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Baseball's Coming Back


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2 hours ago, DannyHoke said:

What does everyone think about bringing baseball back?  Does anyone plan on coming out to games?

One of the hard things about following baseball (and softball for that matter) is the schedule and time of games.  The team will go South for an extended period to begin the season, and by the time they get back on campus (or Canal Park). Chances are their record will be well below .500.  This might keep the casual fan away.  The home schedule will probably be filled with weekday, mid-afternoon games, once again hindering attendance.  And once the NE Ohio Spring weather kicks in, there will be several postponed games leading to doubleheader’s or re-scheduling that cannot be “sure things” for crowds.  The new field will be artificial so there won’t be that many rain-outs, but.....  All that said, I’ll try to see a few, but count on sparse crowds since our student body hasn’t shown a lot of interestin anything except men’s soccer.

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15 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

It was a bad PR hit when the team was cut, but once it was cut they should have just left it for dead. I'd rather the athletic department focus their attention and resources on improving the other sports. Even if the baseball program is self funded, as is claimed, its going to be a pretty much a club team facing off against actual D1 schools. I can't imagine why anyone would want to watch.

 

Shedding the baseball athletic scholarships was the right thing to do. If they can still field a competitive team then great.

 

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On 9/19/2019 at 8:42 AM, ZippyRulz said:

 

Shedding the baseball athletic scholarships was the right thing to do. If they can still field a competitive team then great.

 

 

Not going to be competitive with ZERO scholarships playing in a scholarship league.  This will be a D3 program.  

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I don't know where that information come from, but at present they have 26 players on scholarship.

 

I don't see them winning right off the bat (pardon the pun) but this is a serious program with a serious head coach and staff. 

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Went to the Women's soccer match Thursday night and it's kinda exciting to see the baseball field stripped bare to just dirt, and knowing that it's going to soon be green and playable.  Stood on the reserved eating section and looked out over the fence to see it.  Kinda hard to perceive it yet.  Anyone know if there will be a new pressbox, or if the field is going to be situated similar to the old layout with home plate near the soccer grandstands and the outfield spread out along Exchange?

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At first I wanted the team to play at Canal Park. But then drawing 250 +/- fans (a decent college crowd) would get swallowed up in a 7600 seat stadium.

 

Being on campus is a plus too. There's just something about walking around campus on game day. It would be nice to have a place to buy beverages and food though...

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11 minutes ago, Spin said:

It would be nice to have a place to buy beverages and food though...

They usually open the concession stand between FES and the softball stands on game days for softball and even used to for track and field events, bet they'll have it open for BB games, but bring your wallet.....$$$$$

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https://gozips.com/news/2017/9/19/general-university-of-akron-looks-to-bring-back-mens-baseball-add-womens-lacrosse.aspx

 

"Another key component of this plan is that any athletic scholarships provided to student-athletes for these two sports will come from community financial support – not University funds."

 

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Self funded, after how long? 2020? Five years? That's kind of foggy. And do they consider charging admission, ad placement, and tracking souvenir sales at games/"Zips Baseball" branded gear? I never understood how they would track that. The gear is already on the racks in the book store. 

 

Local recruiting, I think he has a nice mix of local, Ohio, and players from around the US.

 

I don't want to be an apologist for the program, but but I do want Zips fans to give the program a fair shake.

Edited by Spin
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More self-funding/community funded, how much is our friend Matt Kaulig donating to the program? There is a commercial out featuring Zips baseball making the local TV stations. 

 

I don't think we'll know the answers, I don't know if it's any of our business.

 

I don't see the university in this climate spending any money on new sports.

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2 hours ago, Spin said:

Self funded, after how long? 2020? Five years? That's kind of foggy. And do they consider charging admission, ad placement, and tracking souvenir sales at games/"Zips Baseball" branded gear? I never understood how they would track that. The gear is already on the racks in the book store. 

 

Local recruiting, I think he has a nice mix of local, Ohio, and players from around the US.

 

I don't want to be an apologist for the program, but but I do want Zips fans to give the program a fair shake.

