I’m excited about the growth of college baseball. Obviously, major conferences like the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12 have a whole bunch of gussied-up home stadiums and the difference between now and 15-20 years ago is pretty impressive.

But where college baseball is really starting to make huge strides is in the mid-majors. Last week I saw Dallas Baptist’s now Horner Ballpark. Compared to the stadium I saw when I went to see DBU host Oklahoma last March, that new joint is a stunning piece of architecture.

Tonight, I saw another jaw-dropper. San Diego’s Fowler Park. I’ve been to Torero games at Cunningham Field for years, but nothing could prepare me for what I was about to see tonight along the natural hillside on the USD campus.

The new stadium sits in the same natural bowl as the old place and features all stadium-style seating and the architecture is the same 16th century Spanish Renaissance with terra cotta tiles which matches all the buildings on the USD campus. There’s a giant plaza area above the seating sections making for lots of space to move and ability to expand the capacity if the situation calls for it.

But before we go on and on about the new stadium, let’s talk about the game first.

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WHAT I SAW AT FOWLER PARK

Wow, what a finish! San Diego waited until it was down to its last out before it grabbed its first lead of the day. And yes, that means the Toreros won the game in the 9th inning with two out on an RBI double by A.J. Robinson, which scored Dillon Haupt from 2nd base.

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LINESCORE: 

Kent State – 0 0 0   0 0 0   1 0 0 – 1  6  2

San Diego – 0 0 0   0 0 0   0 0 2 – 2  4  2

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PITCHING: 

WP: P.J. Conlon, 1-0

LP: Eric Dorsch, 0-2

Save: None

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TOP HITTERS:

Kent State:

- Evan Campbell, 2-for-5, HR, RBI

- Alex Miklos, 2-for-4

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San Diego:

- A.J. Robinson, 1-for-4, 2B, GW RBI

- Dillon Haupt, 1-for-4, RBI

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RECORDS: 

Kent State, 0-5

San Diego, 1-3.

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IN SUMMARY.

As I tweeted earlier tonight, this was a game I wish didn’t have a loser in it. Both teams pitched out the ying-yang and had their starters go deep into the game with solid results. Neither USD’s Michael Wagner nor KSU’s Tyler Skulina factored into the decision tonight, and that’s a good thing. Because neither pitcher deserved to be tagged with a loss in this one.

Kent took a 1-0 lead in the 7th inning on a fence-scraper of a home run by Evan Campbell off of Wagner. That lead seemed oddly safe considering how effectively Flashes starter Skulina was throwing. KSU’s big strapper went 8.0 innings and held the Toreros to just two measly hits all game long. But the Flashes made a pitching change to start the 9th inning… wherein lies the rub.

Eric Dorsch, who looks like he could play center for the Lakers, got tagged with the unfortunate loss after walking leadoff pinch hitter Dillon Checkal, striking out Kris Bryant, then allowing cleanup hitter Dillon Haupt to score pinch runner Chris Woolley with a double down the left field line. Then, exit Dorsch and enter reliever Brian Clark, who was greeted with the game-winning double from A.J. Robinson. Haupt, being 6’5 and a catcher, is not exactly a speed merchant but was still able to stride around 3rd and score uncontested to set off the celebration.

After a winless weekend vs. local rival San Diego State last week, this marked USD’s first win in their new digs.

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PICS

Some images of brand new Fowler Park and the game itself.

Coach Rich Hill shows me around the bowels of the stadium, including this players lounge. (Sorry for the fuzzy image, these indoors pics were taken with my cell phone)

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The USD players’ locker room, replete with a series of flat screen TVs. Apparently Sharp made a sizable donation to the stadium, so there are Sharp brand flat screen TVs everywhere you turn your head.

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The view from behind coach Hill’s desk. There are two large windows which lead right out to the home bullpen.

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All of the seats in the stadium are these “stadium-style” seats with cupholders. I’ve always thought that cupholders are a very underrated feature of any game experience.

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If there IS a down-side, it’s this. I am not a fan of full netting obstructing the entire seating area. Mostly because it makes it tough to shoot pictures, but also because I think fans should be given the option if they want a net-free view of the game.

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Talk about being on top of the action, note how close the stands are to the coaches boxes.

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The dugouts are first-rate and very similar to MLB-type of dugouts with lots of space and a long berth.

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I LOVE this part. On a deck overlooking the 3rd base side is an all-turf mock USD baseball infield where kids will be able to run around and blow off steam. Very cool.

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Kent State’s Evan Campbell looked like he was going to be the hero with his solo home run in the 7th inning.

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Tyler Skulina deserved a win tonight, going 8.0 innings and giving up just two hits while striking out six. Now you can see why he won 11 games a year ago – a number that could be surpassed this year if the Flashes offense comes around.

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After Skulina was pulled from the game, Torero catcher Dillon Haupt knotted the game in the 9th inning with this double down the left field line off of Flashes reliever Eric Dorsch.

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… which brought home pinch runner Chris Woolley from 2nd base, who beat out the throw after Flashes catcher Jeff Revesz bobbled the relay. Note the ball near his right foot. (Hey Ump!… Get outta the way of my picture)

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A batter later, Dillon Haupt crosses home plate and is greeted by #12 Austin Bailey as the rest of the team goes to pile on A.J. Robinson, who knocked Haupt in with the game-winning hit.

