A BIG EAST Tournament Primer

There’s zero useful information here unless that’s what you want.

PRASCO Park is a strange place.

It’s this bizarre marriage between evangelical Christianity and baseball. Like someone tossed the entire bible belt and a baseball into a blender let that fucker whirr until they had a fine slurry to dump onto a patch of grass. Upon walking into the ballpark you’re assaulted by the PRASCO logo that’s a mix of Illuminati and cult, a crescent moon rising underneath a pyramid.

From there, you’ve got only christian music blasting on the soundsystem. Modern sounding hip-hop and pop country that’s clear of profanity and sends a message about being saved and loved by Jesus and God.

Speaking of the profanities - there’s a strict no swearing rule. Wanna let a motherfucker fly? Well the exit’s going to be your next step, buddy. Feeling a oh shit! coming on? Might as well grab yourself by your belt and toss your own ass out onto the pavement.

The crown jewel of the concourse is the bible wagon. It possesses free bibles and literature about being Saved. You can sign prayer cards. There’s mission statements about how PRASCO is all about god or whatever. Just like all corporations should be!

Beyond that, concessions are free. Ice cream is free. Tickets are free. There’s no beer or wine or liquor. It’s a perfectly cromulent ballpark to host this tournament. They even moved the left-center power gap back after the insane dongshow that was the 2019 tournament. It has a cute little party porch down the right field line, built in red-brick, that pops and glows in contrast to the outfield turf. The dark brown infield conditioner ties it all up in a beautiful little diamond.

Like I said, perfectly cromulent.

There is, however, a counter-culture element to this comfy evangelical atmosphere.

It’s this coked out Mr. Red.

I guess I should talk about baseball.

UConn won the regular season with a 13-4 record. They didn’t play Creighton or Butler. They’ve got player of the year in outfielder Kyler Fedko. They’re really good… I think? I never saw them play but everyone tells me they’re good.

Creighton is good and fun and pure. I enjoy watching them play baseball. They’re fundamentally sound. They’re going to need more consistency in the lineup in order to win this; their bullpen is deep enough to win in a tournament setting, their starting rotation is pretty fucking salty, but they need production from more than just Mantle, Roden, and Upton in order to win.

Seton Hall is weird. Friday starter Ryan McLinksey has been pretty damn good all year. They have a bonafide closer in David Festa. The rest of their bullpen is fine but has lost them a few games this year. If they want to win the whole thing they’re going to need that ‘pen to lock things down. Shep’s teams love to put pressure on pitchers with action baseball and it makes it a scary proposition to succumb to a Pirate lead. Likewise, when they get in a hole, they struggle to get out of it. It’s pure risk-reward and it makes every game they play a lot of fun.

Xavier just fucking mashes the baseball. Their pitching can be suspect at times, especially when you dip into the bullpen, but they’re quite apt at putting crooked numbers up on the scoreboard, so that occasionally doesn’t come into play. They can mash their way into championships, and PRASCO’s dimensions certainly helps them out in that regard. They’ll never be out of a game here.

Predictions:

We’re gonna have some fucking fun, baby!