Hopefully Not A Sweep
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We win the series if, in the 8th inning of the first game, with 2 outs, the correct reliever is put in. We win 6-5. No doubt about it. Brain fart, if you ask me, on the personnel decision. We miss Zink in the lineup, no question. The whole team has to step up.
We have a ton of injuries right, particularly on the pitching staff, but on many other guys, too. I attribute it to the "football-like" weight training regimen, but that is my opinion, nothing more.
Want to win more? Ask for more support from the Athletics office.
This post was edited on 4/22 1:21 PM by Tarantula'sDad
We have a ton of injuries right, particularly on the pitching staff, but on many other guys, too. I attribute it to the "football-like" weight training regimen, but that is my opinion, nothing more.
Want to win more? Ask for more support from the Athletics office.
This post was edited on 4/22 1:21 PM by Tarantula'sDad
Don't really care how we stack against the rest of the A10. I care about getting more out of the baseball program. Whatever it takes. Ask for the moon, get more than what you currently get. 11.7 schollies, for a start; installation of lights for another, something that might pay for itself (considering they were offered for FREE); some facilities improvements for another. Anything to keep getting good players. I can think of a few more.
UR has a lot to sell. It could have a lot more with some prudent investment. Haven't seen any change in two years. Looks like the facilities haven't changed in several years, with the exception of the scoreboard. Indoor plumbing would be nice.
Do yourself (selves) a favor. Go to Gardner-Webb and look at their facility; or HighPoint; or Winthrop; or Jacksonville. See how we stack up.
UR has a lot to sell. It could have a lot more with some prudent investment. Haven't seen any change in two years. Looks like the facilities haven't changed in several years, with the exception of the scoreboard. Indoor plumbing would be nice.
Do yourself (selves) a favor. Go to Gardner-Webb and look at their facility; or HighPoint; or Winthrop; or Jacksonville. See how we stack up.
In my opinion, we need to get the Board of Trustees and President on board to upgrade the baseball program in addition to the athletic department. We're in the midst of a $150 million capital campaign now & those of us who love baseball need to push for more funding. I 'm certainly willing to give a good portion of my spider club donation towards this endeaver. As for lights, I would like to ask UVA, VCU, ODU, W&M, Longwood and several others in this state if they would like to give up their lights because of cool weather. I feel I know the answer. I'll bet most of the High Schools in the area have lights now. I go to most of the home games and enjoy the companionship with the outfield crowd. Almost all of us stay for the entire game. We all get frustrated at times, but there have been some exciting finishes in favor of the Spiders also. On a side note, the baseball alumni from 1955 to 1966 have a golf tournament the weekend of the Temple series. There will be a bunch of old people playing golf but it will be interesting to get their assesment of the current state of affairs. If there is interest from the school, there is no telling how much money could be raised form former players and other interestred parties including parents of former and current players.
I'm certainly not in favor of downgrading the football or basketball programs in any manner but in my view, baseball should be next in line.
I'm certainly not in favor of downgrading the football or basketball programs in any manner but in my view, baseball should be next in line.
from what someone said on here during the soccer/track muck-up, baseball was on the line to be eliminated as well. not sure if there is a desire to spend anymore on baseball, it is what it is. by that, not saying i like it or agree with it, just saying that don't think any of the "other" sports are a priority at this point in time. as i said earlier, think most athletic directors of non-bcs schools would love to just eliminate all of the "other" sports if they thought they could get away with it. say this only because i heard an athletic dirctor make that statement off the record.
No investment=standing still=slow death
You want to watch UR baseball, you want them to win but you don't want to pay a price. Sounds like a loser's attitude to me. Don't blame the players, don't blame the coaches, don't blame the school. Blame YOURSELF.
The FIRST thing that makes sense is lights. It has little to do with cold games in March. Early games should be played in FL or other warm climates, LIKE EVERY OTHER NORTHERN TEAM DOES. Oh yeah, and the school's mascot was named after a baseball player, which kinda means that there is some tradition tied to the school. I guess tradition means nothing.
BTW, I hope the locals on this board enjoyed it when the whole team shaved their heads for a fundraiser and got on local TV. Nice publicity for UR, I'd say. Not to mention the highest GPA in the history of the program. Aw, to hell with student-athletes, we want football, basketball and that's that.
If you don't think you can do something, then you are probably right. No baseball tournaments for us!
UR ought to look at what its main rival is doing, ODU. They are going to C-USA for D1 football and everything else. That means more money for ODU. Perhaps UR ought to consider doing the same thing, instead in investing in mink-lined cleats for the football team (an exaggeration, but you get the point).
