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HerdBot
06-16-2009, 04:58 PM
Think about this. Baseball is huge in the FM area. We play in one of the best stadiums in the midwest and the Redhawks draw well and they play in a league with only 6 teams. Why is it that they can draw 2-3K people per game and we can't even crack 1,000 for the Gophers? We drew 173 people for the last game.

Is it weather? Is it the fact that they are day games in the middle of the week? Is it poor maketing? It's strange because when I want to bring my kids to a baseball game, the Redhawks are the first thing I think of when we have a D1 Baseball team right here in Fargo.

EDIT: Looking at the schedule most of the games are Friday-Sat-Sunday. Maybe they need some more night games if possible during the week or on Friday?

Thoughts?

AKBison
06-16-2009, 05:16 PM
I am a huge college baseball fan so perhaps I can provide a few answers. The first and most obvious thing is that we don't have a winning tradition here. It all comes down to the W's and we are struggling in that department. The second thing is that we have something like 3 total scholarships available for baseball at NDSU. That probably averages out to $500 a player or something. So all of our guys are basically walk ons and any premium talent is likely to go somewhere else where a heftier scholarship would be available. Until we fully fund the program we won't really have any prolonged success.

I do not buy the weather argument as a reason people don't go to games. Fans at Nebraska, Wichita State and Oregon State have to endure some pretty nasty weather in Febuary and March but the fans still come out in droves. People in Fargo are used to the cold if they had the desire to go to a game they would be there.

Until we fully fund the program and take it serious we will continue to draw crappy crowds. nobody wants to go freeze their arse off to watch crap baseball. With all that said, we can't fully fund baseball right now for a variety of reasons so we are stuck where we are. We would need to add another Womens sport like Tennis in order to have some leeway with Title IX.

The short answer to your question is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

roadwarrior
06-16-2009, 05:50 PM
The weather has sucked for the most part the past two springs.

Very little marketing, although I did hear radio spots for the MN game.

Teammaker members get into baseball games FREE, but I guess not too many pay attention.

Winning tradition or lack of definitely plays a part.

I'm pretty certain that the number of scholarships is now up around 9 for baseball.

coldspot
06-16-2009, 06:02 PM
they need to bring in some more local flavor to the bison baseball team. i counted zero fargo natives and one moorhead native on the roster this last year. yeah there are kids from grafton, bismarck, the twin cities metro area, but people in the fm area and going to want to come watch kids from the fm area play more than kids from 200 miles away. luckily there is some local talent coming to the team this year in bryant larson and kyle kingsley. two stellar pitchers and if youve read the forum lately following post 2, bryant is 2-0 with 26 strikeouts, no walks, and four hits allowed through 13 innings.

HandoEX
06-16-2009, 06:32 PM
they need to bring in some more local flavor to the bison baseball team. i counted zero fargo natives and one moorhead native on the roster this last year. yeah there are kids from grafton, bismarck, the twin cities metro area, but people in the fm area and going to want to come watch kids from the fm area play more than kids from 200 miles away. luckily there is some local talent coming to the team this year in bryant larson and kyle kingsley. two stellar pitchers and if youve read the forum lately following post 2, bryant is 2-0 with 26 strikeouts, no walks, and four hits allowed through 13 innings.

Just wondering, because I honestly don't know....how many kids from Fargo are playing D1 baseball right now?

coldspot
06-16-2009, 06:54 PM
Just wondering, because I honestly don't know....how many kids from Fargo are playing D1 baseball right now?

tom ebert (who was drafted in the 19th round by the red sox), bryant larson, and now kyle kingsley.

HerdBot
06-16-2009, 08:57 PM
I am a huge college baseball fan so perhaps I can provide a few answers. The first and most obvious thing is that we don't have a winning tradition here. It all comes down to the W's and we are struggling in that department. The second thing is that we have something like 3 total scholarships available for baseball at NDSU. That probably averages out to $500 a player or something. So all of our guys are basically walk ons and any premium talent is likely to go somewhere else where a heftier scholarship would be available. Until we fully fund the program we won't really have any prolonged success.

