For anyone who has grown up playing baseball in the spring in New England, they can tell you that it’s not the most ideal weather for America’s favorite pastime.
With ball fields covered in late winter snow and beaten up by early spring rain storms, it’s difficult for the northern high school and college baseball teams to practice on their normal playing surfaces before the season kicks off. USM and other local teams have been no exception to this rule, but they seem to be coping well.
Many high school teams resort to their gyms and even parking lots to hold their pre-season practices, with some scrimmaging other high schools indoors. The USM baseball team has the luxury of the multipurpose field house on the Gorham campus which many of the players believe benefits them greatly every year in preparing for their season outside. While in the field house, coach Ed Flaherty and his squad can play games with a shortened field, which gets pitchers in shape and acclimated with throwing off a mound, and also gives the hitters a chance to face their own team’s live pitching.
Another huge factor in preparing the team for the season outdoors was their three game stint in Long Island before heading out west to field-friendly Arizona, which, along with indoor facilities, has helped USM garner the success they’ve had thus far.
USM’s home game schedule has gotten off to a slow start with the first game of the year at USM Baseball Stadium being played just last week. Considering the harsh weather from this past winter and the beginning of this spring, the USM baseball field is in excellent shape and the grounds crew is doing anything and everything they can to maintain it for the best possible playing surface for the team. USM has one of the best baseball complex’s in the Little East Conference, and the staff here has put in a lot of hard work to sustain its quality.
Even though USM’s field is top-notch facility, it’s still can’t make up for Maine’s longer winter, often leaving USM waiting until early-mid April without a legitimate home field. Many Division III teams, especially teams from the southern and western parts of the country have a huge advantage as they are already outside practicing two months before the Huskies even see green grass. Nationally ranked foes like Millsaps College (Mississippi), and Texas-Tyler had already played 10 games outside games and had numerous practices while USM was still indoors. Not many people may acknowledge it, but this is a significant advantage that warm climate schools have over their foes in colder parts of the country.
Despite not having the luxury of playing outdoors all winter, USM and other northern teams are preparing themselves well with what they have, as evidenced in the national rankings. Currently four of the top 10 teams in the country (Eastern Connecticut, Wheaton, Trinity, and USM) have to deal with practicing indoors until March and still manage to compete at the highest level in Division III baseball.
Of course, being able to play outside year round is a huge recruiting tool, but northern teams such as USM still seem to bring in talent from all over New England due to the hard work and pride of the people within their institutions. USM’s perennial success is a testament to how well many northern teams prepare themselves despite their climatic disadvantages.