Money makers are football, MBball, WBball, and baseball, in that order, at most schools.
I can teach but I cannot make you learn. TD out.
This post was edited on 4/23 10:08 AM by Tarantula'sDad
You want to watch UR baseball, you want them to win but you don't want to pay a price. Sounds like a loser's attitude to me. Don't blame the players, don't blame the coaches, don't blame the school. Blame YOURSELF.
The FIRST thing that makes sense is lights. It has little to do with cold games in March. Early games should be played in FL or other warm climates, LIKE EVERY OTHER NORTHERN TEAM DOES. Oh yeah, and the school's mascot was named after a baseball player, which kinda means that there is some tradition tied to the school. I guess tradition means nothing.
BTW, I hope the locals on this board enjoyed it when the whole team shaved their heads for a fundraiser and got on local TV. Nice publicity for UR, I'd say. Not to mention the highest GPA in the history of the program. Aw, to hell with student-athletes, we want football, basketball and that's that.
If you don't think you can do something, then you are probably right. No baseball tournaments for us!
UR ought to look at what its main rival is doing, ODU. They are going to C-USA for D1 football and everything else. That means more money for ODU. Perhaps UR ought to consider doing the same thing, instead in investing in mink-lined cleats for the football team (an exaggeration, but you get the point).
Money makers are football, MBball, WBball, and baseball, in that order, at most schools.
I can teach but I cannot make you learn. TD out.
This post was edited on 4/23 10:08 AM by Tarantula'sDad
If you think ODU is Richmond's 'main rival' ... or even has anything besides geography in common with UR, I've got some beach front property to sell you.
I fear that you're starting to piss upwind a bit here. Be happy that your kid still has his sport. I lost mine.
I fear that you're starting to piss upwind a bit here. Be happy that your kid still has his sport. I lost mine.
doubt very seriously that odu is going to make a ton of money in cusa but they will have a lot more expenses for all of their teams, men and women. people can make a difference but as has been shown by the shunning of a nice donation, cannot always use or spend more money without reciprocal spending elsewhere. personally, love our park, love coming to games and love baseball but do not ever see it being any kind of money maker at all. am not a size guy so don't want to see some minor league park on campus, improvements, sure but all the other stuff that goes with pro baseball, no way. don't get mad at me, just a grad, a fan but a realistic one. if we were in a bcs conference, then you would see the types of things you want Dad but the A-10 is not a power or even a very good conference for baseball. when we were in the "old" caa when it was maybe the 4th or 5th rated conference for a few years, then we are talking but those days are long gone for both UR and the caa.
^^If you gave $100k to baseball, the AD would have to re-allocate $100k of 'non-earmarked' dollars to women's sports.
Lets be real. If the University of Richmond wanted lights on the baseball field, there would be lights on the baseball field. There is no way it is about money when you talking $400,000 whether donated or not. There is obviously another reason(s).
as long as you are not saying it is my fault Mac.....lol. you are probably right, have no clue as to all the small things involved in producing the budgets, etc. but would not want to be the athletic director in one of these deals. schools have been dropping sports, including baseball, for a number of years now and we have been lucky, at least until the soccer/track fiasco since we lost wrestling, aquatics et al some time back. unfortunately, there are factors, outside of what alums, fans, parents, student/athletes want, in these deals.
Gotta figure if lights were to be installed,the dorm room occupants adjacent to the field would be picking up intermittent and random noise pollution including p.a.,applause,cheers,boos,awes,right field bleecher bums,visiting bull pen warmup along with pretty severe illumination at night.All not such a good thing for study-paper writing time during weeknights especially if Daddy (or Mommy or Grandparents) is paying $55,000 retail per annum to attend our fine institution of Higher Learning.It's not the relatively small investment cost,it's the negative externality cost which comes along with having lights.
This post was edited on 4/24 9:19 AM by 32counter
This post was edited on 4/24 9:19 AM by 32counter
If you had lights you would pick up bigger name games cause you would alleviate travel and scheduling issues. What does noise matter as most kids have ear phones on listening to some tunes while they study or they simply go to the library like 50% of the campus does.
agree Carolina, that excuse is not nearly as good as my cold weather one. who studies in college anyway, it is all music, parties, sex, drugs and alcohol, getting you prepared for the rest of your adult life.
LSU,Cal State Fullerton,Vanderbilt and Rice can't wait for lights to be installed at Pitt field so that they can play the Spiders.They would never visit to play daylight games.
No kidding. As often as UVA comes down here to play us in Hoops, I'm sure they'll be down for Night games often, as well.