I do not buy the weather argument as a reason people don't go to games. Fans at Nebraska, Wichita State and Oregon State have to endure some pretty nasty weather in Febuary and March but the fans still come out in droves. People in Fargo are used to the cold if they had the desire to go to a game they would be there.

Until we fully fund the program and take it serious we will continue to draw crappy crowds. nobody wants to go freeze their arse off to watch crap baseball. With all that said, we can't fully fund baseball right now for a variety of reasons so we are stuck where we are. We would need to add another Womens sport like Tennis in order to have some leeway with Title IX.

The short answer to your question is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


Good post. I didn't realize it wasn't fully funded. I don't think the average joe knows that either so it shouldn't matter. I think we can still be good with the local players. We've had some really good wins over the last few years when we beat Minnesota and Oral Roberts. More scholarships would be huge but obvioulsy that's not going to happen anytime soon.

I think we need to take advantage of what we have and that is a great baseball stadium with the potential of a great atmosphere. Newman is sweet so we should take advantage of it.

They just need to market better. It can be done without spending a fortune. Someone just needs to be smart about it. Do they advertise it at football, volleyball, or basketball games? I really liked the idea of playing the Redhawks and I think they should make than an annual thing. It sure got my attention and I was going to go. (until it got rained out) I would prefer to take the kids to an NDSU baseball game over he Redhawks because it's a heck of a lot cheaper and it's still a good level of competition.

D1 baseball has a ton of potential with the stadium and D1 status. Even with very few scholarships.

Herd
06-16-2009, 10:47 PM
IMO . . . the women's sports are in good shape, except for getting soccer back on target.

Ramping up baseball scholarships, IMO should be a top priority for NDSU, along with the basketball arena, and getting the football team to the top of the Valley.

I agree, FM could be a huge baseball hotbed if the program can start winning. This should be a top NDSU athletics priority!

imabison
06-16-2009, 10:54 PM
Think about this. Baseball is huge in the FM area. We play in one of the best stadiums in the midwest and the Redhawks draw well and they play in a league with only 6 teams. Why is it that they can draw 2-3K people per game and we can't even crack 1,000 for the Gophers? We drew 173 people for the last game.

Is it weather? Is it the fact that they are day games in the middle of the week? Is it poor maketing? It's strange because when I want to bring my kids to a baseball game, the Redhawks are the first thing I think of when we have a D1 Baseball team right here in Fargo.

EDIT: Looking at the schedule most of the games are Friday-Sat-Sunday. Maybe they need some more night games if possible during the week or on Friday?

Thoughts?

I like to go to occasional game. The last couple years the Gopher game, and either SDSU or ORU. Now my schedule changed so I miss half the games during the week. I try to hit a weekend game if I am not doing anything.

ndsubison1
06-16-2009, 11:59 PM
Baseball is a sport that I want to see more exposure of and more funding for our program. Even though we live in the upper midwest where we don't have great weather for it, I think it has a lot of potential. There are not many other D1 baseball programs around this area and the midwest is pretty underrated when it comes to baseball talent (Minnesota has plenty of talent and ND has some players that can play for us every year). Not to mention College Baseball is getting more exposure and better marketing around the country every single year. It's getting vastly more popular. We obviously have the facilities and talent close by, now lets take advantage and give the program more resources to work with

roadwarrior
06-17-2009, 12:31 AM
Ramping up baseball scholarships, IMO should be a top priority for NDSU....

I might be wrong, but we have gone from 4.5 scholarships in the first year of transition to 9. Not quite fully funded yet, but much better.

roadwarrior
06-17-2009, 12:33 AM
Max scholarships for baseball is 11.7

HerdBot
06-17-2009, 02:52 AM
they need to bring in some more local flavor to the bison baseball team. i counted zero fargo natives and one moorhead native on the roster this last year. yeah there are kids from grafton, bismarck, the twin cities metro area, but people in the fm area and going to want to come watch kids from the fm area play more than kids from 200 miles away. luckily there is some local talent coming to the team this year in bryant larson and kyle kingsley. two stellar pitchers and if youve read the forum lately following post 2, bryant is 2-0 with 26 strikeouts, no walks, and four hits allowed through 13 innings.

