Baseball begins in less than 2 weeks...

[Falconfreak90]

Weather permitting, of course.

BG opens at Murray State weekend of Feb 25-26. How about a nice 3 game sweep for the Freak's birthday on 2/26?

GO BASEBALL

[BGSU33]

Weather permitting, of course.

BG opens at Murray State weekend of Feb 25-26. How about a nice 3 game sweep for the Freak's birthday on 2/26?

GO BASEBALL

Yes it does. What's funny is, although two weeks seems pretty early to even think about college baseball starting for some, BG is getting a very late start to its season compared to what most schools do across the country. The season for some teams is already two weeks old, and many teams got started up this past weekend. Even schools from the MAC like NIU and EMU have been playing already (on the road of course).

There's no question that southern schools are at a huge advantage when it comes to being able to not only play and even play home games earlier, but the best advantage is to be able to practice outside before the season begins. Many times a lot of northern schools don’t even see their first action outside until their first game and must practice indoors during the preseason. Practicing indoors in better than nothing, but nothing like it is to practice outside on the diamond. So what happens is, those schools that can practice outdoors have an advantage in their seasoning, and by starting their season early, they also aren’t forced to play as many games during a week (mainly midweek games) as the season wears on and they can also use their weekend rotation for a larger percentage of their overall games. Instead of having to play two or three midweek games, they play one, usually on Wednesday before their Friday, Saturday and Sunday weekend series.

Next season, I believe the NCAA has come up with a set date that teams can start play in order to try and balance out some of the advantages the southern schools have that were mentioned above. Some of those schools that start like at the end of January or start of February will have to wait. While it might help trim the gap a little, there’s no doubt it won’t fix it and make it all together even because even with the NCAA ruling, it can’t control Mother Nature and most northern schools still won’t be able to get out there and practice and play. But in the long run, by the time a northern school has a couple months under its belt, the advantage is pretty much even by then. I experienced it firsthand last year at the 2005 Corvallis Regional. I was with Virginia, the southern school of the NCAA Regional, and we were joined by St. John’s, Ohio State and host Oregon State. UVa went 0-2 and lost to teams from New York and Ohio. The Beavers went on to not only win the Regional, they went all the way to Omaha to play in College World Series after also winning a Super Regional over USC. Oregon State is a perfect example of a northern school that is now able to keep some of its homegrown talent in-state when so many times those players would leave for warmer weather schools in the past. It’s good to see this happening.

[Falconfreak90]

Right on, 33. Those Southern schools have always had an advantage....would be nice to see the NCAA rectify that.

[factman]

I think it is going to happen next year. Common practice start date and common starting game date.

[BGSU33]

I think it is going to happen next year. Common practice start date and common starting game date.

Right, and with the common starting date, I believe there was also talk about trimming two games from the allotted 56-game schedule as well. I also saw this year that they were raising the minimum Regional host bid for schools from $35,000 to $50,000. But one thing is for sure, college baseball is certainly on a high. It’s pretty awesome to see how much it is growing as a sport and in its popularity. The average national attendance figures are at an all-time high, more and more teams are getting better, some of the facilities being built and renovated are just amazing (some are better than many minor league parks), and the increased television exposure - especially the nationally televised games not only for Regionals, Super Regionals and the College World Series - but even now for the regular season games has been tremendous. College Baseball can thank the NHL for part of that. When the NHL was on strike, networks like ESPN and ESPN 2 picked up a lot of college baseball games to fill their broadcasts and they did very well in the ratings. Hence, its one of the reasons for the increase in coverage now not only in postseason coverage, but regular season as well. Hell, they’ve even got college baseball games for PlayStation, Xbox, etc. It’s high time for college baseball, no doubt!

[SWVA BGSU Fan]

A multi purpose indoor facility would be great for BG baseball. The indoor cages and gyms works ok but it still isn't great. Is there a facility in place now? I haven't been to BG in many years and thought there was some mention of a large indoor facility being proposed primarily for football.

[TG1996]

A multi purpose indoor facility would be great for BG baseball. The indoor cages and gyms works ok but it still isn't great. Is there a facility in place now? I haven't been to BG in many years and thought there was some mention of a large indoor facility being proposed primarily for football.

I'm guessing you're talking about the Fieldhouse, which has been up for 12 or so years now. Has a 70-yard football field (I think that's right, isn't it?) along with rooms for intramurals and other training.

[SWVA BGSU Fan]

Are sports other than football able to use the field house? I think we are going to take a trip back to BG this summer to show our children the campus. I'll have to visit all the new facilities.

Thanks for the response.

[SaxyIrishTenor]

A multi purpose indoor facility would be great for BG baseball. The indoor cages and gyms works ok but it still isn't great. Is there a facility in place now? I haven't been to BG in many years and thought there was some mention of a large indoor facility being proposed primarily for football.

I'm guessing you're talking about the Fieldhouse, which has been up for 12 or so years now. Has a 70-yard football field (I think that's right, isn't it?) along with rooms for intramurals and other training.

Yeah, it's 70. Makes for interesting marching band rehearsals when we pratice in there.

And yes, all sorts of sports use it - one side is the football field and the other is basketball courts and a track. There are "portable" batting cages for baseball and softball and I know I have seen the track teams use it. Nice place to use for large meetings and such as well. I know Dining Services has catered events there and we had our all-student return meeting there last year. The marching band does their pre-game concert in the field house. It's a very practical facility.

[TG1996]

Are sports other than football able to use the field house? I think we are going to take a trip back to BG this summer to show our children the campus. I'll have to visit all the new facilities.

Thanks for the response.

Sure thing. If you haven't been back to BG in more than 12 years, I think you're in for some pleasant surprises to go along with a flood of memories.

[SWVA BGSU Fan]

It's been 16 years since I've been back to BG....Hey it's a long drive

I am looking forward to the visit.