Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990 TAG: 9005060025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Tech, which will play host to the Metro Conference baseball tournament for the first time next spring, may take the tourney from Blacksburg to Salem's Municipal Field. The reason: Tech's English Field doesn't have lights, a requirement to be host for the tournament. Although installing lights is on Tech's agenda, the money will have to come from the school's $17 million fund-raising effort, and Tech administrators aren't sure whether the money will be available in time to install lights for the tournament.
"We've got to look at the option of taking it somewhere else or lose our turn," said Danny Monk, an associate athletic director. "We can't wait [until] later on in the year or get into the academic year to make that decision. Then the Metro would be left scrambling."
Monk has spoken with Salem Mayor Jim Taliaferro and Salem Buccaneers' vice president/general manager Sam Lazzaro. Lazzaro has given Tech the OK to use the field next year as long as he is given enough notice to make sure the Bucs are out of town that week. Monk said Pulaski also has expressed a desire to be host for the tournament, and said Tech still must formally decide to play in Salem. He said the decision probably will be made at the Metro's spring meetings May 23-25 in Destin, Fla.
Tech must guarantee the league $20,000 to play host to the tournament and is responsible for putting on the traditional pretournament dinner. It also would have to bring in a temporary press box, because the league requires room for at least 25 media personnel and Municipal Field's is much smaller.
Making money, Monk said, isn't the goal of being the tournament host.
"It's the same thing we're trying to do with Metro basketball," said Monk, who's tournament director of the 1991 event in Roanoke. "We want to have a first-class event; that's the whole idea, to make it as good as it possibly can be."
A trial balloon, of sorts, will be lofted on Tuesday when nationally ranked Florida State plays Tech at Municipal Field. Monk said advance ticket sales have been going reasonably well and hopes for strong walk-up sales. If the game draws well, Tech likely will tout the success at the conference meetings.
"It gives us a good barometer of how the Salem market will support [college] baseball," Monk said. "It's a chance for us to measure what might happen in May of 1991. It's very similar to the Virginia game [in Roanoke] being kind of a barometer to use for basketball."
However, Tech wants a good turnout for more than reassurance. The FSU game, which begins a three-game series between the teams, is the third straight game Tech will play at a neutral site. Today's game against UNC Charlotte is in Pulaski and Monday's game against Duke is in Martinsville. Monk said the proceeds from all three games will go directly to the Hokies' baseball program.
Tech is not being charged to use Salem Municipal Field. Lazzaro said the Buccaneers are providing labor and running concessions, and hope to offset the labor costs through concessions sales. One big-ticket concession item, however, will not be sold - beer. NCAA rules prohibit the selling of alcoholic beverages at collegiate events.
by CNB