Snow interrupts first day of baseball practice

By Travis Young

January 29, 2010 has been written down on the calendar for a long time in the Vanderbilt baseball offices and player locker rooms. Today, marked the first official practice of the 2010 campaign and a little something called mother nature wasn’t too kind to the Commodores.

With Nashville and many parts of the southern United States receiving loads of snow right now, it makes it difficult to take ground balls and fly balls on a snow covered Hawkins Field.

However, once again mother nature didn’t stop the 'Dores from getting in a practice on Friday, thanks in large part to one of the nicest indoor hitting and pitching facilities in college baseball.

After practice, instead of dragging the infield and cleaning up and preparing the field for the next day, the Commodores removed blankets of snow off the infield tarp. Too much snow on a tarp that covers the infield can damage it and cause it to tear if its too heavy to pull.

I walked by the Hawk a few minutes ago and I saw some of the guys playing football in the snow covered outfield. Reminded me of my days playing tackle football up in the frozen tundra.

Hopefully mother nature will cooperate enough for the Vanderbilt baseball team to get a few practices on the green grass and red clay instead of moguls before the season-opener with Niagara on Feb. 19.

(Thanks to Sonny Gray for the picture)