CAL has a great baseball atmosphere. The fans are really into it. If I had one criticism of a lot of UCD baseball fans in general at the games I've attended it's that they're primarily there to socialize. They pay attention when their kid's up but the rest of the time the visiting fans are louder.
Still better than a community college crowd though. Seems like all 82 people at those have a personal agenda, like they're all amateur scouts + think they know everything. To be fair I'm not that loud at UCD games either, except when I'm cussing at the umpire or heckling the opposing coach. That game 2 years ago against Northridge- they should've thrown me out of there ! I think it's perfectly fair to heckle people who are getting paid to publicly mess up.

Absolutely no reason to buy more than a snack or drink at CAL- ridiculous prices. Berkeley has its own version of the Hotdogger right down the street from the ballpark.

Santa Clara has a cool little park too, courtesy of Steve Schott's checkbook. All good seats, even the bleachers. The thing to watch out for are the very snotty, entitled fans. The closer seats are $10 and they're assigned. Don't tell that to the regulars. They get really pissy if you ask them to get their crap off of the seat you paid for. "Oh we just sit wherever we want..." Also the travelling fans were not so classy when they made their way to Sacramento. Otherwise, it's a pretty nice experience. With the surrounding neighborhood + the SWAG they hand out at the gate you get to feel wealthy for a little bit. I seriously have half a dozen SCU baseball magnets on my refrigerator. You know how many I have from UCD ? One, and it's from the Alumni Association, so that technically isn't SWAG.

I've also seen University of Portland's park- Joe Etzel Field. Very nice- looking but it has a curious feature- a grass berm seating area. Now how often do you suppose that's a viable seating option from Feb- May given what we know about Portland weather ? Maybe 12- 15 games ?

I've seen a game in Arizona State's stadium + I've been to ASU, but I haven't seen an ASU game. This is because I saw a Spring Training game there between the A's and Giants a few years before the Sun Devils took it over. The Giants won. Fittingly it was Barry Zito getting the win. Great scenic location. Apparently Phoenix Muni was kind a dump when the A's were, but ASU put serious money into improving it. Arizona State has a pretty neat campus. Lots of very millennial- appropriate hip shops + food places right at the edge. And people don't often mention the Phoenix area's public transit, but you can take lightrail right there. As soon as you step out you're greeted by cacti and Sun Devil Stadium + the Wells Fargo Arena a few steps away.

This year I think I'll try Stanford and/or USF, and possibly UNC Charlotte. The problem with USF is that I think it's a waste to visit SF without seeing a Giants game, but for the last few years it's also been a waste of a trip to see a Giants game so it's kind of pointless to visit SF altogether :(

I included a picture of University of San Diego's entrance. Steeper than it looks !

Apparently I have these pictures scattered through different files, which is why I couldn't find them. Included a shot of the seats behind home plate and pressbox at Schott Stadium, a distant shot of Peecole Park (Nevada) and one of front of Husky Ballpark.

They wound up completing the game after a 30 min delay. By then I was already in a cab. Some people just found a safe place to stand although it was pouring. A guy from my hotel was a mong them

I've also been to SDSU's ballpark (photo came out lousy- do have campus photos). Also have visited University of San Diego (campus photos but couldn't find the ballpark + was exhausted from walking up the steep hill to campus) and Seattle U (ballpark is 15 miles away in Bellevue).

I tell you what though- I barely saw any overweight students at USD. Walking up and down that hill everyday must be tremendous exercise. There's an even steeper walking path behind the soccer practice field. Kind of appropriate the baketball teams play in a gym named after Jenny Craig.

San Jose State shares Excite Ballpark. The San Jose Giants were playing the Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks).

Cal- notice the uncomfortable seating.In the last picture the on deck batter is current White Sox prospect Andrew Vaughn. They were playing USC

University of Washington. I didn't get inside the park because it was September.

