Baseball on my mind

The 2-2 Missouri State football team is hitting a crucial stretch in the schedule, the St. Louis Blues are playing their first game of the regular season tonight and basketball season is getting closer every day. So, here I am, thinking about...baseball?

I can't help it.

For some reason I'm already thinking about the middle of winter and the start of college baseball. MO State will return all but one pitcher from 2005 and will add Scott Carroll to the rotation. A youthful team a year ago should be one year better and I think Braden Drake shows a lot of promise in the middle infield. This should be an exciting year.

Unfortunately there's no good info over at MSU sports info...no roster, no updated schedule, no word on the Fall World Series. So, I do what I can. I'm piecing together the schedule a bit at a time until it is...finally...released. Here's what we know so far.

Feb. 24-27 at the Domino's Pizza Aggie Baseball Classic: This should be fun. The Bears take on Texas A&M Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. Other teams in the field are Utah and UNC-Greensboro.

Home-and-home with Arkansas: at Baum April 4, at Hammons Field one week later.

Home-and-home with Kansas: at Hammons April 18, at Lawrence May 9.

As for league play, the Bears are home for Southern Illinois April 21-23 and home for Illinois State May 12-14. MO State visits Indiana State May 18-20.

Road series include Bradley April 28-30.

The Valley Tournament is May 24-27 in Wichita, though next year it should be back at Hammons Field. The hope is for that bad boy to be on a rotating basis.

The Springfield Cardinals have already announced their schedule for the 2006 campaign - minus start times - and conflicts are already appearing. Springfield is scheduled to host Wichita on April 18, the same day MO State hosts Kansas. The KU web site lists that game with a 7 p.m. start time (can anyone say “Business Person’s Special”?). The ’Birds will be starting a five-game series with Tulsa the same time SIU is to visit MSU.

There are some other big names set to play Missouri State, as they chase their first postseason berth since the CWS trip in 2003. I lost that list, unfortunately, but I believe Purdue, Minnesota and Oklahoma are all on it. OU, I believe, is coming to Hammons Field.

It is a crucial year for Missouri State baseball. Attendance must improve. The same can be said for promotion. Will a winning team be the cure-all? Will Athletic Deveopment get creative? I’m intrigued.


Listening to: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - “The Hardest Part”