Shakespeare once asked, "What's in a name?"
Sure, the Bard was talking about Capulets and Montagues, but he could have been referring to college baseball, a spring sport played by the Boys of Summer which opens its season in January, usually considered a winter month.
At least Duke is traveling to Orlando, a place where there is no such thing as winter, to kick off its 1998 schedule. Today, the second-to-last day in January, the Blue Devils will face No. 17 Ohio State in the ACC/Disney Baseball Blast. Duke will also take on Tennessee Saturday and Notre Dame Sunday, as it begins the year against three formidable opponents. Fellow Atlantic Coast Conference schools Florida State and N.C. State will also participate in the tournament.
"It fits our schedule perfectly," coach Steve Traylor said. "We like to start out the season on the road and play in some warm weather."
Junior Stephen Cowie will get the start today against the Buckeyes after going 6-2 last season with a 2.80 ERA. Ohio State. advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional last year and returns both the 1997 Big Ten pitcher and player of the year. Justin Fry went 10-3 with a 3.58 ERA last season and will start against the Blue Devils. Teammate Dan Seimetz batted .385 with 19 home runs and 80 RBI last year.
"They say this is the best team they've ever had," Traylor said of the Buckeyes, "and that's saying a lot considering they've had a lot of success."
Freshman Brent Reid will start Saturday's game. He is one of several rookie pitchers expected to contribute for Duke this year.
"It will be tougher for them to start off on the road against the caliber of competition that they'll face," Traylor said. "We're more anxious about them than anything."
The coach said he would limit his hurlers to four or five innings per game this weekend and let the Blue Devils' unusually-deep bullpen take over. With a healthy rotation and the addition of the freshmen, several pitchers who have started in the past will switch to relief. Sophomores Brad Dupree and Chris Capuano and senior Clayton Connor, Duke's Most Valuable Pitcher last season, should be in the pen in Orlando.
The Volunteers had a record of 42-19 in 1997 and welcome back seven positional starters, led by third baseman Kurt Keene. The sophomore hit .368 with 13 home runs and 58 RBI last year.
"They're a big-time baseball program," Traylor said. "They take it very seriously down there.... They're a lot like Florida State, in terms of talent and tradition."
The defending Big East champion Fighting Irish face the Blue Devils on Sunday. Their top returning slugger is Jeff Wagner, who hit .374 with 17 home runs, 21 doubles and 69 RBI last season.
Senior Jim Wendling, hampered by injuries in 1997, will start the weekend's final game, though he could pitch in relief today or Saturday. Wendling is one of several Duke players coming back from health problems. Senior catcher Gregg Maluchnik's junior season ended prematurely when he had surgery to repair a broken bone in his right hand. In 1997, right fielder Jordan Litrownik only got 44 at-bats, over which he hit .362. Nonetheless, all but one of the Blue Devils' position players who will take the field today, freshman second baseman J.D. Alleva, have experience as starters.
Traylor didn't think his veteran team would be rusty this weekend.
"We need to play good, solid defense," he said. "We know we're going to see a lot of good pitchers, so I'm not expecting a lot of offense. It will be important for our pitchers to throw strikes, to play good defense and hopefully scratch some runs together."
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