13 OH players, none from PA. Not that it matters to me, just pointing out that I believe the initial announcements had some sort of spin that we would pretty much only recruit OH

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On 9/21/2019 at 9:57 PM, Spin said:

I don't know where that information come from, but at present they have 26 players on scholarship.

 

I don't see them winning right off the bat (pardon the pun) but this is a serious program with a serious head coach and staff. 

 

You are totally incorrect.  

 

The University of Akron is on the record as saying they have ONE total scholarship for baseball.  "For comparison, when the team played in 2014-15, total expenses were $263,787, not including $284,933 in scholarships split between 28 players, according to reports made to the NCAA. The athletics department currently has one endowed scholarship available."

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/03/university-of-akron-baseball-returns-in-2020-aided-by-1-million-donation-how-much-will-it-cost.html

 

And this from BASEBALL AMERICA: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/akron-announces-plan-to-restore-baseball-program/

As rare as the restoration of a baseball program is, Akron’s plan to do so is even more novel. The plan is so frugal that Wilson believes baseball, typically thought of as a non-revenue sport in the college landscape, can be revenue positive. Akron’s biggest cost savings will come in the area of scholarships. Any athletic scholarships for baseball or lacrosse players will be funded privately and not by the university. The program will operate on a frugal budget and take advantage of donations and other cost-saving opportunities. 

 

Under NCAA rules, a Division 1 baseball team's 11.7 scholarships can be divided between a maximum of 27 players on a 35-player roster, with all players on athletic scholarship having to receive a minimum of a 25 percent scholarshiphttps://www.ncsasports.org/baseball/scholarships

 

 

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Things have changed since those articles were written. 

 

They were going to have players from Ohio, Spuds recruited all over. Including the academy he was at before. That's fine by me.

 

The ballpark is being renovated. I'll certainly take that.

 

And they have more funding now than when the article quoted 1 scholarship. I don't know where it's coming from, I don't care. We are not the only alumni who were upset over the sport being chopped. At leastr one very successful business leader has gotten behind the new program. 

 

This is all very good news IMHO. 

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On 9/22/2019 at 9:45 AM, Spin said:

It would be nice to have a place to buy beverages and food though...

Also...there is a nice McDonald's right across the street from Center/Right Field!!!  And rumor has it Larry Williams, who hasn't been seen much,  is going to open his own Bar-B-Que joint where the old Plasma place was....but only for big dollar donors to eat before the Baseball games.......?

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Sorry, but bringing back baseball and not supporting it with at least the very same level of scholarship support it had in 2015 is a slap in the face to every alum who played the sport. Zero logic in what is being done here.  Weak leadership.

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On 9/18/2019 at 7:03 PM, ZipsVoice said:

One of the hard things about following baseball (and softball for that matter) is the schedule and time of games.  The team will go South for an extended period to begin the season, and by the time they get back on campus (or Canal Park). Chances are their record will be well below .500.  This might keep the casual fan away.  The home schedule will probably be filled with weekday, mid-afternoon games, once again hindering attendance.  And once the NE Ohio Spring weather kicks in, there will be several postponed games leading to doubleheader’s or re-scheduling that cannot be “sure things” for crowds.  The new field will be artificial so there won’t be that many rain-outs, but.....  All that said, I’ll try to see a few, but count on sparse crowds since our student body hasn’t shown a lot of interestin anything except men’s soccer.

 

There will be plenty of chances to watch the baseballers during the weekend. Once the weather gets semi-acceptable, weekend home series against conference opponents about every other week will be common place. 

Re weekday games: the norm will be a single game each week (about half at home) against a nonconference foe.

Apathy on the part of  fans from all stripes will be responsible for low attendance; if they average over 150 per home game I will be impressed.

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On 9/30/2019 at 4:56 PM, Hilltopper said:

Can't we add one of those captcha things to the forum so when new members sign up they have to prove they are not a robot?

 

And just in case they are monitoring this site and planning to take over the world I would like to state that I have always liked robots.

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