The local flavor would help but I don't think they need to sell fans on local kids to get them interested. We don't need that for the other sports. I think they would be sold on Division 1 baseball and a day at Newman Outdoor Field with a great atmosphere. It's worked for the Redhawks. Not too bad for the Northern League with 6 teams.

Some of you said it's the "lack of tradition." Think about this... what was the Redhawks tradition? Nothing. They built in from the ground up and were successful immediately. Honestly, I can't name more than a few players on the Redhawks but I love to take the kids to the game.

Think about this... there are 2 pro/minor league teams in Fargo history that have had success...The Force and the Redhawks. Both have great stadiums.

Hire someone to market and advertise!! It takes money to make money!!

Herd
06-17-2009, 03:05 AM
We don't necessarily need local FM kids, but we need good young players to build around. Guys like Wentz, Kline and Straka are players to build around. It really doesn't matter if they are FM guys. Mixing in a few ND players doesn't hurt. We should make sure there are a few top FM and Bismarck players though.

AKBison
06-17-2009, 04:54 AM
Thats great news that scholarshships are up to 9. Hopefully we will be able to max that out soon. An Indoor practice facility for Baseball and Softball will be a huge catalyst for the program. Put it on the list...:)

coldspot
06-17-2009, 05:40 AM
just gunna throw this idea out there and see what reception it gets, but what about an all turf field? opens up the months of march, april, october, november for playing baseball (pending extreme north dakota temperatures). not only could this help the bison draw in new recruits, but would allow baseball throughout the community to play more games earlier in the seasons. wichita st has a turf field and they seem to play fine in march.

if youre looking for a regional turf field, check out veterans field at minnetonka high school. they were hosting nsic games in march/april while their all grass fields were still buried under snow. that field cost roughly 1.8 million according the the minnetonka mudhens coach.

bisonpride
06-17-2009, 01:54 PM
just gunna throw this idea out there and see what reception it gets, but what about an all turf field? opens up the months of march, april, october, november for playing baseball (pending extreme north dakota temperatures). not only could this help the bison draw in new recruits, but would allow baseball throughout the community to play more games earlier in the seasons. wichita st has a turf field and they seem to play fine in march.

if youre looking for a regional turf field, check out veterans field at minnetonka high school. they were hosting nsic games in march/april while their all grass fields were still buried under snow. that field cost roughly 1.8 million according the the minnetonka mudhens coach.

Redhawks would never allow it and would never pay for it as they would not need it. That is alot of money considering the program doesnt have enough of it already.

bisonpride
06-17-2009, 02:17 PM
I might be wrong, but we have gone from 4.5 scholarships in the first year of transition to 9. Not quite fully funded yet, but much better.

Sorry but your wrong. 3.5-4 out state tuition equivalent scholarships were at the start of transition. It is now around 6-6.5 not 9. Other key problems include things like recruiting budgets. Doesnt matter how many scholarships you have if you dont have the money to travel around and find players or bring them in on visits. It is much better now then in Coach McLeods final season. Coach Brown's past experience at other programs with what was allowed there helped change that.

At the beginning of the transition Coach McLeod was not allowed to travel to California to find players and was told it needed to find area players to win. Until 3 years ago all California players on the roster recruited NDSU and not the other way around through video profiles and not actually being seen by a coach. It wasnt until former Asst Coach BJ Griffith came to the program and helped convince the higher ups that it was even done at DII programs they finally allowed it. Considering softball is basically all California players it was a pretty big double standard.

The baseball team didnt even have travel gear or even work out gear for team lifts until the second year of the transition. The baseball team was representing pretty much every school in the Big 10, Big 12, and SEC.

