Hello from Tempe!
By: Will Vandervort
It’s not hot like the heat back in South Carolina; it’s more of a dry heat. The air is not thick or anything like that, it’s just hot.
The temperature yesterday when I arrived was 102 degrees. Today it is supposed to be the same. I’m glad I’m covering baseball instead of playing it.
The Clemson baseball team is excited about being here. I actually, by coincidence, flew on the same plane with them yesterday. Some guys appeared nervous about the trip, others not so much. Head coach Jack Leggett started the trip a few rows behind me, but because there were some empty seats he got to move up closer to first class and then when the pilot realized the Clemson team was aboard his plane and that there was an empty seat in first class, he moved Leggett up there, where the team started to give him a hard time.
As for the team, they were very well behaved young men. Leggett had them all dressed up in their best clothes, while sporting ties. Other than the occasional joking around that teammates will do, they pretty much kept to themselves and did not disturb any of the other passengers.
After getting off the plane and checked in at the team hotel, the team headed out for a short practice to get themselves acclimated to the weather conditions. They practiced at the Los Angeles Angels spring training facility.
Not much to report after that. They will practice again today at 2:45 p.m. (Pacific Time) at Packard Stadium, Arizona State’s home field. Game 1 of the Tempe Super Regional is scheduled for 9 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) Saturday.
My hotel is about a mile away from the stadium and when I got here I went by Sun Devil Stadium and Packard Stadium. They both seem like nice facilities from the outside, and Sun Devil Stadium reminded me of what Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla., used to look like before the outside of it was redone about 10 years ago.
Packard Stadium has been Arizona State’s home field since 1974 and is considered one of college baseball’s most beautiful ballparks. The outfield wall is lined with palm trees and in the background Tempe Town Lake can be seen as well as the Superstition Mountains.
Dimensions of Packard are 338 feet down the lines, 368 feet in the power alleys and 395 to straightaway center. The fence is 10 feet high. Located five feet beyond the center-field wall is the “Green Monster,” a 30-foot-high batting eye.
Only 18 players have ever hit a home run over the Monster.
With a capacity of over 4,000, Packard has more than 3,000 permanent seats in the main grandstand. Field-level box seats are also available behind home plate. The remaining seats are located on popular grass berms, which run down the first-base and third-base line.
The Sun Devils have won two national titles since calling Packard their home park and have won more than 77 percent of their games there. This year Arizona State is 34-4 there and has won better than 80 percent of their games at home in the last six seasons.
There is some hope for the Tigers though. Last year, Fresno State came into Tempe and won the Super Regional series to advance to the College World Series and then, as we all know, went on to win the National Championship. And remember, the Bulldogs did that as a No. 4 seed.
I guess a team just has to be playing hot when they come here. I know there is plenty of heat out here for them if they are not.
Okay, someone left the oven on out here because it is hot. You know how it feels when you open your oven door to check on your baked cookies or biscuits and the heat hits you in the face. Well, that’s what it feels like out here, but you can’t shut the oven door.
It’s not hot like the heat back in South Carolina; it’s more of a dry heat. The air is not thick or anything like that, it’s just hot.
The temperature yesterday when I arrived was 102 degrees. Today it is supposed to be the same. I’m glad I’m covering baseball instead of playing it.
The Clemson baseball team is excited about being here. I actually, by coincidence, flew on the same plane with them yesterday. Some guys appeared nervous about the trip, others not so much. Head coach Jack Leggett started the trip a few rows behind me, but because there were some empty seats he got to move up closer to first class and then when the pilot realized the Clemson team was aboard his plane and that there was an empty seat in first class, he moved Leggett up there, where the team started to give him a hard time.
As for the team, they were very well behaved young men. Leggett had them all dressed up in their best clothes, while sporting ties. Other than the occasional joking around that teammates will do, they pretty much kept to themselves and did not disturb any of the other passengers.
After getting off the plane and checked in at the team hotel, the team headed out for a short practice to get themselves acclimated to the weather conditions. They practiced at the Los Angeles Angels spring training facility.
Not much to report after that. They will practice again today at 2:45 p.m. (Pacific Time) at Packard Stadium, Arizona State’s home field. Game 1 of the Tempe Super Regional is scheduled for 9 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) Saturday.
My hotel is about a mile away from the stadium and when I got here I went by Sun Devil Stadium and Packard Stadium. They both seem like nice facilities from the outside, and Sun Devil Stadium reminded me of what Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla., used to look like before the outside of it was redone about 10 years ago.
Packard Stadium has been Arizona State’s home field since 1974 and is considered one of college baseball’s most beautiful ballparks. The outfield wall is lined with palm trees and in the background Tempe Town Lake can be seen as well as the Superstition Mountains.
Dimensions of Packard are 338 feet down the lines, 368 feet in the power alleys and 395 to straightaway center. The fence is 10 feet high. Located five feet beyond the center-field wall is the “Green Monster,” a 30-foot-high batting eye.
Only 18 players have ever hit a home run over the Monster.
With a capacity of over 4,000, Packard has more than 3,000 permanent seats in the main grandstand. Field-level box seats are also available behind home plate. The remaining seats are located on popular grass berms, which run down the first-base and third-base line.
The Sun Devils have won two national titles since calling Packard their home park and have won more than 77 percent of their games there. This year Arizona State is 34-4 there and has won better than 80 percent of their games at home in the last six seasons.
There is some hope for the Tigers though. Last year, Fresno State came into Tempe and won the Super Regional series to advance to the College World Series and then, as we all know, went on to win the National Championship. And remember, the Bulldogs did that as a No. 4 seed.
I guess a team just has to be playing hot when they come here. I know there is plenty of heat out here for them if they are not.
posted by Roy Philpott @ 10:22 AM
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