imagine he was still in the state of Rhode Island.

“Having fun?” Moss asked Spann.

“Having fun?” responded Spann. “This is reality. This is my kind of sandbox.”

“I feel like I’m in Georgia,” said Moss. “I love it.”

The professional baseball season is a grind, both physically and emotionally. Days off are few and far between, so when the All-Star break arrives every July, those who aren’t playing search for some much-needed R&R.

Moss found his.

“It’s a sense of normalcy,” he said. “When you’re in a baseball season, you get so caught up with the season. You get so caught up with going to the field, coming home, going to the field. So to get a chance to come out and do something fun, something you love to do that’s truly like something you do at home — and get away from everything — it makes you feel a lot more normal. It makes you feel like you have a normal lifestyle.”

The day began around 10 a.m. and lasted until 2 in the afternoon and during that time Moss, Spann and Lowrie took their cues from a different manager other than Boston’s Terry Francona or Pawtucket’s Ron Johnson.

Addieville East Farm’s manager Jack O’Brien served as their tour guide and instructor. The three players, and Spann’s wife, Tamara, quickly proved to O’Brien, a master shooter, they can handle themselves very well with a shotgun.

Each station had relatively “easy” sporting clays to shoot, and then there were the extreme clays.

“To coin a phrase,” said O’Brien, “these are major league.”

“We’ll stay in the minors,” laughed Spann, who was an excellent shot at all the targets.

It wasn’t all just shooting stuff into oblivion. O’Brien gave the group a tour of the farm and explained everything from the different types of grass cover, to history of the numerous stone walls, to how to build a pond in order to train dogs and also showed them where the facility breeds its pheasants.

The players asked many questions and O’Brien answered every single one in the most interesting and funny ways. The players also spent some time looking and shopping at Robin Hollow Outfitters, the gun shop on the premises, where prices ranged from a few thousand dollars to $70,000 for one gun. Moss was so impressed with the selection he plans on buying one to add to his collection of 25 guns he has back home in Georgia.

After many sporting clays were blown to bits and the tour was just about over, it was Emma’s turn to have some fun.

Moss reached into a bag and pulled out a couple of duck bumpers and tossed them into the pond. The 1-year-old golden Labrador retriever dove in like a kid off a high dive and quickly retrieved the ducks. Emma would climb out of the water and shake herself off just in time for Moss to throw another one in.

The rest of the group sat at a picnic table under a tree and enjoyed watching Emma do her thing.

“This is something that if I hadn’t been invited to do, I probably wouldn’t have done it,” said Lowrie. “I have never been out to clay shoot before and I had a great time. I’m glad I came out here. We play so many games in a short amount of time and anytime you get an opportunity to do something out of the norm — no matter what it is — it’s always nice.”

“It’s nice to see athletes out here and enjoying the outdoors,” said O’Brien.

There’s a Wall of Fame in one of the buildings with autographed pictures of celebrities and athletes from around the world. Before the group left Addieville East Farm yesterday, O’Brien asked if they could send along a few pictures to add to the already impressive collection.

All three agreed.

“This place is perfect,” said Moss. “You would never know where you are here. It’s only 20 minutes from Providence, but it’s like being out in the middle of nowhere. It’s great. It’s perfect.”

Growing up in the South, Spann said he spent countless hours outdoors with his father and brother and took it for granted.

“Just to come out and do something like this, for most people wouldn’t think is a good time, but just to be in the outdoors was a blast. You always hear people say, ‘Every time you have a chance, take a kid into the outdoors.’ Now I’m realizing how good that is for people to do that.

“Now I’m soaking it all up,” he added. “This is unbelievable. For most kids [in New England] they would think the same thing if they went into the Red Sox clubhouse and were able to be around the Red Sox. They grew up with the Red Sox and we grew up outdoors. It’s a big difference from where we’re from, and I can’t tell you how much fun we’re having [yesterday]. It’s awesome.”

Tomorrow morning Moss and Lowrie will rejoin their Red Sox teammates and fly to the West Coast in preparation for their series against the Angels that begins on Friday in Anaheim. And, Spann will be back playing the infield at McCoy Stadium.

At least for a short time yesterday the pro ballplayers didn’t have to think about the game. They didn’t have to know what the count was or how many outs there were.

“If you have access to a place like this, where we’re from, people would say it’s paradise,” said Spann. “It’s awesome. It really is.”

jmcdonal@projo.com