DTN Coverage: I must admit that while I was attending Texas Tech, I did not go to any games. When I started DTN I made the decision to try to cover three sports, football, men's basketball, and baseball, because I felt that could only adequately cover three sports properly. Of those three sports, I probably give the baseball team the least amount of coverage, but I think that's more of a product of college baseball not being a sport that's on television that much.
I'd also be remiss in not relaying to you that although baseball is probably the least covered sport, I think that head coach Dan Spencer may be my favorite of the three coaches. If you ever get a chance to watch the baseball team or listen to Spencer talk, he's a no nonsense sort of coach that doesn't pull punches with the media or his players. Spencer was under quite a bit of fire during his first season as the head coach, but last year, he turned this team around with duct tape and played really well to finish out the year despite having only one dominate pitcher for the entire year, Chad Bettis (yes, there were other good pitchers, but only one dominant pitcher).
Last year during the spring game, the Red-Black Scrimmage started in the early part of the afternoon and there was a baseball game later in the afternoon. I'm hoping that the same type of set-up will take place this year and if the weather is perfect, then this is a great way to end a day.
Dan Law Field Improvements: LAJ's George Watson (I'd also be remiss in not telling you that Watson does a very good job of writing about the baseball team, one of my favorite writers) talks with head coach Dan Spencer regarding the hopeful improvements to Dan Law Field. Watson has a video of Spencer talking about the improvements, $12 million worth, and Spencer acknowledges that part of the reason for the renovations is to attract better recruits:
"Kids have told me since I’ve been here ‘I want to come to Tech, I want to play for you coaches, but I’m going to Arkansas because their field is like, Wow!’" Spencer said. "The bottom line is the hardest kids to recruit are young arms. Young arms are being recruited by all the big boys like Arkansas, TCU, Texas, Baylor, people who have (better) facilities. We have to be able to match that and (the players) need to see that commitment. We can tell them all we want, but when you look at ballparks and stadiums, we have a nice park, but it looks like Texas Tech is not committed to the baseball deal like Texas is or TCU is with their new stadiums."
This will be interesting, with the current fanbase not happy with the administration, I'd imagine that the money isn't flowing like it normally would. Myers is quoted in Watson's article stating that nothing begins until the money is there, and it appears that it's been Spencer essentially leading this case. The Red Raider Club isn't involved yet, something about how this drive for money hasn't been made public (not sure what that means). Spencer also seems to understand the process:
"I’m in uncharted waters here," Spencer said. "I don’t have a lot of experience trying to raise $12 million, like none. But I am confident there are people out there who will help us, and if not get to $12 million get very close.
"Are we behind as far as the stadium? Yeah. Does it mean we’re not going to compete and do our thing? No. But it means if we want to really do the things we came here to do, and these kids came here to do, which is win national championships and play in Omaha, then we need to take the first step with our stadium."
Go read the whole article as it discusses the upgrades around the Big 12 conference. And if you haven't checked out the baseball team and you're in Lubbock, I think you're missing out on a good group of hard-working individuals who play the game right. The talent was pretty bare when Spencer arrived and I think he's building the team the right way, i.e. with freshman moreso than JUCO players.