OMAHA, Neb.—The thousands of College World Series fans at Rosenblatt Stadium and many more watching on television can’t help but notice two contrasting shades of green in the outfield grass.
According to veteran groundskeeper Jesse Cuevas, it’s a North vs. South issue.
Blame the players’ cleats. Yes, cleats.
“What we are getting is the northern turf mixing with the southern turf,” said Cuevas, who has been Rosenblatt’s lead groomer since 1987.
Rosenblatt’s field is supposed to be made up entirely of Kentucky blue grass. But over the years, splotches of lighter, almost yellow-green southern grass have invaded the outfield.
Cuevas said it’s caused by southern grass seedlings falling from cleats and even clothing.
“It’s happening every year,” he said, “and it’s happening all over the country.”
There is nothing Cuevas and his crew can do to fix the problem other than re-sod the entire field, which experts recommend be done about every seven years at a cost of about $250,000. Cuevas said it’s been about seven years since Rosenblatt was re-sodded. He said he doesn’t know if the turf will be replaced because only one more CWS will played at Rosenblatt before the event moves to the downtown stadium under construction.
Cuevas said he’s been asked to consider taking the groundskeeper’s job at the new stadium. Notre Dame and a couple of Big Ten schools also have approached Cuevas about overseeing their football fields.
“I’m a south Omaha boy, born and raised,” he said. “It would be hard to leave.”
As Rosenblatt’s days wind down, Cuevas said he would savor memories of watching future major-leaguers like Barry Bonds, Dave Winfield and George Brett play at Rosenblatt since 1970.
“I’ve even seen circus elephants roaming out on the grass,” he said.
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VIRGINIA WELL-ARMED: Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said he’s not concerned about his pitching staff’s ability to withstand the rigors of the losers’ bracket. The Cavaliers, who play Arkansas on Wednesday, would have to win three more games to make it to next week’s best-of-three finals.
“We had seven different pitchers start games for us,” O’Connor said after Monday’s 7-5 win over Cal State Fullerton. “I’ve had guys start in all kinds of pitching roles for us.”
Actually, nine pitchers have started for the Cavaliers, who entered the CWS with a 3.14 ERA, which ranks behind only Arizona State and Texas.
“One of the really bright spots on our team this year is our pitching depth,” O’Connor said. “You prepare your team all year long for this opportunity, so we’ll be fine.”
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NOT SO GOLDEN ARMS: Southern Mississippi hoped to avoid a continuation of its pitching woes when it squared off against North Carolina on Tuesday, but Golden Eagles starter JR Ballinger opened the game by walking Dan Bunting.
Ballinger walked three more batters while being rocked for six runs and nine hits before getting yanked with two outs in the third.
In Sunday’s 7-6 loss to Texas, six Southern Miss pitchers combined for a season-high nine walks, including one with bases loaded that forced in the winning run in the ninth.
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SHORT HOPS: Starting off 2-0 is a good thing at the CWS as 17 of the past 19 champions won their first two games. … LSU heads into Friday night’s Bracket 1 contest after scoring eight of its nine runs against Arkansas in two-out situations Monday. … Southern Miss hit 15 home runs in its first six NCAA tournament games. The Eagles hit just two in two CWS games. … Tuesday afternoon’s attendance of 19,799 increased the CWS total to 157,673, an average of 22,525 per game and 10,009 ahead of 2008 after seven games.
