My love affair with college baseball began shortly before my 15th birthday in June of 1996, as my beloved New York Mets were getting into the thick of another mediocre season.
Back then ESPN only televised the best-of-three championship series, which that season featured LSU and Miami. Little did I know that the matchup would end with one of the most famous swings of the bat in the sport’s history, a walkoff two-run home run by LSU’s Warren Morris to defeat the mighty Hurricanes.
I was just enthralled by the newness of everything I was watching. I had attended baseball games at nearby Rutgers University with my parents and brother for a few years by that time, but I didn’t really have a concept of how a national champion was crowned in college baseball.
The teams were new.
So were the uniforms and the ping of the aluminum bats the players used, just like the ones I swung throughout my childhood playing the game.
But the game wasn’t new. It was the same game I’ve loved since I can remember, played by college athletes closer to my own age. Actually, the product on the field seemed closer to the way I was being taught to play. More fundamental.
But I was hooked. Big-time.
I looked forward to every June for several reasons – my birthday, the end of school, the beginning of camp – but now I had another.
The College World Series in Omaha.
As kids we were only shown college football and basketball on TV, so it was easy to trick yourself into thinking those were the only college sports being played. I felt like a new world was opening itself to me.
This blog will be a celebration of college and amateur baseball. I will do my best to keep you updated on local players who have gone on to continue their careers in college, as well as write authoritatively on national college baseball storylines.
Once the college season ends in mid-June, I will write primarily about summer collegiate baseball, where the nation’s best come together to improve and be seen by professional scouts, as well as updating you about local players in professional baseball.
I hope you will swing by to give the Ping Report a read. If you’re a baseball fan, hopefully it will become a must-stop for you.
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