It was one of those nights when Craig Gibson looked and felt a little bit older.
And it was a night like many others. Mercer's pitching just wasn't quite there.
But the Bears' head baseball coach couldn't worry about the non-conference game very long because there was another one the next day. And two days later, a conference series would begin.
"If the NCAA doesn't address the schedule," he said, sitting in the tiny, scruffy office behind the dugout at Claude Smith Field, "I will. This is ridiculous."
Ah, the NCAA and college baseball. The first drove Mississippi State head coach - and former Georgia and Georgia Southern boss - Ron Polk from a long Hall of Fame career coaching the latter. Polk has argued more with the NCAA than with any umpire and usually with good reason.
College baseball is growing in popularity and revenue production, and it's pretty good around here.
Mercer has become one of the top programs in the A-Sun, which is usually in the top third of conference RPIs. And Georgia College and State is to the point where this season's 33-24 mark is disappointing, even with a new head coach and rebuilding to do.
Things are lively at Mercer, which has regularly has tents, tailgaters and grills, allowing for a wave of barbecue to reach the grandstand.
But the frustratingly underrated game continues to be hamstrung by rules committees. And nothing compares with the change in the schedule, a big reason Mercer and the A-Sun are having sub-par seasons.
The NCAA listened to Division I schools in the Snow and Rust belts about the advantage afforded Southern schools because of the ability to start so much earlier. So this year, a 13-week season replaced a 16-week season, beginning a spring of games on Tuesday and Wednesday and then on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
"Guys are just out of gas," said Gibson, whose shuffling of his pitching rotation is akin to a Las Vegas blackjack dealer. "It's just too much ."
The move affected mid-majors and low-majors more than the bigger schools, whose pool of arms was naturally deeper. The change meant a certain amount of tweaking, especially early on in the season.
But the big programs have the bodies to adjust, as they do in every sport. Everybody else feels the hits more.
College players already miss huge class time, a gap increased with the extra game, so there's some hypocrisy to the move.
And take Western Carolina one week: The Catamounts hosted Clemson on a Tuesday and visited Mercer on a Wednesday.
Western Carolina is about 175 miles away, and it's not a simple drive.
Nothing has been simple about this season. Mercer's 24-31 record entering the A-Sun tournament is at least reversed from what Gibson expected, although the Bears still show flashes of 35-win talent.
Mercer is 72nd nationally in batting average and 32nd in hits. And the Bears are 197th in winning percentage.
Too many arms are throwing too many innings, here and everywhere. One, freshman Justice French, apologized to Gibson after a few rough outings.
Polk is retired, and it's time to turn him loose on the NCAA. Again.
Contact Michael A. Lough at mlough@macon.com or
744-4626
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