Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100193
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For those Virginia Tech fans unhappy that their team lost a baseball game to Florida State 6-4, finding their cars impounded was adding financial insult to injury.
But that's about all that went wrong. Tech's great experiment was a smashing success.
Sure, the Hokies lost the showdown for first place in the Metro Conference. But, in winning in their first-ever appearance in Southwest Virginia, the Seminoles of Mike Martin demonstrated what everybody knew in advance - they have a big-time program.
Martin is in his 11th year at his alma mater and never has his team failed to win 50 games. That represents all the 50-win seasons for a school that never has had a losing year. A school that in 43 campaigns has gone to the College World Series 10 times, received 27 NCAA bids and won 10 Metro titles with, I might add, 117 players who were drafted by the pros.
Want to understand the difference between the elite and a nice mid-major program, such as the one at Tech?
When the teams finish the final game of their series this afternoon at English Field in Blacksburg, the Hokies will shower swiftly and begin a bus ride to Hattiesburg, Miss. They will go halfway, spend the night in an economy motel, and then complete the trip Friday.
Oh, yes. They will begin a three-game set with a strong Southern Miss team that night. Good luck, Chuck Hartman.
Meanwhile, Florida State will have checked out of the Blacksburg Marriott - team accommodations are comparable to a football visit, according to a motel spokesman - and will fly back to Tallahassee. On a commercial flight.
The Seminoles start a three-game home series Friday with Cincinnati, another underfinanced Metro program. The crowd will take Florida State attendance past 100,000 for the season.
FSU is, at least, to Metro baseball what Louisville is to Metro basketball. The Seminoles, who already know they will be the home team for an NCAA Regional, finished third in the College World Series in '89. All the regulars from that team are back. They were ranked No. 1 in the preseason. They have not fallen below ninth in the Collegiate Baseball or Baseball America polls.
They have a good team this year and they will have a good team next year. And the next.
So Tech's challenge is to catch up, not hope FSU stumbles.
Some of that catching up might have started in Martinsville on Monday and in Salem on Tuesday. The Hokies lost to a mediocre Duke team in Martinsville, but played before 2,500 fans. In Salem, according to associate athletic director Danny Monk, the crowd was perhaps 4,400, which doesn't include the people who wandered through the gates for the Hokie Spring Fling and didn't pay.
Others, perhaps intimidated by long lines that continued into the second inning, decided not to fight the crowd and went home.
But, because those who came - and stayed - created standing room in the old ballpark, Tech baseball will net between $8,500 and $9,000, Monk estimated. Along with some $3,000 from the Martinsville game and another $1,000 from a Sunday afternoon game in Pulaski against North Carolina-Charlotte, that means as much as $13,000 will be added to baseball coach Hartman's otherwise puny budget.
That doesn't mean the Hokies will fly first-class to Tallahassee next spring, but it assuredly helps.
And, logically, it can be repeated.
Tech can serve as the host school for the 1991 Metro Tournament, but has indicated it might want a switch, with Tulane, until '92, when lights are expected to be installed at English Field in Blacksburg.
It would make much more sense to play the Metro at Salem next season and not worry because Tech also will hold the basketball tournament in Roanoke in March.
Attendance would be far greater in Salem than it would be in Blacksburg, where graduation will have taken place. Many of the fans who packed the joint Tuesday likely would come back again, at least for one game. Few of them will make the journey to Blacksburg unless the Hokies make it to the final.
It would be understandable to want to play at home, but, under the circumstances, it doesn't make economic sense. The crowd Tuesday night was terrific. "I'm proud to be part of the atmosphere," Martin said. That couldn't be duplicated in late May in Blacksburg with the students gone.
Whether Tech takes the Metro to Salem or not, surely the Hokies will return to Municipal Field for more outings. They've still got a lot more catching up to do.
by CNB