In my two years as a baseball correspondent for The Poly, the Red Hawks have an impressive overall record of 52-20 and a record of 18-2 in conference games.
You would think that students would want to come out and see a team that wins that often. The football team has garnered huge crowds in the last four years during a run of success that included two perfect seasons and two trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The hockey team has always had strong attendance, even during seasons in which the team has performed poorly.
However, the crowd that I’ve seen at baseball home games is mostly composed of the parents of the Red Hawk players and their opponents. I hardly ever see any other RPI students, staff, or faculty—even on nice sunny days.
I know that there are definitely a large number of baseball fans among the RPI campus community, as I’ve often seen students wearing caps and t-shirts of teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets in my four years as an RPI student.
College baseball can be just as fun as professional baseball. Watching first baseman Dan Quinn hit monster home runs out of the park, Max Miller fan 10 batters, or catcher Seth Shuket steal three bases in a game is definitely more exciting than a Twins/Devil Rays game.
The games are also free to attend and a great way to relieve some of the huge amount of stress that piles up at this time of the year from working on final projects and studying for final examinations.
This weekend’s doubleheader match-ups against Clarkson and St. Lawrence are the Red Hawks’ final conference games for this season. Come out to Robison Field—near Samaritan Hospital—on Saturday at 1 pm or Sunday at 2 pm, and find out for yourself how good an afternoon of RPI baseball is. You won’t leave disappointed.