It has come along way in the past 5 years but it still isnt close to where it needs to be to just be average in the conference for funding.

bisonpride
06-17-2009, 02:25 PM
tom ebert (who was drafted in the 19th round by the red sox), bryant larson, and now kyle kingsley.

Ebert is the only one from Fargo right now. Next year Bryant Larson and Kyle Kingsly will be with NDSU.

There is also...

Brady Burchill- Hope/Page- Old Dominion- Sr
Zach Elgie- Minot- Kansas- Fr
Tyler Lundy- Minot- Sam Houston State- Jr

Next year-
Tanner Lorenz- Harvey- Southeast Louisiana via Iowa Western JC-JR
Cole Frenzel- Dickinson- Arizona- Fr

Future-
Ryan Bollinger- Minot- DI TBA- Iowa Western JC- FR

coldspot
06-17-2009, 02:58 PM
Ebert is the only one from Fargo.

There is also...

Brady Burchill- Hope/Page- Old Dominion- Sr
Zach Elgie- Minot- Kansas- Fr
Tyler Lundy- Minot- Sam Houston State- Jr

Next year-
Tanner Lorenz- Harvey- Southeast Louisiana via Iowa Western JC-JR
Cole Frenzel- Dickinson- Arizona- Fr

Future-
Ryan Bollinger- TBA- Iowa Western JC- FR

100% sure bryant larson and kyle kingsley are both from fargo. confused as to how you think they arent:confused:

AKBison
06-17-2009, 06:05 PM
Field Turf would be a major help to the program. Tons of schools are installing it K-State, louisville, Texas and Wichita State is putting it in for next year. It would allow the team to practice and get in games when the field is wet.

roadwarrior
06-17-2009, 06:30 PM
Field Turf would be a major help to the program. Tons of schools are installing it K-State, louisville, Texas and Wichita State is putting it in for next year. It would allow the team to practice and get in games when the field is wet.

We have an outstanding stadium for baseball.

Can we please get a facility as nice for basketball before we spend any more money on Newman?

lcbison
06-17-2009, 08:19 PM
1 Simple Solution = DOLLAR BEER TONIGHT!

Every Bison home game attendance would at a minimum double.

Herd
06-17-2009, 11:11 PM
I'd drive 200 miles for dollar beer night!

bisonpride
06-18-2009, 06:20 AM
100% sure bryant larson and kyle kingsley are both from fargo. confused as to how you think they arent:confused:

Typed too quickly and forgot to include them in the next year portion. My mistake.

bisonbaseball
09-22-2009, 01:18 AM
How does NDSU not get some of the top ND players like Tanner Lorenz, Tom Ebert, Tyler Lundy, and Zac Elgie? Do they just not try to get these players or are they content with settling with average ND players? Wentz is a huge sign for them but that's only one player. They need more than one top recruit.

ndsubison1
09-22-2009, 01:23 AM
How does NDSU not get some of the top ND players like Tanner Lorenz, Tom Ebert, Tyler Lundy, and Zac Elgie? Do they just not try to get these players or are they content with settling with average ND players? Wentz is a huge sign for them but that's only one player. They need more than one top recruit.

Our program hasn't been the best the past several years... it's tough to get a guy like Elgie, but I agree we need to start getting the best of the best in state... we have missed out on a lot of guys like you said (Lundy, Lorenz, Ebert, also Andy Leer and Tyler Liffrig who play for Mary)... but I think our new coach is starting to change that, last year he got a couple of good ones from ND

coldspot
09-22-2009, 03:27 AM
Our program hasn't been the best the past several years... it's tough to get a guy like Elgie, but I agree we need to start getting the best of the best in state... we have missed out on a lot of guys like you said (Lundy, Lorenz, Ebert, also Andy Leer and Tyler Liffrig who play for Mary)... but I think our new coach is starting to change that, last year he got a couple of good ones from ND

out of those 5 guys, ebert was really the only one that wouldve been in a league of his own at ndsu(maybe lorenz too, we'll have to see how he does at SELA). leer and liffrig were two that were big time misses for in state kids. lundy couldve been a big get and mightve been an immediate impact player. he did extremely well at IWCC and then didnt make a whole lot of noise at SHSU.
frenzel and elgie were two more kids that were going to go bigger than ndsu.