Utah shares this park with the Salt Lake Bees

My seats were excellent. And cheap for the best seats in the house at a pro game ($17). The Boise Hawks (Rockies) were playing the Eugene Emeralds (Cubs)

The level of play in the short- season Northwest League seems to be a little above college. Boise had two infielders who were only 18.

There are three inter- connected metal grandstands, but it became somewhat of a concern when lightning struck nearby. The sky turned purple at one point. Not much in the way of concessions, but at least they're cheap. The park was built next to the county fairgrounds sometime in the 1980's

Memorial Stadium in Garden City, ID. Boise State will play here in 2020.

University of New Mexico used to play here. Now they have their own field across the parking lot

And the obligatory Albertson's Stadium pic.

UCD would likely have swept Northridge when they visited 2 years ago had it not been for a boneheaded call from the umpires. First they botched the 3rd out call, allowing UCD to run off the field. Then they let the Northridge coach change their minds + the Matador baserunner scored all the way from first without a throw because the umpires deceived UCD into thinking the inning was over + not calling time when they were getting everything re- set. What are you going to do ? You get the 3rd out . Do you have to stand around just to make sure + get yelled at by your coach for not hustling. Idiotic call.

Utah is having a poor season, but then again they do play in the PAC- 12. One thing Utah does is drastically inflate their gameday attendance figures. When I went last year there were maybe 250 (more visiting fans). They said officially it was over 2,000. I'm pretty sure they count all their season ticket holders even when they're not there. Season tickets are really cheap, so it's not difficult to see that happening.

Sounds like UCD most years, minus the bad pitching coach. I do think Vaughn is a good pitching coach, but I think he struggles with the effective deployment of the pitchers (more on the managerial side then). This season has had a "flavor of the week" feel to it. This doesn't smack of a well- organized plan. It seems more like American Idol, with people getting voted to the bench every week. I realize they have at least 17 active pitchers to evaluate (+ redshirts), but there has to be a better plan than riding the hot hand.

Oops ! My memory failed me there. Doubting the accuracy of that story I pulled the box score online. While Fitzgerald did get the loss, and those were his runs that game- winning double was surrendered by Nik Aurora.

Sorry, Justin ! I'm getting old.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but it's really been a failure of the bullpen. Who knew with Hooper and Anderson leaving the player we'd be missing the most would be reliever Connor Loar ?

And it isn't just that it's been ineffective. The coach has not always been using his relievers effectively this year, and that in the right situations. I previously cited the example of the Utah Valley meltdown. Spillane was left in to pitch the 6th after he just barely got out of the 5th until he created a difficult situation and Moffitt was brought in, then despite his wildness he was left in to allow a few runs. By the time Andres Lara was brought in he was just working to preserve a tie. That was Spillane's first start. He should have been treated with kid gloves, but WTH?

Also in the first game against Pacific they had a big lead and Spillane was left in when he was struggling badly. Since it was the last game before a long finals break every pitcher except Brown was available for an inning or two, but he waited until they only had a 1- run lead and runners on to summon Brett Erwin, who is more effective this year than all the relievers. Brett could have given the team a 2- 3 inning save with no game that weekend, but instead was set up to fail.

That said the bullpen did its job yesterday, and on Wed. Ouellette is looking like a better pitcher each time I see him. Unfortunately the bullpen as a whole has been so ineffective. It seems Vaughn has so little confidence in it he tries to squeeze as many outs as humanly possible out of his starters. That's not good for the starters or the rest of the team.

It just seems random coincidences are things I like to notice. Another example would be how when I went to Salt Lake City last year UCD baseball alum Ty Kelly was in the lineup for the Las Vegas 51's (Mets) against the Salt Lake Bees (Angels). He had a terrible series at the plate. As rare as it is to see a UCD player in a pro game, let alone at the AAA level, it got even stranger. Last week I saw Kelly play against the River Cats- as a member of the Salt Lake Bees. The life of a minor league ballplayer...

I meant optimal not optional