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Ehe lailg (Ear Mwl NCAA Takes Measures to Drain Power From Bats Officials were concerned about the amount of scoring and the potential for injury in college baseball games. By John Zhu Staff Writer Something about aluminum bats has always irked baseball purists, whether it is the loud ping generated when one of these metallic bastardizations catches hold of a baseball or the Today's Game: Elon at UNC 3 p.m. Boshamer Stadium bloated scoring that has accompa nied the resound ing pings. The ping will continue to be a thorn in the side of purists at college games this season. But if anew NCAA bat regulation serves its intended purpose, at least the scoreboard won’t be as much of an aggravation. Taking another step to bring offenses under control, the NCAA approved a standard in September to make metal bats perform more like their wood counterparts. Under the new regulation, the exit velocity of a ball hit by non wood bats cannot exceed 97 mph, the highest average exit speed obtained in tests with Major League Baseball-quali ty, 34-inch, solid wood bats. ! The exit-velocity standard, which went fnto effect Jan. 1, comes on the heels of regulations implemented in 1999 that reduced the bat diameter and the differ ence between the bat’s weight and length. “Basically technology has taken over and made making a bat a completely dif ferent thing,” said Ty Halpin, liaison to the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee. “It was the feeling of our committee that the game was being changed drasti cally by how hard you can hit the ball and how fast it gets off the bat. The 1998 World Series championship game was 21-8. That’s more a football score than a baseball score. Not that we’re trying to take offense out of the game, just curb it” North Carolina baseball coach Mike Fox applauded the changes. Fox, who played at UNC from 1976-78, noted that today’s bats generated much more power than the first aluminum bats, which were introduced while he was in high school. “I think moving the distance of the mound, or something like that, would probably be a little too radical,” Fox said. “I think something had to be done about the bats, and this is the most logical.” Graduate Assistant AWARD \jCA. tactile***. If* JcAcfchf ELIGIBILITY FOR SELECTION Any graduate assistant in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures who is teaching in the academic year in which she/he is nominated and is in good academic standing in the department is eligible. HOW TO NOMINATE Nominations are due no later than February 23, 2000. Nomination forms are available through the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures home page and in the departmental office (Dey 238). Completed forms are to be placed in the box provided in Dey 238 or may be returned through campus mail to the Department of Romance Languages, CB #3170. Department of Romance Languages & Literatures University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Salzburg Summer Program in International Environmental Risk Analysis Where: Salzburg,Austria (one of Europe’s most beautiful cities!) When: June I -July 7,2000 Open to: both undergraduate and graduate students Credit hours: 6to 9 hours in environmental studies Classes conducted in: English Sponsors: Study Abroad, UNC’s Carolina Environmental Program and the University of Salzburg For more information, please contact Professor Douglas Crawford-Brown (919-966-6026; douglas_crawford-brown@unc.edu). % wmsp JUmjjtxfi' mis \ f V DTH/JEFF POULAND Some of the UNC baseball team's new bats rest against a batting cage during practice at Boshamer Stadium. The numbers back up the NCAA’s concerns about the imbalance in the game. Offensive statistics in Division 1 have steadily increased since the NCAA switched to aluminum bats in 1974. In 1998, Division-I teams set records in bat ting average, runs per game and home runs per game. Their collective ERA jumped to a record 6.12 that year, the first time the number had surpassed 6.00. After teams in the 1998 College World Series hit 62 home runs to shatter the pre vious record of 42 (set in ’96), the NCAA limited bat diameter to 2 5/8 inches and reduced the weight-length ratio from five units to three (meaning a 34-inch bat can’t weigh less than 31 ounces). “Two ounces doesn’t sound like much, but day after day it has an impact,” Fox said. “I think the weight of the bat prob ably had more of an impact on the small- er type of players who had to get the bat through the zone against a lively fastball.” Those changes resulted in a slight decrease in the 1999 offensive output but not enough for the NCAA to stop experimenting with the bats. Dr. Bryan Smith, a member of the Baseball Research Panel, which recom mended the exit-velocity standard, said player safety also was a factor. Smith, who is UNC’s head team physician, said balls hit with metal bats before the new regulation often reached 105 mph, creat ing excessive risk to pitchers and fielders. “There’s a certain degree of risk one Spring Break 2000 - Panama Citv Beach. Florida! SANDPIPER BEACOtf BEACH RESORT * Free l#/y River Kkle. Mini Golf. Havyvxmd. ***£ and Wafer Slide • 2 larw‘ Outdoor Swimming, IMs • SaJhoaf. ,M Ski & M Rentals i" A* * Ifcier Beaehlrnnf Hot liH> • Strifes tip fo 10 _>a?