Boise State baseball coach Gary Van Tol offered all his seniors an extra year. Two accepted.
Outfielder Michael Hicks heard rumors that Boise State was going to bring baseball back when he was at Coeur d’Alene High.
Catcher Cory Meyer, a native of Pocatello, heard the Broncos were bringing baseball back early in his career at Washington State, and he knew Gary Van Tol was going to be the coach before any official announcement was made.
Before they ever took the diamond for the Broncos in an official game, both seniors left established programs and spent a year laying the foundation for Boise State’s first baseball team in 40 years.
And both saw what was supposed to be their final collegiate seasons cut short March 12 when the NCAA canceled all remaining winter and spring championships in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“I think I was kind of in shock for about a week,” said Hicks, who led the Broncos with a .386 batting average. “It just didn’t seem real. We thought everything was going to be postponed, but once we saw March Madness and the College World Series get canceled, I knew there was no stopping where this thing could go.”
College athletic departments across the country are still waiting for answers about when sports will resume, but Boise State’s baseball team at least has some answers about which of its seniors will be back next season.
The NCAA voted March 30 to give schools the option to extend an extra year of eligibility to spring athletes. Meyer and Hicks both accepted Van Tol’s offer, while fellow seniors Jordan Britton and Cameron Sommer will not return.
A third senior, pitcher Jake Nelson, will also return after he was granted a sixth year of eligibility before the pandemic shut everything down.
“To get your starting catcher and your No. 3 hole hitter back is huge,” Van Tol said. “These guys have sacrificed a lot, and I just felt like if they got the chance to come back, the right thing to do was to honor the commitments we made to them.”
The struggle for many programs with players returning is figuring out how to pay for it, and Boise State is no different.
“Due to current losses in revenue and not knowing what lies ahead, we have told our coaches there will not be additional scholarship money available,” Boise State Athletic Director Curt Apsey said in a statement released last week. “Seniors who would like to return for another season will have to fit into the resources we already have.”
Accommodating the extra players won’t be a problem for Boise State’s baseball team, though. This spring, Van Tol capped his roster at 32 players instead of the 35 allowed by the NCAA. And after adding just three incoming freshmen, he said the team’s expenses will remain virtually unchanged next year.
“These guys came in here to a brand new program, and they believed in the same vision I have,” Van Tol said. “These are the guys I want to go to battle with.”
For Meyer, another year on the diamond is one more chance to prove the doctor who said he may never play baseball again wrong.
He suffered a herniated disk in his back during his sophomore season at Washington State. After the pain got so bad that he couldn’t tie his own shoes or sit for long, much less squat behind home plate, he went in for surgery before his junior season.
After rehabbing at a faster pace than expected and impressing in his first scrimmage appearance, Meyer played in just one series that year against Cal, which cost him that season of eligibility.
He knew Van Tol from playing for him on the Idaho Cubs when he was in high school, and once he got his release, Meyer knew Boise State was where he wanted to finish his career.
“To actually get the opportunity to play here for Gary, that meant everything,” said Meyer, who is pursuing a master’s degree in athletic leadership and hopes to one day become a coach. “It’s awesome to be around coaches who view you as more than a baseball player.”
Meyer started six of the 14 games the Broncos got in before the season was canceled, and Van Tol said he quickly developed a rapport with whichever pitcher he was catching.
“We let our catchers manage the game because they have the best seat in the house, and they have the best feel because of that seat,” Van Tol said. “Cory has spent a year with all of our pitchers, so he’s going to be much more polished and have a better understanding for how each of them operates.”
Hicks called Boise State his dream school, and he flourished enough at the plate that he was named the best senior in the Mountain West by D1baseball.com. He started all 14 games and finished with 11 RBIs and eight doubles.
He said his success wasn’t the result of any adjustment he made at the plate. It was more a product of a program and coaching staff that put an emphasis on growth over wins.
“It’s being part of a program that allows you to be who you are,” Hicks said. “It’s awesome being able to play loose and not looking over my shoulder and thinking, ‘If I strike out here, am I going to get yanked?’ ”
Hicks said he flirted with the idea of going pro, but the suspension of the minor league season and the prospect of an altered MLB Draft convinced him that coming back was the right move. Van Tol said if Hicks keeps hitting the ball the way he did this spring, he’ll be playing at the next level before long.
“He’s got a big-league tool, and that’s his power,” Van Tol said. “Just with his physical presence, you know he’s got a chance to do some damage, and that changes defensive alignments.”
