Posted: 05/02/07

Give ‘em their free latte
Baseball team belongs in the NE-10

Justin Veiga | managing editor
jveiga@smcvt.edu

I like to compare it to a scene in an episode of “Entourage.” Volatile Johnny "Drama" Chase swings by his favorite coffee shop to pick up a latte before an audition. He’s finally earned a free latte, as his purchasing card has been punched a dozen times. But to his dismay, the shop refuses to deliver the free cup of Joe on the grounds that too many people were counterfeiting the cards. Drama goes off on a rant and rampage, condemning the manager for not catering to the services of a loyal customer. And who could argue with him? It’s just not right when you don’t get something you’ve earned.

The St. Michael’s College baseball team (loveable Drama) has learned that first-hand through its relationship with the Northeast-10 Conference (stubborn coffee shop manager).

Since the conclusion of the 1998 season, the team has played independently, choosing to leave the NE-10 due to concerns over keeping a primary focus on academics. Given the remote location of St. Michael’s in relation to other schools in the conference, players spent as much time sitting on the bus as they did sitting in class. As the years have gone by, the masterminds of the NE-10 scheduling committee have continued to increase its minimum game requirement, making it nearly impossible for St. Michael’s to entertain the thought of a return to the conference.

Currently, that requirement is up to 30 nine-inning games, except in regards to doubleheaders, which permit the second game to be only 7 innings.

Wait a minute, 30 games? That’s how many St. Michael’s is scheduled to play this year, not even including the Port Charlotte Invitational that the team competed in over spring break.

So then why are we still on the outside looking in at the wonderful world of conference play?

“We theoretically could make it work,” says head coach Seth Cole. “But instead of road trips to Norwich and Middlebury, it’s road trips to Bryant [located in Rhode Island].”

Okay, so our location is still an issue. With the closest schools being over two hours away in Eastern New York or Southern New Hampshire, we certainly turn the NE-10 circular travel loop into a bit more drastic ellipse. But hey, the conference is called “Northeast,” not “Southern New England.” And we’re about as northeast as it gets.

Is the competition in the NE-10 just too good for our independent diamond dwellers?

Nah. Don’t think so. This season the team proved it could keep up with the big boys on the playground, pulling out a win against The College of St. Rose and playing two tough games, decided by just two runs, against a talented Stonehill College ball club.

“I think this year has shown that we can compete with these schools,” Cole says. “We’re playing some of these NE-10 teams tough.”

So what’s it going to take to get our baseball team back into the conference?

“They [the NE-10] know where we stand,” Cole says. “It’s mostly out of our hands."

According to Cole, if the conference was to reduce its game minimum to 26, with each team playing a doubleheader against the other 13 teams in the NE-10, saying good-bye to independent ball could be a possibility.

“I don’t think it looks great for the conference, frankly, that one of their institutions isn’t competing in a sport. It does fall squarely back on the conference to make this work so that we can get back in,” Cole says. “It really would just take a little bit.”

And for as long as the NE-10 continues to avoid making those small changes, the players at St. Michael’s will have no choice other than to keep working hard. But for what? Any athlete who competes in college obviously has a love for the sport. These athletes, however, deserve something more than that. And when that something more, a chance at winning a tournament championship, isn’t available, the program could suffer drastically.

“The biggest thing on my end is to be up front with people as soon as I can, meaning seniors in high school,” Cole says.

He adds that in most cases, recruits understand the situation. But if a future college athlete has the choice of playing for a team within a conference over one that’s not, obviously the program with tournament opportunities is at an advantage.

Though Cole appreciates and respects his players' competitive spirit and pure love for the game of baseball, when it comes to the bottom line, St. Michael’s baseball players simply aren’t getting what they deserve.

They work as hard as any other student-athletes on campus, putting in long hours at practice and participating in off-season workouts. They even sacrificed individual spring break trips for the team, and what’s more impressive, worked through the winter at a local warehouse to fund the trip to Port Charlotte.

So NE-10, take a lesson from "Entourage." Don't be an inflexible coffee shop manager. Give this team the latte that it has earned, or face the wrath of Drama.