Here in Arizona, the defending national champion University of Arizona Wildcats moved to an off-campus venue for their home games a year ago. They now play at 10,000 seat Hi-Corbett stadium which was formerly used for Spring Training games. In the Phoenix area, Arizona State University announced this morning that they are moving their home baseball games off-campus to 8,000 seat Phoenix Municipal Stadium which was the former Spring Training home of the Oakland A's. In both cases, these off-campus stadiums (neither of which are adjacent to the schools' campuses) offer bigger venues with lights. If we see a need for the Spiders to play in a big venue under the lights for so-called big name competition, maybe they should look to play a few home games at the Diamond (or whatever it is now called) each season.
Attended the Spiders/Hoos game yesterday at Davenport Field which thanks mainly to John Grisham has become quite a nice baseball facility. UVA used to play us home and away every year but think it has been awhile since UVA played us at Pitt Field. Davenport has become one of the nicest college baseball venues in the country and regularly hosts regionals. Concessions, seating, lights, suites, restrooms - all have been upgraded during the past 5 to 10 year time frame. It is a very enjoyable experience attending games there other than the fact that we left a number of runners stranded and lost 6 to 2. UVA's baseball fortunes have risen considerably since there has been a bigger investment in baseball - along with the upgraded field, one of the best coaches in the country and higher quality players which has led to more wins and postseason appearances.
Our recent lack of success in baseball is about 99% attributable to the move to the A-10. The move was made for men's basketball and represented a downgrade for almost every other sport we offer. That is fine and I generally agree with the move and it's reasons but it has certainly impacted other sports. We are now in a predominately northern baseball conference and with few exceptions baseball is better the further south you go. I don't think lights or more $$ would have a huge impact on the program. Personally I'm glad we still have baseball and I think Coach Mac and his staff are doing the best they can in a lower tier baseball conference.
If we were going to spend money on baseball, I would rather see it spent on fully funding the schollies. We are a southern school in a northern conference, we could be in contention for a bid every year. If that happens the recruiting will increase on its own. Kids want to play for a winner. The few games that would benefit from lights don't seem to be the best use of the money. After all we had extra schollies after we deep sixed soccer and track we had extra schollies on the men's side. Anybody know where they went?
how many baseball scholies are allowable by the ncaa and how many do we have, how underfunded are we 2, 3 ships?
NCAA Division I
How Many Schools: There are 297 schools playing Division I baseball, including perennial powers like LSU, Miami (Fla.), Wichita State, Texas and Arizona State.
Scholarship Count: Baseball programs have only 11.7 scholarships to work with, meaning full rides are rare considering roster size. Scholarships can be split up and given to up to 30 players.
Scholarship Breakdown: Division I baseball recruiting is tricky. A lot of scholarship money is promised to players who end up turning it down in the 11th hour for a professional contract. Keep that in mind to gain an understanding of why a coach may call late.
I don't have time to look it up, but I beleive we give about 9.2 baseball scholies.
How Many Schools: There are 297 schools playing Division I baseball, including perennial powers like LSU, Miami (Fla.), Wichita State, Texas and Arizona State.
Scholarship Count: Baseball programs have only 11.7 scholarships to work with, meaning full rides are rare considering roster size. Scholarships can be split up and given to up to 30 players.
Scholarship Breakdown: Division I baseball recruiting is tricky. A lot of scholarship money is promised to players who end up turning it down in the 11th hour for a professional contract. Keep that in mind to gain an understanding of why a coach may call late.
I don't have time to look it up, but I beleive we give about 9.2 baseball scholies.
thanks Fan. realize that most players are on partials but what is the deal with .7, why not just 12? bureaucrats i guess but am sure there is some explanation. so if we see a team come in here with 40+ players, 10 or so of them have no scholies or are they on some other form of financial aid? seems the key to most sports is finding creative ways to provide them with a financial incentive to come with you, preferred walkons in football, for example.
Partials are the rule of thumb but any player on scholarship must receive at least 1/3 of a full ride and 27 players must be on scholarship. Teams are limited to 35-man rosters, to be submitted before the first game of the season. Players cannot be added after that point and anyone receiving aid (even if he is redshirting) must be counted toward the 27 and the 35.
good stuff Beav, did not know any of those numbers and they are interesting. do you know if other financial aid can be added on to the 1/3 athletic scholie to get closer to a full ride? just wonder at some of the bcs conference schools if most guys are there pretty much free or are limited to the athletic money (1/3) only.
To piggyback onto Beav's points, you have 11.7 schollies per team, no more than 27 can be on athletic scholarship, and no team may have more than 35 players. Athletic $$ and academic $$ may NOT be combined to get a full scholarship. The player will get athletic $$ or academic money, and will opt for the higher of the two. It is one or the other. These rules, instituted in 2008, give tremendous advantage to state schools, especially those who have tuition-free programs for in-state students. Fortunately, we have few state schools in the A10 and those that we DO have don't have tuition-free programs (that I know of).