/" : * ~ neottle • Tiki Beach Burl nterfaiiHiMnf lv lioogye. Im-./liildiri Conies! ‘ • World's lin'icsf hcgl'at+v ' • \irporf I hnosine Service " t KesemKonsTl-800-iBB-8828 www.sandpiperbeacon.eom GO AWAY! And spend the summer in Paris! /■■Ms “mrßaile/ a-<l Pdui M.iiei enjoy the sights of Pans. The UNC-CH Study Abroad Office. Resident Director Dr. Ed Costello, and UNC-CH graduate student in French Jennifer Latham invite students to GO AWAY and spend the summer of 2000 study ing in the City of Lights. Applications are due by February 15, 2000. Classes include an intensive French course taught at the Sorbonne. and a History of Paris course which incorporates excursions con cerning French culture and civilization. Requirements are successful completion of two semesters of college-level French. Students will visit the major sites of Paris, plus the chateaux of Fontainebleau and Vaux-ie-Vicomte, plus Chambord and Chenonceau in the Loire Valley. Students will also have the opportu nity to attend the ballet La Sylphide at the Opera Gamier, and Don Giovanni at the Opera Bastille. - NO I.ATE APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED - The program is open to sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students in good standing at all accredited US institutions of higher education. For further information, contact the UNC-CH Study Abroad Office at (910) 962-7001. send an email to abroad@unc.edu, or consult our website at http://study-abroad.unc.edu Fall and Spring semester options are also available. Application deadline for Summer 2000 is Feb. 15,2000 Sports takes when playing baseball,” Smith said. “It’s now more within that expected risk” The NCAA has imposed a three-year moratorium on regulations so it can col lect data on bat performances. The com mittee also set up a laboratory at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell to test and certify bats from manufacturers. As of Jan. 31,48 bat models had been certified for the 2000 season. Five models used last year were also approved, but they must carry a “BESR (Ball Exit Speed Ratio) Certified” sticker to be legal. If UNC’s performance in the season opening Disney Baseball Blastoff was any indication, curbing the exit velocity won’t necessarily curb the scoring. The Tar Heels tallied 26 runs in three games en route to a 3-0 start, and Fox and his players said they had not noticed any significant difference in their bats. “The difference isn’t that drastic,” UNC outfielder Tyrell Godwin said. “If you’re a home run hitter, you’re going to hit them out with these bats, too.” Of course, the bats aren’t solely responsible for the increasing offensive fireworks. “You’ve got to realize it doesn’t mat ter if it’s wood, aluminum or plutonium. If they can’t hit it, it doesn’t matter,” UNC pitcher Derrick DePriest said. “If you’re a good enough pitcher, you can throw it where they can’t hit it no mat ter what they have in their hands.” That has been part of the problem. With many top high school hurlers opt ing for the Major League draft, there aren’t enough pitchers in the college game who can put the ball where the bat ters can’t hit it. That, along with stronger hitters as a result of better conditioning programs, has contributed to fewer pitch es landing in the catcher’s mitt and more balls touching down beyond the fence. Besides, even with anew exit-veloc ity standard equaling that of the best Major League bats, players said alu minum still clearly outperformed wood. “They’re toned down a lot, but wood’s wood,” UNC catcher Dan Moylan said. “To hit with a wood bag you’ve got to be strong and compact, and you’ve got to be mechanically sound. With the metal bat, you can get away with some flaws. That’s the difference. They’re not even close to wood bats.” Halpin said manufacturers and Heavy Metal The NCAA has enacted new regulations on aluminum bats to try to decrease the velocity of batted balls and slew down the offensive explosion that has occurred in recent years. NCAA Statistics (Team Averages) 7- 693 6- 5 4.96 iri.—— —— 5 “ " 4_ ' 3.34 2. 1 *’ 9s Pfi? -274 1970 1974* 1980 1990 1999 • Denotes the First Year of Aluminum Bats - = Scoring Per Game ........... = ■■■ = Batting Average SOURCE: NCAA coaches had been cooperative in meet ing the new standards, partly because they had more time to prepare for the change than before the 1999 season. The Tar Heels, however, did not receive their new bats for this season until last month, although the models they used last year were certified for this season. “One day they come in and say, S S ER l ~j~S DAVID DORFMAN DANCE Thurs., February 17 Bpm • Memorial Hall .W. UNC-CH L|JR "...New York-based dance company (David Dorfman Y Dance) may be tj members small and his WL blending of text, movement music may be 1 us the nature our lie tackles bigger Questions than the manic surface of h:s pieces might suggest " The Toronto Star General public: $25. s2l. sl7 unc-CH Student: sl4. sl2, $lO jSSBBBffi Jp This perform,woes rs pan of a Statewide Initiative with David Dorfman Dance, a project of the Amencan Dance Festival (Outturn). Appalachian State University (Boone), the Carolina Union at The University of Noah Carolina at Chapel Hill City Ans (Greensboro). Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place (Asheville), and numerous community partners throughout the state. This project has beer, made possible through generous support from the Charles E Culpeper I out illation, tlx* National Endowment for the Arts; the North Carolina Ans Council, an agenev funded bv the State of North Carolina and tlx* National Endowment ( or the Arts; and the Southern Ans Federation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Ails and the Nonh Carolina Ans Council. CAROLINA UNION BOX OFFICE: (919) 962-1449 fSTt] 1 I 1 |#lq i_qr* IV H ) You Asked kxiy For it... P YOU COt It! A message from your Student Health Director: Dr. Wirag Take the hassle out of healthcare... beginning Feb. 10, 2000 • “New" Central Appointment System • One number... 966-2281 • Call ahead for your next appointment Your time is very important to us! By calling ahead you will experience: • less waiting time • quicker access to our medical staff We’re always listening... check out the Student Health Service at; studenthealth.unc.edu jV i, -T < lu oS A* Wednesday, February 9, 2000 ‘You’re going to use these bats,’ and two weeks later there’s a vote, and we change over,” Godwin said. “It’s kind of frustrat ing because you never know approaching the season what you’re going to be using. You want to have everything in order.” The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu. 11
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