Even if you’re only a freshman, you probably know by now that it’s Dead Week — the week when professors are supposed to offer no new assignments or tests.
But as final exams approach, I’m getting excited about a tradition I’ve started for myself that has nothing to do with studying. Sure, I’ll make a schedule telling myself how much I need to be studying, but the most beneficial events for me this week will be the ones that distract me from my study schedule.
And as I have for each of my first two years in college, baseball will be an important part of that getaway. Starting with my freshman year, I have attended at least part of all six home baseball games on the weekend at the end of Dead Week.
At the end of Dead Week, State played a three-game series against bitter-rival North Carolina my freshman year. I’ll never forget finding out how tight the game was in the eighth inning that Friday night and running over to Doak Field to see a ninth-inning, game-winning hit.
The next day I made my way over to the stadium much earlier in the game, only to get soaked when the fans and team members endured a rain delay. I went back to my dorm and got in some more exam studying, then returned for the final innings of what turned out to be a 6-3 loss for State in 12 innings.
On Sunday I arrived in the middle of the game again, only to see starter Gib Hobson leave the game in the sixth inning. Chris Engle and Sam Walls lasted only a combined one inning’s worth of outs, and it seemed like coach Elliott Avent’s bullpen might not have anyone left.
But Avent brought in senior Phillip Davidson, who already pitched two innings on Saturday. Davidson rose to the occasion and allowed only one run in nearly four innings of work.
Perhaps the most heart-wrenching moment of the weekend came in the sixth inning that Sunday when UNC-Chapel Hill’s second baseman Greg Mangum tried to run over State catcher Jake Muyco, nearly causing a brawl between the two teams. An umpire ejected him from the game, drawing the ire of the already-obnoxious Tar Heel contingent in the crowd.
The testy nature of the crowd and the players during the game was personified by this exchange. The game and the series eventually drew to a close with a fitting ending, as the back-and-forth game ended on a 10th-inning RBI single by Bryan Kinneberg. State had won the game 8-7 and the series against the No. 7 Tar Heels, 2-1.
As the game went on, I became keenly aware I was going to be late for the review session for my biology exam. It didn’t matter much — I was too involved in the game. I eventually made it to the review session and fared quite well on the exam.
I didn’t attend near as many games my sophomore year, but I still managed to make it out to at least part of each of the team’s three games against Miami at the end of Dead Week.
The series turned out a little differently — State winning only one of three games — but the team’s 9-6 and 12-10 losses on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, were two games that kept me on the edge of my seat.
While I may not have seen all the innings of the six games I’ve discussed from the past two years, I saw enough to gain an important break from studying and see some great baseball in the process.
As you prepare for your exams and make your plans for this coming weekend, if you have any interest in baseball, consider making it out for at least some of the games against UNC, the 2006 national runner-up and a top-five team this season.
I can’t promise you the games will be as exciting as 2005 — the Tar Heels fairly easily swept the Pack last season in Chapel Hill — but it’s worth showing up with the hope that they will.
I’ll be there. While I have barely been to Doak Field at all this season, I plan on taking advantage of the free admission my student ID affords me while others may not be able to get into the stadium if this weekend’s games sell out.
