Baseball is back at Boise State. What should you expect from the first-year Broncos?
Baseball coach Gary Van Tol said a Boise State fan had to cough up $20 on Saturday to purchase the ball freshman Reagan Doss hit out of Texas’ Disch-Falk Field to score Boise State’s first run in almost 40 years.
On Monday, Van Tol predicted another historic moment is on the horizon for his club as the Broncos prepare for their Friday home opener.
“We’re going to win our first game in 40 years in front of our home crowd,” Van Tol said, before admitting with a sheepish grin that he was hedging his bets. “We’ve got 11 chances to do it (on this homestand), so I feel pretty good that it’s going to happen.”
Over the weekend, Boise State played its first official game since the program was disbanded in 1980, and the Broncos kicked off the season with three losses at Texas.
Van Tol said the opening game offered a stark realization of the work yet to be done as Longhorns pitchers struck out 16 batters and Texas picked up a shutout victory.
Van Tol said he could tell by the sound of the bat that the Broncos were making better contact in game two, though, and in Sunday’s series finale Boise State pushed Texas to extra innings before eventually falling 7-5.
“Playing a school like Texas right off the get-go at their place was truly an honor, and I think we left there and maybe earned more respect than they thought,” Van Tol said.
Disch-Falk Field, itself, was a spectacle for Boise State’s players — many of whom experienced their first live action against a program seen most seasons as a national contender. And one thing the weekend didn’t lack was learning opportunities.
From packing the bus to how to dress and act in the airport and how to be efficient in their pregame routine when time is of the essence, the Broncos experienced it all for the first time.
“We know it’s going to take some time, but what a great first step,” Van Tol said. “Now we get to be home and be part of a weekend that’s going to be pretty historic and special in its own right, and our guys are fired up.”
Many of Boise State’s former players will be in town Thursday for a dinner and in the stands at Memorial Stadium on Friday (6:35 p.m.) as the Broncos host their first home series in almost 40 years. They’ll play four games against Northern Colorado, including a doubleheader Saturday, which begins at 2:05 p.m.
On more than one occasion since Boise State announced the relaunch of its program, former university president Bob Kustra has called Boise a baseball town. But a large portion of Bronco Nation has never had a team to root for, so here are a few things to know as the Broncos embark on this historic season.
Who is Gary Van Tol?
Boise State’s players weren’t the only ones trying to knock the rust off last weekend. Van Tol last coached in a meaningful game in early 2017, and he said there were times in Austin, Texas, that he had to make sure he didn’t get lost in the moment.
He even admitted that the spectacle got the better of him at one point and he lost track of a base runner, who ended up rounding third in too aggressive a fashion and got caught trying to make his way back.
Van Tol was hired to lead Boise State’s baseball relaunch in November 2017. He was a Boise resident long before that, though. He joined the Boise Hawks — then a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs — as a volunteer coach in 2008 and went on to manage the club in 2013-14.
He also has 17 years of college experience on his resume, including stints as an assistant at Gonzaga and Portland, but Boise State marks his first head coaching job at the Division I level.
In search of an ace
Van Tol did a nice job of mixing veteran transfers and freshmen on his first official roster of 32 players — three fewer than the NCAA limit. Many of those veterans led the way at Texas, especially on the pitching mound where all three of the Broncos’ starters joined the program as transfers.
“They’re older and they’ve been in those moments,” said Van Tol, adding that he’ll stick with the same starters this weekend.
Travis Weston — a 6-foot-1 lefty, who began his career at San Diego State and spent last season at Ventura College — earned his skipper’s admiration after finding himself in an early hole in Friday’s season opener and bouncing back to strike out six batters.
“For Weston not to panic in that moment showed me a lot, and that’s why we named him the Friday night starter,” Van Tol said. “He’s got a slow heartbeat, and he doesn’t panic.”
Weston will start Friday against Northern Colorado, followed by junior Mitch Lines (Lower Columbia College) in the first game of the doubleheader and junior lefty Dawson Day (Seattle/Mt. Hood) on Sunday.
Van Tol said the Broncos will go with a pair of true freshmen in Saturday’s second game. Six-foot-5 lefty Stu Flesland and 6-6 right-hander Brayden Spears will split innings after both saw the mound in relief on Sunday.
