Boise State baseball returns from four-decade absence with loss to Texas
The Boise State baseball program played its first game in nearly 40 years Friday night at Texas.
The Broncos were still looking for their first run of the relaunch after a 7-0 loss.
“Hopefully that will be tomorrow,” coach Gary Van Tol said in a phone interview. “Hopefully we’ll do some damage with our offense once we get rolling.”
That run did come Saturday, when freshman Reagan Doss homered in the third inning of the second game against Texas, a 2-1 loss.
The Broncos knew their opening game was going to be a major challenge, between the opponent, the inexperience of their own roster and the lack of outdoor practice leading up to the season. The Broncos held their first outdoor team practice Thursday night in Texas.
They prepped for the season with practices in the indoor football facility, the Caven-Williams Sports Complex, and by taking fly balls on the blue turf of Albertsons Stadium. Pitchers threw from a portable mound.
That’s life as a college baseball program in the northern part of the country, and that’s why Boise State — which disbanded its baseball program in 1980 — sat out the first weekend of the season.
So Van Tol was impressed with the way starting pitcher Travis Weston performed (four innings, six hits, three runs, six strikeouts, no walks) and with the defense he saw, including a string of nifty plays by shortstop Cole Posey and a running catch by center fielder Geon Hyoung Kim (Timberline High).
“I thought we played great defense,” Van Tol said. “… Usually that’s the one area early where it can get out of control. Offensively, it looked like we hadn’t faced live pitching on a field in a long, long time.”
The Broncos finished with four hits, with first baseman Joe Yorke earning the program’s first hit in 40 years in the second inning.
“We’ve got to be a little more aggressive,” Van Tol said.
The Longhorns (6-0) scored two runs in the first inning, one each in the fourth and fifth and three in the eighth.
The teams meet again Saturday and Sunday. The Broncos will practice at Memorial Stadium next week and play their home opener there Friday against Northern Colorado (6:35 p.m.).
That’ll be another huge milestone for the program, which hired Van Tol in November 2017 — more than two years ago.
The best part of Friday, Van Tol said, was simply competing.
“It’s awesome — nothing like opening day,” he said. “The opportunity to compete against a program like this in their house. It was great to just get on the field and start playing, put one in the books. Now we have a measuring stick.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 10:00 PM.
