Nice day in Southeastern Connecticut.....

so if you're out and about and can swing by Dodd, pick up some tickets for this afternoon and tonight. If you can't, a big walk up is expected and the weather is great so the sooner you can head up Wisconsin Ave. tonight the better off you are!
Gates open at 6PM (just confirmed)!! Great day for baseball.....

Other points of view on Dodd:

By Aaron Fentress, The Oregonian
June 03, 2010, 10:51PM
NORWICH, Conn. -- Oregon coach George Horton's first order of business upon learning his team had reached the postseason was to look up the dimensions of Dodd Memorial Stadium, site of the Norwich Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

The number that jumped out at him: 309 feet down the lines.

Horton's reaction: "Uh oh!"

The small-ball Ducks (38-22) hit 30 home runs this season and employ a strategy best described by sophomore second baseman Danny Pulfer: "Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in."

Meanwhile, Oregon's opponent in the first round today, No.17 Connecticut (47-15), belted 78 homers.

So it was with much trepidation that the Ducks ventured into Dodd Stadium for their workout Thursday. What they discovered, however, brought smiles.

The stadium, home to the Connecticut Tigers, the Class-A short-season affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, is anything but a hitter's ballpark. With its slow grass, vast power alleys and high fences, it seems suited to the style of play the Ducks have used to reach the tournament in their second season since the sport returned to campus in Eugene.

"I think that's good for us because we're a pitching and defense ball club, and execution ball club," Horton said.

Still, Oregon will need more than a user-friendly park to overcome a balanced Huskies team that Horton said he voted into the top 25 of his ballot for the coaches poll.

"It's not going to be an easy challenge," he said.

Horton says he has elected not to overload his team with scouting reports on the Huskies.

"I think sometimes you can get overwhelmed with information," Horton said.

Instead, Oregon will concentrate more on playing its game. And the circumstances might help them do just that.

The dimensions, it turned out, are deceiving. The foul poles stand at 309 feet but the fence stretches to 401 feet in center. The fences reach about 12 feet with two rows of signage in left field and are 18 feet high with three rows of signage in right field.

"I think we might have hit one home run in batting practice," Horton said.

But the Ducks did hit plenty of line drives to the gaps. They said their speed in the outfield could allow them to track down fly balls and that their speed on the base paths will allow them to take extra bases on hits.

The Ducks said the slow infield grass will help them bunt (UO's 73 sacrifice bunts this season were tied for second in the nation) and could assist a pitching staff that ranked fifth in the nation in ERA (3.28) and 27th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.2).

"We have quick infielders so we can get to a lot of balls," sophomore shortstop K.C. Serna said.

Even with all the positives, there is one major obstacle facing Oregon: Connecticut is pretty good.

The Huskies boast an accomplished pitching staff that ranked 19th in ERA (3.91) while the offense ranked 34th in runs per game (8.4) compared to 228th for Oregon (6.0).

And for all of Oregon's small-ball prowess, Connecticut stole 2.66 bases per game (fourth), compared to Oregon's 1.15 (152nd).

Oregon will start senior right-hander Zack Thornton, 9-0 with a 3.54 ERA.

Horton said that of his starters, Thornton could bounce back the best and be ready if needed in Monday's championship.

Should Oregon win and face top seed Florida State, sophomore Tyler Anderson (7-4, 2.76) would get the start.

Horton said that if he had a choice of fields, he would have chosen to play in Texas, which has an all-turf field like Oregon's. But he said he's happy with the opponent, because No.14 Florida State, the No. 1 seed, is not the host team. A top team playing in front of its crowd is tough to beat.

"It's not going to be easy," Horton said. "But if you asked me which one I would want to go to, this is the one I would probably pick."

-- Aaron Fentress

Baseball: FSU faces challenges with larger ballpark
June 03, 2010 09:40:00 PM
By JIM LAMAR | Tallahassee Democrat
NORWICH, Conn. — The pings were plentiful Thursday afternoon.

The pop? Well, not so much.

As the Florida State baseball team took batting practice at Dodd Memorial Stadium on Thursday afternoon, one thing became obvious: Home runs may be few and far between during the four-team regional in this eastern Connecticut town.

"It reminds me of 1982 when we went to Texas for a regional," FSU coach Mike Martin said. "I think we had two balls go out in BP out there — and we hit 135 home runs that year. This park reminds me of that. It’s definitely the Grand Canyon."

Dodd Stadium isn’t exactly one of the seven wonders of baseball, but the field certainly appears big enough to hold most hitters who will attack it this weekend.

The dimensions aren’t outrageous — 309 feet down the lines, 380 feet in the gaps and 401 feet to straight centerfield. But the locals say a fairly consistent wind blowing in from the south — typically from left-center field toward home plate — tends to help pitchers in this park that now plays home to a Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers organization FSU left-fielder Mike McGee, also the team’s closer, said the size of the field and the wind could impact the Seminoles’ defense this weekend.

"We can play a little shallower, maybe try to take away some base hits," McGee said. "Now if we come out here on game day and the ball is carrying like crazy, then obviously we can’t do that. But assuming it’s like it (was Thursday), we would be playing a little shallower and taking away base hits. Maybe get a little extra so we can throw a guy out."

McGee and the rest of FSU’s outfielders spent time trying to get a feel for how balls bounce off the wooden fence surrounding the field. The fence is about 20 feet high at the foul poles and shortens to 8-10 feet around the rest of the outfield.

"It’s kind of weird with the angles on the corners, especially in left field," McGee said. "A lot of those balls down the line rattle around pretty hard. We had one go all the way out (to centerfield) because they hit it so hard. It’s good we had a day like today to get used to it."

The field has played host to just one game this year — a high school game last weekend. The Connecticut Tigers play a short season in the New York-Penn League, and their season-opener is June 26. So at this point in the early summer, the grass is plenty thick.

"It looks like the grass is the same as in Omaha," FSU pitcher John Gast said. "It’s kind of thick, kind of slow. It gave us a little trouble today, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out."

McGee said the park’s dimensions — assuming the wind is blowing in — will help on the pitching mound.

"If you get behind in the count, you’re going to pound the zone," McGee said. "You don’t need to worry about a ball getting cranked out to center field or left-center. That’s probably not going to happen unless they really, really crush it. So it may be a little easier on your mind to throw strikes."

I think this is the first time I've seen a number assigned to the gaps--380 feet.