Baseball Looks to Change Attitude

By Tom Schreier

Nearly a year removed from a last place finish in the West Coast Conference, the Santa Clara baseball team has made a major leadership change. The team has brought in first-year coach Dan O'Brien to resuscitate a baseball program that has had only four winning seasons since the Broncos' last postseason appearance in 1997.

"It's been a number of tough years for (the players)," said O'Brien, "and there's been a lot of pessimism and negativity around here."

Santa Clara finished 17-34 last season, which led to the departure of former Head Coach Mark O'Brien after a decade at the helm of the program.

At halftime of the Saint Mary's basketball game on Jan. 21, the new head coach told the sellout crowd that his team was going to play ‘old school baseball' while wearing a jacket with the new uniform design on it.

"I get a little frustrated with what I see on television," O'Brien said, "just a lack of respect for the game."

His team will be instructed to tuck in their uniforms, which features a new design to make them look like old wool jerseys, and jog on and off the field. His players will be prohibited from arguing with the umpires.

"Back in the day there was a certain respect you showed the game," O'Brien continued. "We're going to have that here."

The head coach also plans to enhance the ballpark atmosphere.

O'Brien wants to capture an audience by having his players dress up in uniform and go door-to-door in the nearby University Villas and Domicilio apartments and the residence halls across the street from Schott Stadium, handing out pocket schedules and personally inviting students to come out to the ballpark.

Once they're at the park, O'Brien wants them to smell the scent of fresh popcorn and peanuts. He will preach an atmosphere of humility to encourage proximity — rather than isolation — between the men on the diamond and the people in the stands.

O'Brien plans to have events in order to get local families to come out to games, such as Little League days with a children's carnival that features inflatable tees and a machine that will display the speed at which they pitch the ball.

"The idea is that someone comes to a ball game because they're curious and then it's our responsibility to hook them while they're here," said O'Brien. "We'd like to bring a little more warmth and character to this facility."

O'Brien inherited this year's schedule, which features Fresno State on April 3, Cal on April 10 and Stanford on May 22, but few other notable non-conference opponents.

In the future, O'Brien hopes to bring in more marquee programs to face his Broncos early in the season.

"You have to have a very competitive schedule… to see where you are," O'Brien explained. "If you play weaker teams just to feel good about yourself, you're not going to be a championship-caliber ball club."

In the future, O'Brien and his coaching staff said that they plan to schedule schools with strong baseball programs like Boston College, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Penn State early in the season.

Santa Clara begins its season with three games at the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos, Texas. The Broncos will face Texas State, University of Louisina-Layfayette and Wichita State. The team's home opener will take place at Schott Stadium on Feb. 24 against University of Illinois as part of a four-game weekend series.

Contact Tom Schreier at tschreier@scu.edu or (408) 554-4852.