Feb. 17, 2009
by Jack Wilkinson
Top Ten Reasons to Attend Georgia Tech’s Baseball Opener
10. You can see if Tech’s playing with a full Deck in this pitchers duel. As a freshman, Deck McGuire led the staff with eight wins, and he will face Lipscomb’s Rex Brothers, who beat Georgia in the opening game of the 2008 NCAA Athens Regional.
9. Scott Boras won’t be posing in the ballpark and whining, “One year? You’re offering Manny ONE YEAR?! At $25 million?!?! How dare you insult us like that.” But then, that’s just Scotty being Scotty.
8. Freebies! The first 500 fans Friday will receive complimentary Tech baseball/softball magnet schedules, ideal for your fridge or dashboard. So will the first 500 Saturday and the first 500 Sunday.
7. No player from either team will leave the game in the middle of the fifth to fly to Phoenix for his arbitration hearing.
6. A dignified Star Spangled Banner – an instrumental version recorded on a CD by the Georgia Tech Marching Band and played over the P.A. system. No live, over-the-top, fifth-runnerup semifinalist wannabes from “Who Wants to Mangle a National Anthem?”
5. The ping of the bat. Who’ll be the first Jacket to go yard this season? 1B Tony Plagman? RF Luke Murton? C Jason Haniger? Or perhaps SS Derek Dietrich?
4. Even if you’re running late (First pitch: 4 p.m. Game-time temperature? Not Coral Gables), you can listen to WREK and won’t miss a pitch. All games will be aired on the radio this year.
3. Will head coach Danny Hall assume his usual position in the third-base coaching box while wearing a batting helmet – now mandatory for all coaches? Or will the winningest baseball coach in Tech history, now starting his 16th season, stay in the dugout and wear a ski cap to keep that head warm?
2. How will the regulars sitting on the Rose Bowl Field wall beyond the right-field fence welcome the Pope of the Flats: freshman closer Mark Pope?
1. And the number one reason to attend Georgia Tech’s baseball opener: There’s absolutely no chance that one of the best ballparks in college baseball will be renamed “Alex Rodriguez Park at Russ Chandler Stadium.”
Hope to see everyone Friday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium!