Lefty Gavin Gorrell — a transfer from Northern Colorado — pitched four innings in relief Sunday and will fill a similar role this weekend, and Boise State hasn’t even trotted its most experienced player out to the mound yet.
Oregon State transfer Jordan Britton redshirted last season after suffering a forearm injury, and Van Tol said he won’t play until the Broncos get closer to their Mountain West opener April 3 at Air Force.
“I know what he can do. He doesn’t have to prove anything to me,” said Van Tol, who added he wasn’t sure if Britton will assume a starter’s role when he returns or work out of the bullpen. “We want him ready for our 21 conference games.”
They play nine innings for a reason
The beauty of college baseball, especially when compared to the major leagues, is there is plenty of action to keep fans captivated. Pitchers aren’t as precise and defenders aren’t as skilled, so twice as many hits means twice as many chances to get back into a game or score a big upset.
Boise State fans have to keep expectations at a reasonable level. As the Broncos’ series over the weekend showed, there is a ton of work to be done to bridge the gap between Boise State and the top programs in the country.
Creighton will prove as challenging as Texas, and the Broncos are likely to have an uphill battle against established programs at UC Davis, Seattle, Portland, BYU, Washington State and Gonzaga.
“There’s still so much more that we need to finish building. We haven’t even scratched the surface,” Van Tol said. “We don’t really know what our identity is yet because we haven’t played that many games, so all our guys are kind of sitting on the side and figuring out what their role is.”
The Broncos showed Sunday that they can’t be counted out. They trailed Texas 5-1 in the sixth inning but rallied to tie the game in the ninth. Matt Farman got on base with a two-out hit and leadoff batter Geon Hyoung Kim forced extra innings with a two-run home run.
Boise State’s first base hit in almost 40 years was recorded Friday by freshman first baseman Joe Yorke, who Van Tol described as a “big teddy bear that can hit.”
Of course, Doss’ historic home run earned plenty of praise from his coach.
“That’s how they make Disney movies,” Van Tol said.
No place like home
The most pressing concern for the Broncos moving forward is finding a permanent place to call home. This season, Boise State will play its home games at Memorial Stadium — home of the Boise Hawks. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess.
Boise State has committed to building an on-campus stadium, with estimates between $10 million and $12 million. In June 2018, the Idaho State Board of Education approved $500,000 for the planning phase.
In December 2018, the school acquired two final pieces of property just south of Albertsons Stadium to open the way for construction of a stadium between Euclid and Denver streets. But more than two years after Van Tol was hired, ground has yet to be broken.
He doesn’t know when his team will move into its permanent home, but Van Tol has been adamant that the artificial turf necessary to withstand Idaho’s winter and attract quality competition to Boise will match the blue field in Albertsons.
“Everywhere we go, everyone knows us by our blue turf,” Van Tol said. “If we show a quality facility that is artificial with lights, teams know they’re going to be able to come in here and get their games in, and that’s going to be critical for us putting together an outstanding home schedule.”
Mountain West baseball
The Broncos will compete in the Mountain West right away, but not all conference schools that field a football team also have baseball.
The conference is made up of eight teams: Boise State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, UNLV, Air Force and Nevada.
Last season, Fresno State went 20-8-1 in conference play and won the regular-season and tournament titles. The rest of the conference was bunched in the standings from 16-13 to 11-16-1.
New Mexico and San Diego State are 5-2 this season.
Ticket info
Single-game tickets are $10 adults and $8 juniors and seniors in the lower reserved sections in the home plate and third-base stands, and $6/$4 for general admission in the rest of the stadium. The field-level box seats are set aside for season-ticket holders. Season tickets range from $100 to $200.
Upcoming home games
Friday: vs. Northern Colorado, 6:35 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Northern Colorado (doubleheader), 2:05 p.m.
Sunday: vs. Northern Colorado, 1:05 p.m.
March 6: vs. Seattle, 6:35 p.m.
March 7: vs. Seattle (DH), 2:05 p.m.
March 8: vs. Seattle, 1:05 p.m.
March 9: vs. Niagara, 6:35 p.m.
March 10: vs. Niagara, 6:35 p.m.
March 11: vs. Niagara, 6:35 p.m.
Other home series: Portland (March 17-18), BYU (March 30), Utah (March 31), San Diego State (April 9-11), Nevada (April 24-26), Gonzaga (May 11-12), UNLV (May 14-16).
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 9:54 AM.