from the sounds of it, there is some more north dakota flavor to the team this year. bryant larson and kyle kingsley being two from the immediate area and word is ben herauf (dickinson)(for those of you that missed it, ben hit a HUGE game winning grand slam in the legion state championship game), tanner adam (langdon) and teddy anderson (minot) are on the team now (i mightve missed some others). how about that for some in state flavor?

bisonbaseball
09-22-2009, 02:58 PM
Yeah, but they need to start taking chances on bigger prospects. Who knows. Their facilities aren't bad. I have heard that they don't even call some guys from ND. I think almost anyone is going somewhere bigger than NDSU because their RPI or final ranking system was like, in the worst 25. I know they got some JUCO guys, Adam, and a couple more I believe from where he played. They just need to be average to compete in the Summit Conference. Oral Roberts is basically the only competitive team these days.

bisonpride
09-22-2009, 04:58 PM
Yeah, but they need to start taking chances on bigger prospects. Who knows. Their facilities aren't bad. I have heard that they don't even call some guys from ND. I think almost anyone is going somewhere bigger than NDSU because their RPI or final ranking system was like, in the worst 25. I know they got some JUCO guys, Adam, and a couple more I believe from where he played. They just need to be average to compete in the Summit Conference. Oral Roberts is basically the only competitive team these days.

Clearly you have no idea whats going on or anything about the landscape of college baseball.

First off Elgie was offered the largest scholarship in the history of the baseball program and declined it to go to Kansas.

Secondly, the decision by several players to go to a JUCO is in an attempt to prove themselves at a level above HS with tougher competition and go to a major conference school. Has nothing to do with the efforts to recruit here. They are being contacted. Lorenz couldn't throw a strike to save his life out of HS. The program is not fully funded so it cant gamble valuable dollars on a guy that cant throw the ball over the plate. So they recruit a JUCO player that can make an immediate impact.

The third thing is scouts. Players are draft eligible every year at a JUCO so they encourage fringe players to go to a juco so they could draft them if they have a great freshman year. They basically feed false hope to many.

Lastly, only the premiere ND players are good enough to play here and in most cases other major programs as well. Being one of the farthest north programs which doesnt host a home game until 1 1/2 months into the season kills alot of potential signings.

BTW, there is a reason why Lundy has struggled at SHSU, he is not a premiere player. Solid player yes, but probably not drafted. Most likely a free agent sign or a northern league type player. Lifrrig and Leer hit .307 and .308 respectively last year in the Northern Sun Conference and were second team selections. Leer would be about a .240 hitter at the DI level and would be a 3rd baseman. Liffrig has no position at the DI level and would just DH. Both strike out WAY too much even at the DII level. Neither player would be an all conference selection in the old NCC. They are definitely not misses as I believe UND didnt recruit them hard either.

bisonbaseball
09-22-2009, 06:30 PM
Clearly you have no idea whats going on or anything about the landscape of college baseball.

First off Elgie was offered the largest scholarship in the history of the baseball program and declined it to go to Kansas.

Secondly, the decision by several players to go to a JUCO is in an attempt to prove themselves at a level above HS with tougher competition and go to a major conference school. Has nothing to do with the efforts to recruit here. They are being contacted. Lorenz couldn't throw a strike to save his life out of HS. The program is not fully funded so it cant gamble valuable dollars on a guy that cant throw the ball over the plate. So they recruit a JUCO player that can make an immediate impact.

The third thing is scouts. Players are draft eligible every year at a JUCO so they encourage fringe players to go to a juco so they could draft them if they have a great freshman year. They basically feed false hope to many.

Lastly, only the premiere ND players are good enough to play here and in most cases other major programs as well. Being one of the farthest north programs which doesnt host a home game until 1 1/2 months into the season kills alot of potential signings.

