I know baseball isn't king of the popularity charts like the Major League version was a century ago. I know way too many (one is way too many) colleges have dropped the sport as a cost-saving measure.
But, some schools are bucking the trend. Columbia International fielded its first team this season and Bob Jones has announced plans to do so a year hence.
I do know there is easier access to many college games than ever before.
As a teen growing up in Travelers Rest, I can remember reading about the exploits of Rusty Adkins and other Clemson and Furman players in The Greenville News. If there were radio broadcasts of the games in the 1960s, I never stumbled upon one. I do remember following the Tigers in the NCAA District Tournament in Gastonia around that time ... reading game stories the next day. The News might have offered college baseball finals on its recorded score phone line, but I can't say so with certainty.As a college freshman I attended several games at South Carolina, before getting a chance to be a press row (it was nothing but a couple of 2 1/2-foot-by-6-foot tables) worker as a sophomore at what was to become Sarge Frye Field.
When I started working for The News during and after college, we had to rely on either phone calls or a telecopier transmission (think fax, but taking 4, 6 or 8 minutes to send a page with frequent misfires) to get game results.
Clemson had long had a top-quality program under Bill Wilhelm, but the rise of South Carolina under Bobby Richardson helped the sport grow in the state's consciousness.
When postseason became more common at Clemson and Carolina, both schools cobbled together radio networks to meet the rising fan interest.
Both Clemson and South Carolina eventually got radio stations to carry all games.
With proliferation of the World Wide Web, the trickle of information has become a torrent. Many teams from junior college to NCAA Division I offered some kind of live stats or other game updates. More and more audio streams followed.
Now, video is so common some take it for granted that all games will be streamed. Clemson's Friday series opener with Boston College was an exception - no video.
Some apps allow multiple games onscreen at one time. I have an Apple TV and was able to use it this weekend to follow Boston College-Clemson, Cornell-South Carolina and George Mason-Winthrop while blending in other ACC and SEC games.
With the dulcet tones of Dan Scott detailing the Campbell-Furman series on the radio or Internet stream, there was plenty of action to keep up with.
The inclement weather that pushed the Newberry series at Virginia-Wise back a couple of days resulted in a Sunday night rarity: post-church service live baseball.
My only gripe so far is I haven't been able to blend multiple disparate streaming sources (ESPN3, SoCon Digital Network, SAC Digital Network, Fox Sports Go, etc.) into a single multi-view experience.
That's certainly a long way from having to wait until the next day's newspaper to find out the scores.
I can't wait to see what's the next step.
What about you? When you can't get to a game, what's your favorite method for following the action? Share it in the comments section below.
Elsewhere:
* After one week of ACC play Clemson shares first place in the Atlantic Division with a 3-0 record. That's because the Tigers registered come-from-behind wins on both Friday and Sunday. The series finale was particularly thrilling. Clemson fell behind 6-3, then scored single runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings to tie the score. Small ball then took over. Davis Sharpe drew a leadoff walk and pinch-runner Sam Hall stole second. Chad Fairey bunted Hall to third, then James Parker brought home the game-winner with a nubber to the left of the mound that BC shortstop Brian Dempsey was unable to field cleanly to throw to home. After a midweek home game with Winthrop, the Tigers head to Wake Forest (1-2) next weekend.
* North Greenville dropped two of three at Belmont Abbey. but didn't lose any ground in the Conference Carolinas race because Mount Olive lost two of three to Barton. King did join the Crusaders and Trojans in a first-place tie by winning two of three against Emmanuel.
* Francis Marion's Josh Bobrowski continues to put up eye-popping strikeout numbers. He struck out 12 against Claflin in seven innings on Saturday, giving him 65 in 38 innings this season. The Patriots came within three outs of shutting Claflin out for the three-game series.
* Up until Saturday, Josiah Sightler hadn't had a whole lot to write home about when it came to his career at South Carolina. The Swansea High product, who aspires to be a pitcher and position player, went 2-for-30 in 16 games as a freshman. In his lone stint on the mound last season he failed to get an out and all three batters he faced scored. This season, Sightler has gone hitless on three at-bats. But his fortunes changed against Cornell on Saturday in his first relief outing of the season. The lefty got a groundout before hitting the next batter he faced. He then struck out the final four batters he faced to close out the 10-3 victory, Gamecocks coach Mark Kingston said in his radio interview before Sunday's games that outings like that will put Sightler in line for more work.
* Senior Brett Rodriguez became Wofford's career stolen base leader when he swiped No. 85 during Sunday's win over La Salle.
* Coastal Carolina's Alex Gattinelli may have tried to keep Middle Tennessee's bus from leaving the Grand Strand area after this weekend's series. The junior from Sewell, N.J., entered the weekend with a .238 batting average without a home run on the season. He went 7-for-17 against the Blue Raiders, homering in all three games and driving in 10 runs.
* College of Charleston's Donald Hansis and Ari Sechopoulos were big factors in the Cougars' 4-0 week. They combined to go 12-for-29 for 4 homers and 13 RBIs.
* The NJCAA Region 10 race is giving early signs of being another good one this season. The three region doubleheaders were split on Saturday, creating a six-way tie for first place at 1-1. Thrown in Florence-Darlington Tech with its bye week and all seven teams had a level record. Spartanburg Methodist, USC Lancaster and USC Sumter swept their Sunday games and share first place at 3-1.
Teams trending up
Clemson, College of Charleston, Erskine, Florence-Darlington Tech, Francis Marion. Furman, Lander, Newberry, South Carolina, Spartanburg Methodist, USC Lancaster, USC Sumter, Wofford
Teams trending down
Anderson, Charleston Southern, Claflin, Coker, Presbyterian, Southern Wesleyan, The Citadel, USC Salkehatchie
Whadya think?
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