Raiders make last baseball trip to Cleveland State

Horizon League baseball

Standings

WSU remaining schedule

* Doubleheader

The Wright State baseball team spent Friday touring the Cleveland Indians’ Progressive Field and watching a game against the Seattle Mariners at the invitation of Joe Smith, an Indians reliever and former WSU star.

The Raiders traveled to Cleveland a day before facing Cleveland State in a Horizon League doubleheader today. The trip, though, will be the team’s last to the city for a league game.

Cleveland State announced earlier this month that it will discontinue its baseball program following the season as part of athletic department budget cuts, leaving the league with six baseball programs.

Aside from the loss of colleagues and players, league coaches also feel the pinch of an automatic NCAA tournament berth on the line. The minimum teams required for a league’s automatic spot in the tournament is six, meaning the Horizon League hopes to protect its remaining teams.

“It’s so sad to see them drop, and I feel bad for their players and coaches,” said WSU coach Rob Cooper. “The next immediate thing as far as baseball is concerned is making sure we don’t drop below (six league teams). I don’t foresee that happening.”

Of the Horizon League’s nine team sports, baseball will have the fewest teams when CSU drops baseball. The only sports that include all 10 member schools are men’s and women’s basketball, and five others (men’s and women’s soccer, softball, women’s tennis and volleyball) have nine teams.

Once the baseball season ends, Wright State will be one of three HL schools, along with Butler and Valparaiso, to sponsor all nine team sports. WSU Athletic Director Bob Grant said maintaining such support has not been simple, as the department has cut $1 million, or 10 percent of its budget, in the past two years.

“It’s a sobering reminder of how tough the economics in our business are,” Grant said of Cleveland State’s decision. “We’re as lean and mean as we can possibly be, and I think (Cleveland State is) going through a similar period.”

Cooper said he and colleagues throughout baseball are increasingly worried about college programs as departments look for cuts.

Baseball can be a quick target as schools contend with concerns about Title IX, the federal law that mandates equal opportunities for men and women.

Baseball rosters average about 33 players, although programs spread the limit of 11.7 scholarships throughout those players. That means as much as two-thirds of the tuition for the baseball team is paid by the players and their families, Cooper said.

Statistically, baseball has remained stable, with 333 Division I programs as of 2008-09 compared with 312 in 1998-99, but baseball officials remain concerned, he said.

“If you have to reduce, you kind of have to look at men’s programs because of Title IX,” Cooper said. “Universities won’t take away from football or basketball, because they generate revenue. We don’t generate money, per se.”

But the Raiders have generated success. Since 2001, spanning the coaching stints of Ron Nischwitz (867-714-7 from 1975-2004) and Cooper (187-160 from 2005 to present), WSU is 150-106 in the Horizon League. The Raiders have also played in four of the past five HL tournament finals with two championships and two NCAA tournament appearances in that span.

“Unbelievably stable,” Grant said of the WSU baseball program. “I think we’re one of the bullies on the block not only in our league but in the Midwest.

“It’s troubling to see baseball programs go by the wayside, but that’s part of the economic reality. Everyone has choices to make.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel @DaytonDailyNews.com.