Currently, budget constraints mean that we carry only 30 players (the only reason we are carrying 31 is that the team voted to keep a teammate on the team against the wishes of the Athletic Dept.), take only 25 on road trips, do not utilize the entire 11.7 schollies (someone mentioned 9.7, but I don't know this), play mostly home games with few in warm climates in February/March, and we have a facility that is in sore need of upgrading. The heck of it is, it wouldn't take a tremendous amount of money to upgrade it (forgetting lights for a moment, you could upgrade Pitt into a first class facility for about $500K).
Here is what prospective players care about:
1. Gear. 1st Class stuff you can wear. UR has that in spades with Nike around.
2. Facilities. A warm place for pitchers and hitters to hone their skills and a nice place to play. I like Pitt in spite of itself, but the practice facilities need to be upgraded. You could incorporate those into the Pitt refurb.
3. Good coaching. The kids love Mac, but being the head coach, pitching coach and running the program takes its toll. IMHO, he is spread too thin and players need more personal attention. I think he needs to consider changes after this season, losing Wheeler really hurt.
4. Weight training. We currently have a football trainer running the baseball weight training. The training for baseball is the same for football, which is crazy and partly to blame for so many injuries we have. We need a baseball-centric training regimen, one for pitchers, one for position players.
5. The ability to win the conference and go to a regional. Has everything to do with program commitment. You can talk about how bad the A10 is for baseball, but the fact remains that the A10 imminently winnable. Really, we should OWN this conference and build up the program, Charlotte and SLU notwithstanding, no one else will be consistently good year-after-year.
6. Good-looking girls and a good social scene. UR has no problems there.
UR is in a hotbed of talent. All it will take is a commitment in the right areas.
If you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right.
This post was edited on 4/25 8:52 PM by Tarantula'sDad
Currently, budget constraints mean that we carry only 30 players (the only reason we are carrying 31 is that the team voted to keep a teammate on the team against the wishes of the Athletic Dept.), take only 25 on road trips, do not utilize the entire 11.7 schollies (someone mentioned 9.7, but I don't know this), play mostly home games with few in warm climates in February/March, and we have a facility that is in sore need of upgrading. The heck of it is, it wouldn't take a tremendous amount of money to upgrade it (forgetting lights for a moment, you could upgrade Pitt into a first class facility for about $500K).
Here is what prospective players care about:
1. Gear. 1st Class stuff you can wear. UR has that in spades with Nike around.
2. Facilities. A warm place for pitchers and hitters to hone their skills and a nice place to play. I like Pitt in spite of itself, but the practice facilities need to be upgraded. You could incorporate those into the Pitt refurb.
3. Good coaching. The kids love Mac, but being the head coach, pitching coach and running the program takes its toll. IMHO, he is spread too thin and players need more personal attention. I think he needs to consider changes after this season, losing Wheeler really hurt.
4. Weight training. We currently have a football trainer running the baseball weight training. The training for baseball is the same for football, which is crazy and partly to blame for so many injuries we have. We need a baseball-centric training regimen, one for pitchers, one for position players.
5. The ability to win the conference and go to a regional. Has everything to do with program commitment. You can talk about how bad the A10 is for baseball, but the fact remains that the A10 imminently winnable. Really, we should OWN this conference and build up the program, Charlotte and SLU notwithstanding, no one else will be consistently good year-after-year.
6. Good-looking girls and a good social scene. UR has no problems there.
UR is in a hotbed of talent. All it will take is a commitment in the right areas.
If you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right.
This post was edited on 4/25 8:52 PM by Tarantula'sDad
feel Dad makes good, valid points and agree with him. what we do not know is how the athletic director does some or all of this within the confines of his budget, title IX and, more importantly, does he have the mandate (the board, donors) to do it. we lost a head coach, a very good head coach, a few years ago because those around that sport, student/athletes, parents, coaches, thought they were not getting the proper funding and they had set up some type of fund to do things outside the athletic department. am sure that most involved with "olympic" or other sports feel slighted and under appreciated and rightfully so but it is not just as easy as identifying needs and then taking care of them, much more complex than that.
I know we've had this discussion before re weight training and injuries but I would sure like to hear from someone on the inside what the deal is with our weight training, especially for the pitchers. Every year we have one or two pitchers out for all or most of the season and it has really set us back. This year it's DeMarte especially. Seems we have an inordinate number of such injuries, more than I see with other teams.
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