Baseball as a varsity sport was cut by the Western Athletic Department in 1981. That doesn’t mean there aren’t students who love the smell of pine tar and the burn of scraped knees in the springtime.
A hard-working group of Western students have made sure that America’s pastime lives on as a club sport. Over the weekend, the team likely qualified for a postseason berth by winning two out of three games against the University of Oregon.
Up until the team was cut, Western had a rich baseball tradition. Western originally instituted a varsity baseball team in 1913. They competed until 1937 but were absent during the war-era. Following World War II in 1946, Viking baseball reappeared and remained at Western until the introduction of Title IX forced the administration to make changes within the athletic department.
The sport was cut at the recommendation of a presidential task force in 1981, along with men’s wrestling and women’s field hockey.
Since then, it’s been up to Western students to keep the school's baseball tradition alive, something senior Dan Skillman works at almost full time.
Skillman is the head coach of Western’s club baseball team, which competes in the National Club Baseball Association.
Without the help of the athletic department, the workload for Skillman and the other team members is daunting. They have to raise money, as well as organize fields, umpires and travel considerations.
“The fundraising is definitely a pain in the butt,” he said. “We are willing to do it because we just want to play baseball and that stuff is part of the sacrifice. ”
Since Western has no baseball field, it rents out local Joe Martin Stadium for home games. This year, with that stadium under renovation, the team has been forced to look elsewhere and has often played at Mount Vernon’s Sherman Anderson Field.
That’s where the team played April 30 and May 1 as they took on the University of Oregon with aspirations of qualifying for the regional playoffs later in the month.
Western got off to a slow start in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, losing 9-4. Skillman said the loss was tough to swallow after losing two games the weekend before.
The team rebounded, dominating the Ducks 10-0 behind a shutout performance from junior pitcher Matt Burrows.
On Sunday, the Vikings soundly defeated the Ducks 8-3. Outfielder Shane McKinley led the way offensively with with two doubles, a single and a pair of stolen bases. Second baseman Alan Kennedy sealed the game with a two-run double in the top of the ninth.
“It’s been rocky on offense and hard for us to score runs,” McKinley said. “I think the team is finally starting to gel, and that’s definitely a good thing going into regionals.”