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Somewhere under that mass of humanity is A.J. Robinson as the Toreros dogpile to celebrate their first win of the year in dramatic fashion.

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SOME STATS ON THE NEW FOWLER PARK:

- Cost: $13.8million

- Capacity: 1,700 chair back seats, with the ability to expand to 3,000 with designed temporary seating areas.

- Dimensions: 312′ LF, 370′ LC, 391′ CF, 385′ RC, 327′ RF

- Fence: 8′ tall and padded. Batters eye is 40′ tall, 80′ wide.

- 26,750 blocks of cement and 3,237 cubic yards of cement were used in the construction of the facility.

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MY BACK AND FORTH WITH USD COACH RICH HILL

I caught up with the Torero head honcho before the game and, predictably, he was acting like a proud new papa over his stadium. He was also nice enough to show me around the bowels of the joint.

Me:

So what the HELL is goin’ on with this place? Are you kidding me?

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Coach Hill:

(Laughing) I know. I know.

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Me:

This place is ridiculous!

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Coach Hill:

When you tell people ‘you’re not gonna believe this stadium… it’s really nice’ you get ‘oh that’s great… i’m happy for you’. But to be honest, adjectives don’t describe it well enough. You really have to be in here to understand how good it is.

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Me:

I really can’t believe this. But okay, let’s try to have a proper conversation about this place. When you and I first talked about this new stadium back in, what, 2006 or 2007 when I was back at CSTV, why did it take so long to get done? I’m not complaining – it was well worth the wait obviously – but what happened?

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Coach Hill:

There’s always been things on the back burner and we had a couple of groups ready to go and start building, but it wasn’t the right situation, ya’ know? Kai Snyder, our A.D., he preached patience. He had this vision of what he wanted it to look like and done the right way. And the patience paid off.

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Me:

How different is this place compared to what the original idea was? Is it totally different than you imagined? Did the blueprints change over the years?

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Coach Hill:

Well it was always going to be inside this natural bowl that our stadium sits in. So it was always the same concept, but when they made the decision to go with Populus out of Kansas City – the architecture firm – those guys are as big time as you can get. They design stadiums all over. They are down to Earth guys, but as professional as you can get. I’m sitting in meetings with them and I’m blown away by their presentations, the design and graphics, it’s incredible. They were stoked by the topography and the setting and what they could do.

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Me:

I see there’s still some scaffolding and visqueen up here and there. How close did this place come to not being ready for opening night last week?

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Coach Hill:

We moved into the stadium, locker rooms and offices and everything, on Thursday night before opening day. It was that last minute. Eight p.m. on Thursday night. We officially got the permit at around noon on Thurday. We got what they call the T.C.O. which is the Temporary Certificate of Operations.

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Me:

These stands are closer than the old configuration, right? Looks like you’re right on top of the field.

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Coach Hill:

Yeah, see that girl in the front row behind the plate, she’s almost half as close to home plate and the guy on third. So you’re right there in the action. That’s one of the things that will make this a great fan experience at Fowler Park.

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Me:

What will this do for you program?

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Coach Hill:

Obviously, the first thing is recruiting. We’re going to be able to attract the best in the country, not only on the west coast. The thing that it will hopefully do is appeal to the high school kid who gets drafted. He can look around here and say to himself, ‘why do I want to go play in low-A ball for two or three years when I could be here at USD in this environment playing in front of these fans and still get all the attention I need from the pros. The student experience here at USD is going to get augmented even more with this facility. The campus and the community of San Diego – the city – hasn’t had a facility like this to attend games.

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Me:

Talk a little bit about the opening weekend, getting swept by San Diego State. Most of all, what are you hoping to see from your team this weekend?

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Coach Hill:

Improvement. I think SDSU thing is in the rear-view mirror, we’re just focused on what’s ahead. Just need to get better starting pitching. We didn’t have a lead all weekend against San Diego State. So we need to get out to early leads and some shut down innings from the starters. We also had some offensive execution problems. Last week, we had men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, then bases loaded with no outs and didn’t capitalize on it. .

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Me:

Did San Diego State surprise you a little bit?

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Coach Hill:

Not really. I mean they’re good. Their Friday starter – Cederoth – he’s a real stud. Phillip Walby is really good on Saturdays and they mixed in a few guys on Sunday. They’re bullpen was great, I think that their pitching staff in general is the big difference this year.

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Me:

About the team in general, what do you like about this team? Some of the intangibles and whatnot.

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Coach Hill:

That’s the strength of this team. They’re close. We did some Navy SEALs training in the fall. You know me, I’m going to do some fun stuff that brings the team together. Then we’ve got our highlighted guys, the All Americans like Bryant and Wagner, those guys are learning to be leaders and still play under the microscope. We need some guys in the bullpen to step up. Last year we had (Paul____) Pazos and Wagner and they were as good as you could get, a two-headed monster. And we don’t have that this year. We’re going to be a work in progress this year.

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Me:

Do you think your guys will be good about forgetting about last weekend and responding?

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Coach Hill:

Oh yeah. These kids are resilient. I think they’re going to be pretty good in that way. We preach moving on and concentrating on the next inning, the next pitch. I think we’ll be okay.