Practicing baseball in early March is often a tricky task. Between the saturated, mud-laden fields and the brisk winds that often accompany New England's shift from winter to spring, a dry area to shag fly balls can be a rare commodity.
Fortunately for coach John Casey and his team, the Jumbos won't have to worry about the unpredictable Massachusetts weather during spring break. The baseball team is migrating south for the week, and the Jumbos will finally field ground balls and run the bases on grass infields.
On Thursday night, the team will pack up vans and head to Ashland, VA, the first of four stops on its 10-day southern tour. After a pair of games against Lynchburg and Randolph-Macon, the team will reload and travel to Greensboro and Fayetteville, NC, before finishing out the road trip in Virginia Beach.
"It doesn't matter to us where we play," Casey said. "I would think good teams go out and play whether you're on the road or at home. You have to go out there and get 27 outs every game. So that's not going to be an excuse for us."
With the luxury of sunshine all year round, these southern teams have been practicing outside throughout the entire winter and have already played a number of games, giving them a distinct advantage over their New England opponents. Lynchburg, has already amassed an 8-5 record after beginning its season on Feb. 15; and Randolph-Macon is 9-4.
"I don't care what the result is; we just need to play well," Casey said. "I think if you look back, every year we've come out of this trip with a winning record, and we've been in the top four in New England. So we're not afraid to be challenged; we're playing nationally-ranked teams here. The only way you're going to feel like you're good is to play the best instead of playing [weak opponents]."
Although Tufts has not had the outdoor practice time of the southern schools, it has been working out through the fall and the winter to be as close to top form as possible when the first pitch of the 2006 season is delivered on Friday.
"We do our best inside to simulate being outside," junior Kyle Backstrom said. "Besides the fact that we haven't been outside, nothing else should distinguish [the southern teams] from us. We feel that we are as well prepared as we can be at this point."
And Jumbos will need to be prepared, as they will take the field 11 times in 10 days, including double-headers on Mar. 25 and 26 against Apprentice and Virginia-Wesleyan College, respectively, in addition to two games on Mar. 20 against Maryville College and Guilford College.
No one will feel the intensity of the schedule more than the pitching staff, especially since it is far from mid-season form. With juniors Aaron Narva and Carlos Lopez nursing minor injuries already, Casey will have to be especially conscious of the number of pitches his staff throws to avoid fatigue and injuries stemming from overuse.
The Jumbos will barely have time to recuperate when they return on Mar. 26, as they will head to Massachusetts Maritime on Mar. 29.
The players, however, are not nervous. They see the crammed schedule as a chance to gather some momentum going into the NESCAC matchups, which will begin with a face-off against Bates on Mar. 31.
"[Playing all of these games] is definitely a positive," senior outfielder Jim O'Leary said. "At that point we're already into the routine of playing, whereas some of the other teams up here might not be."
