Baseball team plans spring training trip to Florida

By Matt Dempsey
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Even though they are hardly beginning their preseason training, the Norwich University baseball team is already finalizing plans for their spring training in sunny Southern Florida.

The team will travel to the Florida Coast Spring Training Camp in Fort Pierce, Fla., for the week of spring break, Mar. 3-10, where they will play six scrimmages, said head coach Bill Barrale.

The facility is approximately 70 miles north of Palm Beach, Fla.

Barrale said that to go from the Vermont climate to the Florida climate is tough on the players, and therefore will keep one day as an open date "for their health- both physically and mentally."

During the week Norwich will "play other Division III schools such as Penn State Altoona, and other schools from the Northeast," said Randy Kluj, 19, a sophomore criminal justice major from Milo, Maine.

According to the Florida facility's website, www.germanytownacademy.org/spring/baseball/camp/index.htm, there is an $850 fee for attending, which includes meals, hotel accommodations, game and practice fields.

Though the down payment was made in October of last year, Barrale said the majority of the trip's cost is in plane tickets.

He hopes to get fundraising completed by the start of practice on January 29, but has until mid-February to raise all the funds.

The team is forced to "get pretty creative" in fundraising ideas, Barrale said.

Barrale, now in his second season as head coach, said that initial fundraising began during the football season, when players would sell soda, candy, and hot dogs during the home football games.

"The bulk of [the money] comes from selling raffle tickets. We have a raffle drawing, and this year we're going to give out over $525 in winnings," Barrale said. "Players who want to come for the team I ask that they sell $200 each."

Local businesses sponsor "coin drops," where customers could deposit change, Kluj said.

The team also sells t-shirts and hats, and schedules players to work the university's phone bank, which is a fundraising drive for the university.

The spring training trip is not new to the team. The team not only went last year, but Barrale recalls that the baseball team made a similar trip during spring break during his first year coaching at Norwich.

"Last year, a few of the seniors came to me with the idea. It was something they wanted to do. They asked for advice, and I collaborated on it with them," Barrale said. "Since I've been here a year, I'm planning it, myself."

The benefits of spring training last throughout the season, according to Kluj.

"The trip gets us outside to play; it's different than being indoors. There's so much more you can do outside--actually playing games, actually getting experience," Kluj said. "It gives us a chance to see our problems and what we need to work on."

Likewise, Barrale hopes to use the opportunity to correct problems that otherwise might show up in critical moments of the season, such as conference playoffs.

"Real baseball is outside; it shouldn't be played in the fieldhouse," Barrale said. " By the time we get back, we got a few games under our belt and we've solidified our lineup."

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