Covering the Bases at NCAAs with U-M Baseball: Saturday
6/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Game day started with a 7:45 a.m. wake-up call and breakfast in the hotel. The team left for Goss Stadium at 9:00 under solid gray skies and light rain after having blue skies and sun all day yesterday. The mood on the bus was no different than any other ride: it was business as usual, no apparent nerves, just a constant dull murmur of conversation and laughter. As Coach Maloney said earlier in the trip, at this point there's no need for pep talks, and he was true to his word, addressing the team briefly as we pulled into the parking lot. Just get it done.
The team unloaded the bus in front of a few Oregon State fans already busy tailgating. Coach Maloney and his son Alex chatted with a couple of the Beaver fans before heading into the park. Batting practice got underway at 10:00 for the Wolverines. Former Wolverine All-American and MLB All-Star Barry Larkin hung around the batting cage chatting with various U-M players and coaches before heading up to the press box. The drizzle eventually turned into a steady, heavy rain, and the teams moved indoors to finish pregame warm-ups. And so did eveyrone else. The media room got increasingly more crowded (hey, it was warm, there was food AND a TV). And unless there was a local jokester loitering in that media room, a distinguished gentleman in a baseball cap walked up to the Michigan contingent declaring his wife is from Ann Arbor, her parents were professors at U-M, and he's still not a Michigan fan ... he's merely the governor of Oregon. Pretty impressive.
By about 11:45, discussions began for a back-up plan for rescheduling the weekend's games. One look at the radar would tell you why. Solid green masses with flecks of yellow spanned the entire state of Oregon, starting out in the Pacific. As it became increasingly apparent that there would be, if nothing else, a delay, an impromptu order of 56 hot dogs was placed at the stadium to feed the hungry Michigan players (see, it really does always come back to food). Around 12:15 the game was called due to weather and rescheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. PDT. Monday's game time, as well as Tuesday's should it be needed, were still to be determined as the team packed up its stuff and headed back to the bus.
With an entire afternoon and evening to fill, the coaches decided a mid-afternoon movie would help keep the team occupied and loose. Several of the players have family in town, so after the movie they'll be having dinner together, while the rest of the team will head out as a group as usual. Tomorrow's forecast calls for 20-30 percent chance of rain in the morning and then 10-20 percent during game time. It could be worse, could be better, but it could definitely be worse!