BTW, there is a reason why Lundy has struggled at SHSU, he is not a premiere player. Solid player yes, but probably not drafted. Most likely a free agent sign or a northern league type player. Lifrrig and Leer hit .307 and .308 respectively last year in the Northern Sun Conference and were second team selections. Leer would be about a .240 hitter at the DI level and would be a 3rd baseman. Liffrig has no position at the DI level and would just DH. Both strike out WAY too much even at the DII level. Neither player would be an all conference selection in the old NCC. They are definitely not misses as I believe UND didnt recruit them hard either.The reason Tyler Lundy struggled at SHSU is because they changed his swing to more of a lead off hitters swing. If you had any knowing of how his season went you would see he lead off for a big part of the season. He also was hurt for some of the year. Put an injury with coaches that change a part of your game and you probably wont succeed. When you say JUCO guy that can make an impact, you mean a guy who throws 82 mph? I understand Elgie not getting signed and a couple other guys, but why do they all end up going to a very good program? Ebert- Florida International, had a good season last year, Lundy- SHSU, top 25 for some of last year, Bollinger- Iowa Western, and drafted, Lorenz- SELA, top 50 program, Kory Houston- MSU, maybe an underrated player. I understand Elgie and Frenzel, being top 25 school guys. But they haven't got the top ND guys by far lately, and from knowing some Minnesota guys, they don't get top Minnesota guys either. They need to try get more scholarships with new NCAA rules stating you need 28 guys on scholarship or something like that. That really hurts NDSU I think.

ndsubison1
09-22-2009, 11:42 PM
Clearly you have no idea whats going on or anything about the landscape of college baseball.

First off Elgie was offered the largest scholarship in the history of the baseball program and declined it to go to Kansas.

Secondly, the decision by several players to go to a JUCO is in an attempt to prove themselves at a level above HS with tougher competition and go to a major conference school. Has nothing to do with the efforts to recruit here. They are being contacted. Lorenz couldn't throw a strike to save his life out of HS. The program is not fully funded so it cant gamble valuable dollars on a guy that cant throw the ball over the plate. So they recruit a JUCO player that can make an immediate impact.

The third thing is scouts. Players are draft eligible every year at a JUCO so they encourage fringe players to go to a juco so they could draft them if they have a great freshman year. They basically feed false hope to many.

Lastly, only the premiere ND players are good enough to play here and in most cases other major programs as well. Being one of the farthest north programs which doesnt host a home game until 1 1/2 months into the season kills alot of potential signings.

BTW, there is a reason why Lundy has struggled at SHSU, he is not a premiere player. Solid player yes, but probably not drafted. Most likely a free agent sign or a northern league type player. Lifrrig and Leer hit .307 and .308 respectively last year in the Northern Sun Conference and were second team selections. Leer would be about a .240 hitter at the DI level and would be a 3rd baseman. Liffrig has no position at the DI level and would just DH. Both strike out WAY too much even at the DII level. Neither player would be an all conference selection in the old NCC. They are definitely not misses as I believe UND didnt recruit them hard either.

I beg to differ about leer being a 3B at the D1 level, but it's all hypothetical

also, lundy was injured at SHSU so that's a big reason why he struggled there, he was never really fully healthy. he was also a juco all-american as a frosh at Iowa Western and was one of the top HR hitters in the country... lundy clearly would've started for the Bison all 4 years had he come here

ndsubison1
09-22-2009, 11:43 PM
The reason Tyler Lundy struggled at SHSU is because they changed his swing to more of a lead off hitters swing. If you had any knowing of how his season went you would see he lead off for a big part of the season.

