Columbus Dispatch: First-year ballpark presents challenge

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 3:14 AM
By Mark Znidar

The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio State right fielder Michael Arp pointed to the outfield in Huntington Park and spoke as if it were a baseball version of the Grand Canyon.

"It's big out there," he said. "In batting practice, you just run, run, run and run out there. It looks like the center fielder is a long, long way away from you. This is going to be a challenge. There's a lot of room to hit the ball."

The six teams playing in the Big Ten tournament all face the same challenge: trying to get a quick read on the first-year ballpark, so the environment itself doesn't prove costly.

The tournament begins today at the new home of the Clippers, with fourth-seeded Illinois playing fifth-seeded Michigan State at 12:05 p.m. Third-seeded Indiana and sixth-seeded Purdue play at approximately 3:35.

Regular-season champion Ohio State (39-15) will play the lowest seed remaining from the first two games at 7:05 Thursday.

The lack of foul territory, relatively close 365-foot power alleys and many angles and heights of the outfield walls got the players and coaches thinking during batting practice yesterday.

"You just hope your team doesn't have that play that brings out the nuances of the stadium," Purdue coach Doug Schreiber said. "There is no comfort zone for any of the teams. The infield is crowned (for drainage) and the grass is higher. (The ballpark) is possibly going to be a factor."

For years, Big Ten coaches lobbied to have the tournament played at a neutral site. They finally persuaded athletic directors and university presidents to give it a one-year trial.

Ohio State coach Bob Todd said a neutral site is hardly unique.

"The Big Ten men's and women's basketball tournaments are at neutral sites," he said. "This pretty much was a unanimous vote by the coaches to come here. Other cities were talked about, but none seriously.

"I think this will mesh -- I really do."

The conference baseball tournament was played in Battle Creek, Mich., in 1993 and '94 with poor results at the gate.

Coaches say Columbus should be a better site because of its population and because it's a Big Ten city.

The goal, Minnesota coach John Anderson said, is to make Big Ten baseball more visible on a national scale. The Big Ten Network will televise the games.

"One of the concepts is to make Big Ten baseball better," he said. "We'll see if we can turn this into a better event for the Big Ten and for our teams. What we did in the past wasn't working."

In the past, the regular-season champion served as host.

Anderson and Schreiber said it is too difficult to run a quality tournament at the champion's field on sometimes as little as three days' notice.

Fourth-year Illinois coach Dan Hartlieb said his players had their best experience ever at a Big Ten tournament before the first pitch.

"There always seems to be someone waiting ready to help you," he said. "Everything has been first-class."

Ohio State players did a lot of looking around during batting practice.

"You take one look and your jaw just drops," left fielder Zach Hurley said. "This is a top-notch facility. I don't think we'll have any advantage because we haven't played here just like the other teams. We do get to sleep in our own beds."