Sophomore Reid Pittard swings at a pitch during DePauw's against
Denison University earlier this season.
The Tigers dropped their first game to the Big Red before winning
the second and fourth game finishing 2-2 on the weekend.
BROCK TURNER / THE DEPAUW
On March 26, the DePauw baseball team took on Goliath—that is, a Division I team—and won. While down south over spring break, the Tigers made a trip to Georgia State University, who upset Baylor University in the first round of the NCAA tournament and pulled a David, winning 6-2.
“Everything was clicking for us in that game,” junior Wyatt Spector said. “Mike Hammel pitched a great game and our defense was strong. We made less mistakes than they did and sometimes that's what you need to do to win.”
It’s pretty rare for DePauw University teams to play, let alone win, against Division I opponents. They’re hard to schedule for coaches for multiple reasons and the scheduling process is already complicated enough.
Athletic Director Stevie Baker-Watson talking about the scheduling process said, “Each of our sports teams have different maximum and minimum requirements for number of contests that the NCAA sets. The coaches start with that requirement when it comes to determining their schedule, subtracting their in-conference games and then find non-conference games that meet a requirement of needs.”
These needs include things like minimizing missed class time, finding regional opponents and the highest quality of competition.
Sometimes coaches are able to schedule games that meet all these needs, like the volleyball program.
“They’re able to go to a tournament in Chicago for a weekend and play top level competition,” Baker-Watson said.
Not all programs have it as easy, such as the field hockey team.
“The farthest we have ever had to travel was ten hours to our first weekend against two non-conference teams,” first-year Reilly Bruce said.
“For field hockey it’s harder, there is some close competition, but typically they have to travel further,” Baker-Watson said.
Having to travel such long distances can be both a positive and a negative for a team.
“It was really hard having a long trip and we all were tired and our bodies were very tight,” Bruce said.
The positive aspect of traveling is that it offers a different level of team bonding.
“Personally I like to travel I think the trip bring our team closer as a whole,” another first-year Maddy Burds said. But she also agreed with Bruce.
“There is a certain aspect to traveling that can hurt performance,” Burds went on to say. “They are places and schedules you are not used to. So for example if we get to a hotel really late one night and have to wake up early to play the next game that can definitely hurt your game play.”
These long trips for field hockey also makes academics extremely difficult to keep up with.
Burds said, “Academics are hard on the road especially when you are like me and cannot read on buses. We do have some free time at the hotels to do work but its hard to really keep up.”
While the field hockey team had not played a Division I or II team this year, they are planning on playing a Division II opponent at the beginning of next season.
“I am really excited to play a division different then us to say how we compare,” Burds said.
The most common way DePauw teams compete against Division I teams are from an established relationship.
“We can develop a relationship with an institution and go back and forth,” Baker-Watson said. “It’s very rare. From a DI or DII perspective there isn’t a lot of incentive to play us.”
An example of this relationship is a basketball scrimmage between Butler and DePauw last year. Current senior Bob Dillon not only found it beneficial, but fun.
“It was a blast,” Dillon said. “Playing in that gym and playing against a team that has gotten to the Final Four in years past was my favorite game of the year.”
While the level of athleticism is stepped up a notch for Division I programs, the Tigers still managed to compete, falling to the Bulldogs 68-93.
“They're a lot stronger and faster than we usually see at the DIII level and anytime you play a team, especially of the caliber program like Butler you gain a tremendous amount of experience from it,” Dillon said. “Very beneficial for the team and it was a confidence booster for our guys being able to go out there and compete.”
DePauw had held a connection with Butler through Brad Stevens, who is now the head coach of the Boston Celtics.
While it’s rare to play upper division teams, DePauw’s athletes don’t shy away from it.
“I think that would be a great idea for our field hockey team to play a DI team,” Bruce said. “Playing against a great team would show our team a whole new level of the game and give us a goal for the season.”