Lundy was a lead-off hitter for most of his career with the Minot Vistas and Minot High

coldspot
09-22-2009, 11:54 PM
" at the D1 level Leer would be a 3rd basemen"... I beg to differ

also, lundy was injured at SHSU so that's a big reason why he struggled there, he was never really fully healthy. he was also a juco all-american at a frosh at Iowa Western and was one of the top HR hitters in the country... lundy clearly would've started for the Bison all 4 years had he come here

agreed. i had the opportunity to play against leer for a few years and he was one of the best shortstops i ever got to play against in my legion days (played against a few who went bigger than low-major college baseball).

my first year of legion lundy was hands down the best player in the state. hit something like .510 with 25 homeruns and 90+ rbi. and he went like 9-2 on the bump. and minot does not play a push over schedule by any means so he did all that against some very good competition.

bisonbaseball
09-22-2009, 11:55 PM
Yeah, but don't you think hitting 37 homeruns in 2 seasons at Iowa Western changes that a little?

bisonpride
09-23-2009, 03:48 PM
The reason Tyler Lundy struggled at SHSU is because they changed his swing to more of a lead off hitters swing. If you had any knowing of how his season went you would see he lead off for a big part of the season. He also was hurt for some of the year. Put an injury with coaches that change a part of your game and you probably wont succeed. When you say JUCO guy that can make an impact, you mean a guy who throws 82 mph? I understand Elgie not getting signed and a couple other guys, but why do they all end up going to a very good program? Ebert- Florida International, had a good season last year, Lundy- SHSU, top 25 for some of last year, Bollinger- Iowa Western, and drafted, Lorenz- SELA, top 50 program, Kory Houston- MSU, maybe an underrated player. I understand Elgie and Frenzel, being top 25 school guys. But they haven't got the top ND guys by far lately, and from knowing some Minnesota guys, they don't get top Minnesota guys either. They need to try get more scholarships with new NCAA rules stating you need 28 guys on scholarship or something like that. That really hurts NDSU I think.

This program had THREE scholarships the year Lundy was a senior. Lundy is a good player. Could he have started in Left Field last year, possibly. Lundy finished last year hitting .250 with a .350 Slug %, 2 SB, and 51 PO with 1 Assist. But who would he have started over Harrison (.276, .395 Slug %, 8 SB)or Otto (.327 with more PO and Assists in the same amount of games) or Jallen (.292 with a .440 OB%). Could he have worked into the mix with the 4 definitely.

Ebert was recruited but wanted to go to a JUCO. He quit on his legion team. Great attitude!

Bollinger was to go to Iowa Western. It would have made him draft eligible right away instead of waiting 3 years. Smart decision considering he signed (which may have been a bad decision considering his stats to end the year)

Lorenz had a 7.37 ERA last year at Iowa Western, SELA is probably regretting their decision with him. He walked 16 and allowed 34 hits in 28 innings and struck out less then 1 an inning. I would be VERY surprised if he did well at that level.

Kory Houston is not a DI player. .316 in the DAC with 21 Ks in 95 ABs. WAY too many strikeouts at even that level with limited scouting reports. The information that gets passed around from program to program at the DI level would have him striking out about 40% of the time.

Leer could start at 3B here but not SS. He had 20 fewer chances with an additional error in 2 more games then Casper. Casper is a better SS.

The other thing that really limited the program was administration cutting the roster size from 36 players to 32 players around 2002. With limited scholarships already it kept the coaches from keeping players for virtually nothing or preferred walk on guys they could develop. That roster change back to 36 happened like 2 years ago. Believe me they have been trying to get more scholarships for years. They didnt even have a full time paid assistant until 2006 and had a $2,000 recruiting budget to travel and watch players, bring them in on visits, etc... $2,000 doesnt go very far and only one coach can only go so many places at once. The blame should be put squarely on administration as they are the ones who gave all 3 mens basketball assistants $25,000 raises before they even added 1 assistant coach for baseball. I think the program is now at 6 scholarships so about half of what is allowed.

bisonbaseball
09-23-2009, 09:27 PM
First off, if you knew Ebert, you would know he has a great attitude. He is playing pro baseball so that explains it a lot. Also, how can you compare Lundy to NDSU players. NDSU plays nobody to SHSU. Lundy would hit .400 against NDSU's opponents. I've seen NDSU play many times and their hitters are by far some of the worst hitters that can hit over .300 at the D1 level. It made me a little angry that you would say Ebert has a bad attitude and you probably don't even know him. If you should know also, Lorenz and Lundy were both hurt last year. Lorenz actually had surgery but I believe was throwing in the 90's while hurt. I wish I could go out on a Saturday and see a NDSU pitcher throw with any kind of stuff that Ebert or Lorenz has.

