‘It’s an empty feeling, for sure.’ Will Southern Miss baseball play again in 2020?
Southern Miss coach Scott Berry was able to accomplish things he has never had the chance to do on a spring weekend during his 36 years of involvement with college baseball.
“Well, I’ve done a lot of yard work,” Berry said Monday during a phone interview with the Sun Herald. “I killed a turkey on opening day of the (hunting) season on Saturday morning. Those are things I’ve never been able to do because of baseball, at least not a whole lot. I’ve never been an avid turkey hunter, but I guess I’ve turned into an avid turkey hunter.”
Berry, along with every other college baseball coach and player, is in limbo following the suspension of competition across all of Division I athletics due to the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
Conference USA, which includes USM, announced the suspension of sporting events Thursday for an indefinite period of time.
With each passing day, it appears less likely that any college baseball team will be playing games this season.
The NCAA has already canceled the College World Series, which was scheduled to take place in Omaha, Nebraska, in June, and some conferences have decided to end all competition for spring sports. The Ohio Valley Conference became the latest to call off all games Monday morning.
USM began the season with a three-game sweep of Murray State — a member of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Berry met with his team Friday and sent them home for spring break.
“We’re kind of in a holding pattern,” Berry said. “It’s just waiting and seeing. (Conference USA) hasn’t made a decision one way or another. I told (players) that we’d be in contact with them if something comes up … I don’t know. It’s an empty feeling, for sure.”
No College World Series to reach for
The cancellation of the College World Series served as a major blow to teams across the nation, stunning coaches and players alike. There was the speculation last week that the NCAA could call off the tournaments for men’s and women’s basketball, but the decision to cancel the CWS three months out was a surprising move.
“It was so far off. It would be at the very end of everybody’s season,” Berry said. “I was a little confused as to why it was done. That’s what everybody plays for. It’s everybody’s goal — postseason, play in a regional, to go to the College World Series. I think everybody was in kind of in shock when that news broke. Holy cow, that’s a while off.”
All Berry and his staff can do for the time being is be ready for the possibility of play resuming.
“We’re trying to get a game plan together if the season continues on for how we get guys back in shape, particularly pitchers,” he said. “On Friday, when we broke huddle we told them to make sure they stay in shape. We plan on it resuming and we’re not going to have a lot of time to get back in shape. They need to stay ready to come back and play.
“The (Centers for Disease Control) came out and said there doesn’t need to be more than 50 people in one place for eight weeks. I guess until we get more info about it and see where this thing goes, that dictates everything we do.”
Southern Miss seniors should get extra year
One bit of good news that has come out of this is the NCAA has agreed to grant an extra year of eligibility to student-athletes who compete in spring sports, including baseball, softball and women’s rowing.
The NCAA has yet to release a plan on how they plan to go about granting relief to those players.
“That’s important for everybody, not just seniors,” Berry said. “What a shame it would be that they don’t have a senior day if baseball is canceled and we can’t recognize those guys and their accomplishments. (Redshirt senior second baseman Matthew Guidry) has been here five years and so has (redshirt senior pitcher) Walker Powell. There’s a lot of unknowns and uncertainties. You feel for those guys.”
If the season does resume, it’s unclear how Conference USA would go about handling the rest of the schedule. With so many games removed from the conference slate, it may be difficult to determine which teams qualify for the Conference USA tournament, which is scheduled for May 20-24 at MGM Park in Biloxi.
“There are so many unknowns in this,” Berry said. “I don’t know how they would determine that. Even if they did do that, what would the guidelines be? Obviously, we’re not going to be able to play the FIU and Marshall series. That’s two of the 10 series eliminated. So, I don’t know. Right now, we’re just in a state of unknown. We know there is no postseason to play for anybody in college baseball. To me, that’s the only thing that we do know for sure.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 12:44 PM.
