Sunscreen and Frostbite

Wow, what an Opening Day at the Bosh!

Temps in the mid-60’s under a clear, blue Carolina sky. My adopted team is ranked first in several preseason polls and my “birth team”, UK, is ranked number eight. I could have two reasons to go back to Omaha this year!

I'm often asked who I'd pull for if UK played UNC in the World Series. Man, would I like to find out!

Carolina defeated Seton Hall 1-0 and the game went down to the wire.

I’m excited. Can you tell I’m excited? Because I am. Excited!

I'm glad to be writing about baseball for a change instead of Social Security and Life-Cycle Economics. And I'm glad to have my mind off basketball because, frankly, after seeing Nerlens Noel's knee injury, I don't have the heart or stomach for hoops right now. I may be done for the year.

But at the Bosh, we had an excellent turnout for a mid-February game, no doubt due to the fabulous Friday afternoon weather. I had to put sunscreen on my face and actually perspired a bit sitting in the sunny stadium in shirtsleeves.

I’ve mentioned before that I have a large group of older friends that I sit with frequently at games. They’re all quite a bit older than me, and seem to have a lot more fun, now that I think about it.

Anyway, the entire gang was at Opening Day and abuzz with the news that two of them, Art and Gail, got engaged over the winter. It wasn’t news to me. 

I had met Gail on my Sunday morning walk through Chapel Hill a few weeks back. She approached me with her ring hand in my face and a big smile on hers. So happy for those two. They’re great people.

I got to show off my new College World Series cap. Kentucky and Carolina just missed the CWS last year. I had bought tickets, feeling certain that at least one of them would be in Omaha, but I ended up there alone. Had a wonderful time, but I’d like to do it again this year with one or both of my teams.

Carolina started a freshman in right field. His name is. . . I kid you, not . . . Skye Bolt. He played a great game, but I have to wonder what the hell his parents were thinking.  No one should name a kid Skye Bolt.

OK, maybe Usain Bolt could get away with it.

We got a new scoreboard this year. It has a larger TV screen, brighter numeral displays and an integrated speed gun display. Other than that, the Bosh looked pretty much as I had left it last June.

Season tickets came with $25 worth of vouchers to the Bosh concession stands this year. Let me put this into perspective. The Bosh concession stands have Major League aspirations. One of my baseball buddies claims the stadium is the most expensive restaurant in Chapel Hill.

Twenty-five bucks at the Bosh will buy the LARGE Coke in a light blue plastic UNC souvenir cup. . . but only one. I’m saving my voucher for warmer weather.

The Cats won their game today, too. They beat UNC Asheville 9-2. The good times just keep rolling.  Hey, I told you it was a great day.

Oh yeah, the game. So, Carolina led 1-0 going into the top of the ninth. Kent Emanuel pitched a complete game for the Heels, unusual for so early in the season. Seton Hall used a single, an error, a groundout back to the mound and a sac bunt to advance runners to second and third with two outs.

With the tying run on third, Seton Hall’s Sal Annunziata hit a Baltimore Chop back to the mound. It was the kind of chop that often goes just over the fielder's outstretched glove to score the run and break the home team fans’ hearts. But Emanuel is 6’ 4” and was able to time his leap perfectly to snag the ball and throw out the runner at first to end the game.

I’m telling you, it was this close. If Emanuel is 6’ 3½” we’re in extra innings, best case.

I’m so happy to be back at the ballpark. Especially with beautiful weather in mid-February. The forecast for tomorrow’s game is rain, turning to snow late in the day, with highs around 40 degrees.

Such is the nature of college baseball. Sunscreen today, frostbite tomorrow.