coldspot
09-25-2009, 04:35 AM
according to minotvistas.com (minot legion website), tyler lundy is now at UNO

Facts
10-10-2009, 05:49 PM
Think about this. Baseball is huge in the FM area. We play in one of the best stadiums in the midwest and the Redhawks draw well and they play in a league with only 6 teams. Why is it that they can draw 2-3K people per game and we can't even crack 1,000 for the Gophers? We drew 173 people for the last game.

Is it weather? Is it the fact that they are day games in the middle of the week? Is it poor maketing? It's strange because when I want to bring my kids to a baseball game, the Redhawks are the first thing I think of when we have a D1 Baseball team right here in Fargo.

EDIT: Looking at the schedule most of the games are Friday-Sat-Sunday. Maybe they need some more night games if possible during the week or on Friday?

Thoughts?

So... this thread has drifted alittle. The answer to the original question is simple, WEATHER. How does the average fan follow a team whose first 30 games are played on the road? Then the next twenty games are crammed into 3 weeks of "spring" when it's anywhere from 30-80 degrees outside with a chance of rain or snow virtually every day. Folks... weather dictates everything that is bisonbaseball. The college season starts in late February. This is North Dakota. February, March, April... North Dakota. Need I say more?

Golden Eagle
10-15-2009, 05:41 AM
I would imagine that an indoor facility would be key for northern programs. ORU is just putting the finishing touches for the upcoming offseason.

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics/800/GL/GLIJMEJXRAPKVZP.20090827183139.jpg

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics10/800/DN/DNYPYXPUNRJOGOX.20090827182331.jpg

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics11/800/JB/JBLRNDNRVYUYQOL.20090827182937.jpg

North Side
10-21-2009, 04:22 AM
Is that for softball and baseball? Isn't the ceiling kind of short? but it would be nice for the NDSU softball team to have something similar to this. Play indoors is really a must, cause the spring in Fargo really isn't spring its winter version 2.0

lakesbison
10-21-2009, 04:26 AM
Baseball Would Be Amazing With Beer Sales.

Now That Chapman Is Gone, Might Change In 2010

coldspot
10-21-2009, 04:46 AM
Baseball Would Be Amazing With Beer Sales.

Now That Chapman Is Gone, Might Change In 2010

this and an indoor practice complex for baseball/softball. taking groundballs on the BSA floor must be thrilling.:banghead:

lakesbison
10-21-2009, 06:18 AM
i took a few in the cup....... it really flies off that hard plastic..

its a joke.

coldspot
10-21-2009, 07:34 PM
i took a few in the cup....... it really flies off that hard plastic..

its a joke.

they let you participate in the youth camp still?




(throwing a hanging curve for somebody else to knock out of the park here. dont hate me lakes)

Golden Eagle
10-21-2009, 08:16 PM
Is that for softball and baseball? Isn't the ceiling kind of short? but it would be nice for the NDSU softball team to have something similar to this. Play indoors is really a must, cause the spring in Fargo really isn't spring its winter version 2.0

Baseball. ORU does not field a softball team. I am not sure of the dimensions but I think you are correct that it is far too low to play a full on game. The entire setup will be enclosed with a net. The primary use is for infield/fielding and pitching/bullpen.

RodentiaX
10-30-2009, 07:15 PM
An indoor field wouldn't be cheap. It would be cheaper than the Metrodome was to build, because it wouldn't need to seat as many people. Might be hard to justify just for baseball. I suppose if the Fargodome were ever to be replaced, a new larger indoor facility could be built that could also handle baseball games.

Has any consideration been given to holding some games in the Metrodome? Not as good as a genuine home game, but perhaps better than going across the country to play. Maybe hosting a tournament at the Metrodome?