Weather forces Bears indoors

OXFORD, Miss. – The verdant, impeccably manicured grass at Oxford-University Stadium’s Swayze Field beckoned Thursday afternoon.

Rather than take ground balls and run around at the University of Mississippi’s gorgeous facility, the University of Maine baseball team found itself practicing in familiar surroundings – indoors.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos equated the Black Bears to Pigpen, the Peanuts comic strip character who existed in a constant swirl of dust.

“Everywhere you go, the cloud, the rain, is over our heads,” he chuckled. “It has been unbelievable.”

With midweek rain in the area having spilled over into Thursday morning, Swayze Field was declared off limits for practice to the four teams competing in the NCAA Tournament’s Oxford Regional on the Ole Miss campus.

The Bears had a brief afternoon workout in the Rebels’ impressive, new indoor practice facility.

The Bears, who spend all winter training in the UMaine field house and spent far too much time inside because of the wet weather this spring, didn’t appreciate the irony of being forced back indoors.

“It’s crazy. It’s not even fair,” said UMaine junior Joe Hough. “We were actually leaving Maine [Wednesday morning] and it was beautiful, the sun was out. We get down here’s cloudy and raining.”

UMaine got a taste, on a grander scale, of what it might expect when the proposed inflatable “bubble” indoor practice facility is erected on the Orono campus.

“Sweet, isn’t it?” queried senior co-captain Greg Creek of Manchester.

“The rain followed us down here, I think. It was raining all day [Wednesday], but we had practice outside in the rain for half an hour, 45 minutes at a high school field.”

The Bears also hit in the Rebels’ batting cages at Swayze Field, so they did catch a glimpse of the stadium.

The Ole Miss indoor facility is 100 yards long by 60 yards wide and features state-of-the-art artificial turf painted with football yard lines. It is equipped with a set of goal posts at one end.

Former Rebels tailback Deuce McAllister, now with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, donated $1 million toward the project.

The roof is not high enough to accomodate booming punts or high popups, but it was warm and dry.

“It was a little disappointing,” Kostacopoulos said. “I think it’s more mentally straining rather than actually hurting us physically not being able to play.

“We’ve been here for a while and just really want to get out there and play on that field, get this thing started,” he added.

Ultimately, Thursday’s weather wasn’t that bad. There were only a few stray raindrops but temperatures climbed into the lower 80s with a considerable amount of humidity.

Getting the local flavor

The UMaine contingent had a tiring day Wednesday, departing Orono at 4:30 a.m. via bus to catch a flight out of Portland.

Upon their arrival Wednesday afternoon, most team members took a quick nap before going through a light workout.

“We were all toast after practice. Everyone slept 10 or 12 hours,” Creek said.

Before hitting the sack, team members spread out to get some dinner. A handful of players couldn’t resist stopping in at “Creek’s Cafe” in Oxford.

“We said we might as well check that place out, to see if I could see some of my relatives that I haven’t seen in a while,” Creek quipped.

In reality, the guys enjoyed their Southern-style meal, eating some catfish, grouper, crawfish, grits and “Hush Puppies,” little deep-fried cornmeal balls.

“I’d never had any of that stuff,” Hough said. “It was one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. It made you realize you weren’t up North any more.”