The endless winter weather is starting to finally turn, and some green is beginning to peek through as a result of a string of warm days. Unfortunately, our field will not be ready until mid-April. During the week, the team practiced at Northeastern University's indoor facility, where we were able to hit and take ground balls. (A note of thanks goes to coach Neil McPhee and the Huskies’ athletic department.)

The weekend series found the Boston College Traveling Show (18 straight games away from home) visiting the nationally ranked Hurricanes of Miami. Scheduling someone of this caliber always helps a team improve, and playing them should get us ready for the long stretch run in the Big East.

The team was pumped up, and we came out of the gates aggressively, getting ahead early 2-0. An additional two runs were nullified when a base umpire did an about-face on an interference call that resulted in an inning-ending double play.

The game seesawed, with the lead changing several times. In the eighth, "Moose" Locke crushed a titanic shot over the scoreboard in left to put us up one. It was a tremendous game up until the bottom half of the inning. It was one of those innings a coach hopes to never experience. Forget about staying out of the big inning – how about staying out of the huge one. Miami plated nine and turned out the lights, winning 17-8.

The score really wasn't indicative of the actual game. The team came ready to play, and we scrapped and fought hard. The post-game meeting stressed the need to forget the eighth inning, focus on the positives and come out hard again the next day and finish the entire game strong.

With a night game on the slate the next day, the team spent the afternoon at a good old fashioned Cuban cookout hosted by the family of a former player residing in Miami. The spread consisted of a wide variety of spicy sandwiches, side dishes and desserts.

The weather was hot and muggy as we arrived at the stadium to hit. There is nothing like getting a nice lather going throwing BP. Miami came out swinging from the get-go, consistently stringing hits together, scoring in bunches all night. Final score: 17-5.

On the bright side of the evening, despite being down the entire way, the team remained focused and continued to play hard and compete, determined to come away with something positive – a quality at-bat or a great defensive play. You never want to get too high after a win or too low after a loss, but this game was disheartening.

There was no trip to the Saran-Wrapped sites along the strip at South Beach, where a trip to the Clevelander Sports Grill is always well received. Instead, it was a late-night dinner at an outdoor restaurant next to the hotel, where watching well-rounded couples Salsa away to a live Mariachi band lightened the spirit.

A torrential downpour immediately following the lineup exchange canceled the third of the three-game set, leaving us disappointed. We would have liked another crack at Miami, another chance to get rid of last evening's sour taste. The next game cannot come soon enough.

Hopefully, when we get back to Boston, a field can be found enabling us to get back on track.

(Editor's note: Boston College did find a venue to play its next scheduled game, against Holy Cross on March 25. The game was moved to the Crusaders' Fitton Field.)

Steve Englert

(photo courtesy of BC Media Relations Office)