POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. — It sounded like any cold-weather conversation you may have heard before.
"Three days ago, they were saying 65 degrees, and all of a sudden yesterday…"
"Oh, I know… (sigh)."
That was the lineup card-exchange chatter between Evangel baseball coach Russell Brand and College of the Ozarks skipper Neale Richardson early last week. The NAIA programs were preparing for Game Two of a doubleheader in an unforgiving early afternoon wind.
It may seem distant, given the 60 degree temperatures that treated Southwest Missouri over this weekend, but games like this are always on a player's radar this time of year.
"Early spring baseball, you understand that's part of it," Brand said.
College of the Ozarks debuted a new synthetic turf at Bob Smith Field earlier this season, a much-needed move for a team that had to relocate games to the field at Forsythe High School last year.
Now, the Bobcats can host early season contests.
"The field is an absolute godsend for them. (The surface) helps with the moisture more than the cold. A big adjustment we have going from a turf field to a natural surface is the bounces. You never know how it's going to be."
But the field does little for the temperature and the lack of structures to catch the wind around Bob Smith Field.
"Low 40s with a wind chill of close to 30, you have to do the best you can to stay loose." If it's 10 degrees colder, we probably make some modifications in the dugout. We'd get a heater for hitters to warm their hands up before they get into the on-deck circle or batters box."
"Hitters hands hurt a lot more. As a pitcher, if you get a jammed hand in the first pitch of an at-bat, it can affect the entire at-bat because the hitter doesn't get a chance to recover."
Southern road trips are commplace in a season that seems to start earlier each year. Evangel played their first series in Texas, while College of the Ozarks has one planned as well, but they will have played 14 combined games in Missouri by the end of February.
"You have to give relievers a bit more time to get loose. Guys in the dugout, they're going to get the coldest because they're not in game action and don't have that adrenaline pumping. Whether it's having them do sprints or cheer a little louder, we have to make sure we keep them motivated and focused."
Getting spoiled with these spotty heat waves helps as well.
"Yeah, we'll take as many of those as we can get."
