At this time in 1969, the Big Red baseball team began its 33-game spring schedule with a trip to North Carolina. The team had thus far spent nine weeks practicing at Cornell’s indoor baseball facility and hitting cage, but had not stepped outside for a practice due to Ithaca’s brutal winter. This put the team at a hesitant disadvantage compared to the Southern teams it would face in its 12 games in North Carolina, as all of its opponents there had already played 10 to 12 games by this point in March.
The famous longtime coach of the Cornell team, Ted Thoren, planned to use the trip south to test out player prospects and experiment with lineups. While anticipating pitching to be the key to the Big Red’s season, Thoren had yet to select three starting pitchers and two relievers among eight sophomore, junior and senior contenders.
Comments