Hokies fans sit and watch during Tech's 10-0 home victory over Liberty on March 24 at English Field.
Lane Stadium – best homefield advantage in America.
Cassell Coliseum – feared by all in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
English Field – average 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference game attendance, 924?
For a baseball team playing so well this season, Hokies fans sure aren’t showing much support.
Sure, the weather was a bit cool in March for the two series against Maryland and Wake Forest, but that never stopped football fans from packing it in at a football game or driving on ice to a basketball game.
The most appalling part of the whole situation is that the games at English field are free. No lottery, no season tickets, just free.
And it’s not like the Hokies aren’t out there playing some great baseball. They’ve ascended to No. 18 in the Baseball America rankings, and two players on the team — Austin Wates and Jesse Hahn — are basically locks to be first round draft picks.
This isn’t the old team that was the doormat of the ACC. These guys are contenders, and they deserve some student support.
If 40,000 folks can show up to watch a glorified football scrimmage featuring backups and walk-ons in the spring game, surely many of those same people, especially students, can get together and cheer on the baseball team for the low, low price of free, like they did at the spring game last Saturday.
Just like in football and basketball, a big-time crowd can create an advantage, one the Hokies have lacked for years, but don’t take my word for it.
“It factors into umpires and everything else,” said Pete Hughes, head baseball coach. “If you get a huge crowd in a stadium and they’re going to react on every call — it’s been scientifically proven that it sways an umpire’s call, so there is a home-field advantage if you can get a fanatical, educated crowd out there, like our fans can be.”
When Hughes left Boston College to be the head coach at Virginia Tech, he came with the intention of changing the baseball culture in Blacksburg from a losing one to a winning one. As this season has shown, the players have bought in after some rough seasons, and now it’s time for the fans to as well — it’s part of the reason Hughes came to Tech.
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 30 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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The attendance has picked up in the last few years and that is good. Yet, only diehards are gonna go watch baseball when a majority of VT's home season is played when it is pretty cold weather in February and March. And it is also much harder to sit through a baseball game that last nearly 3 hours that it would be for football or basketball, which is more fast paced. The HOKIE NATION you are referring should be students mostly. You can't expect alumni to travel to see baseball like they would football or basketball. I ,personally, have been to 6 home games this year and it is fun, but it will always be different than the other two sports. HokieBall does deserve attention though...
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Never really liked baseball much, but on Friday I decided to go to the first of the VT - BC games. Relaxed and quiet atmosphere, LOTS of open room. Came back on both Saturday and Sunday and had a great time.
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I am going to attend the VT at UNC game next week (Friday) in Chapel Hill. I can't wait to see them play. If I lived closer, I would go to the home games.
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