100-inning fundraiser game for baseball program

This archived article was written by: Jordan Mellen

Utah State University Eastern’s baseball team wrapped up their fall season on Oct. 11, against Colorado Northwestern Community College adding a final victory for the Golden Eagles. The team competed well this fall and both coaches and players are satisfied with the results of the team thus far and are looking forward to kicking it into gear as they work into the spring season.  
“I thought we played well this fall and improvement was shown from the beginning to the end.  We’re working hard and it has shown. We create a very competitive environment at practice and it helps the team improve everyday, and we’re all excited for this upcoming season,” said freshman Jason Maughan.
Last week, the USU Eastern baseball team put on their annual 100-inning-fundraiser game.  Every year the team raises money from sponsorships and plays a day-long scrimmage. However, this year there was a twist to the 100-inning game. In recent years, the team has broken into two teams among themselves to play a two-strike game against a pitching machine. Just two days before the game, the field flooded and was in no condition to be played on. The solution was to move the 100-inning game to the softball fields at the Carbon County Fairgrounds where the team played a 100-inning, inner-squad-slowpitch softball game for the fundraiser.
Coach Scott Madsen split the players into three teams and each player was required to bat opposite handed, with only one strike or foul ball allowed before it was called as an out.  The new set up for the fundraiser sped up the game, as well as created a competitive and fun alternative.
“None of the players were expecting to play a slow pitch game as a fundraiser, even as we were coming into the game. Most players weren’t sure if they were excited about it, but as the day went on, everybody seemed to have fun competing against ourselves in a much different aspect of the game. Every player got to play positions that they usually don’t and it was easy to have fun messing around as a team and it made the 100 innings go by fast,” said freshman Scotty Lyman
The baseball team will start their inner-squad World Series the week of Oct. 20-24, as a chance to compete and battle it out on the field and show who’s the best. Every year the team looks forward to playing competitive baseball among themselves to finish off the fall season. These inner-squad games will be played at 1 p.m. on their home field.