Written by Kate Kuwitzky
The Bison baseball team will close out its fall season this weekend with the annual Black and Gold World Series. Players will be split up to form the Black and Gold teams and compete in three games beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
The games achieve two main goals. It allows the coaching staff to evaluate players in real game situations, but it also lets the team have a little fun to end the fall season.
“I think that it is good for our team because it has given us something to look forward to the whole fall, and it gives us some momentum going into next semester because it allows us to end on a good note,” senior Will McDonald said.
After countless practices and many hours spent working on conditioning, the team is anxious to get back to playing games.
“There is a lot of good-natured ribbing about who will win, and the winning team gets bragging rights all winter. We usually tie something to the series such as losing team cleans and shines the winners’ spikes or does the winning team’s clubhouse cleaning duties for the week,” Head Coach Patrick McGaha said.
The weekend series will also give fans their first opportunity to see newcomers Jason Nappi, Patrick Nappi, Clayton West and Adam Robertson in action. All are members of a strong recruiting class and are expected to make significant contributions in the 2010 season.
Harding also brings back a veteran core from last year’s team, including team captains Will McDonald and Donny Stephens, and Brodie Brumley, who will be counted on to lead the team this year.
“The upperclassmen have really set the tone this fall, and the younger guys have stepped up and met the challenge. I am very pleased with their preparation up to this point,” McGaha said.
The Bisons have qualified for the Gulf South Conference tournament the past two years and have hopes of continuing the trend and going further in postseason play this year.
