COVID-19 Complicates Future of UWM Baseball

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On March 12, the NCAA released a statement from President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors to cancel Men’s and Women’s Division I basketball tournaments as well as winter and spring NCAA championships. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team was just getting their season started as everything comes to a complete stop due to the spread of COVID-19.

The UW-Milwaukee baseball team had their bags packed and buses loaded to head to Wright State for an early season series. “Coach sent us a text and we had a team meeting at 1 pm that afternoon. We were told our season was postponed,” said 5th-year-senior and UWM baseball pitcher Matt Vanek. Players were sent home for spring break, with very little information but hope the season would continue.

March 16 the Horizon League released a statement cancelling all remaining competition through the remainder of academic year, ending the 2020 UWM baseball season. “I said somethings, but not all the things I wanted to say. I sent them home hoping to have some updates. Everything has been through text or phone calls but the worst part is not having any information for my players,” said UW-Milwaukee head coach Scott Doffock.

Many senior athletes are having their last season, their last moments of glory and their last experiences with coaches and teammates taken away from them. On March 30 the Division I Council voted to give spring-sport student-athletes and extended year of eligibility. Division I rules limit student-athletes to four seasons of competition in a five-year period. The Council’s decision allows schools to self-apply waivers to restore one of those seasons of competition for student-athletes who had competed while eligible in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 spring season.

This action gives some seniors back their year of eligibility but also creates more complications for collegiate teams moving forward. “There are huge implications when it comes with giving senior’s an extra year of eligibility. There will be a massive trickle down affect and the reality of it is, someone will get the short end of the stick,” says Doffock. If seniors stay in school then those Freshman, Sophomore and Junior players waiting for their chance will have to wait longer. In-coming recruits will have tougher competition to face for starting and roster spots.

Many of these student-athletes are exactly that, student-athletes who used their love for a sport and athletic ability to gain a college education. “I myself have some offers for a job after college and I am ready to start my life after school. It won’t even be baseball that I miss, but my teammates,” says Vanek. Some seniors will be graduating and ready to start their careers after school and sports, because their focus was their degree not their athletic career.

Uncertainty is still there but things will be affected none the less, head coach Doffock himself struggles with knowing what to do moving forward. “That’s the hard thing, so many unknowns, roster size, scholarship dollars. There is no one to recruit because no one is playing high school baseball,” says Doffock. The Division I Council has adjusted financial aid rules to allow teams to carry more student-athletes on scholarship being incoming recruits or student-athletes who had been in their last year of eligibility who decide to stay.

March 20th was going to be UW-Milwaukee baseball’s first home game of the season against Youngstown State University. The game was also going to be the ceremonial first home game held at Milkmen Stadium in Franklin, WI after 27 years of league play at Henry Aaron Field. “I’m a fifth year senior and playing at Henry Aaron Field just never felt like home. This new field, I mean we had name plates over our lockers, it just felt like a home stadium and we were all excited to experience it,” said Vanek.

For some that experience of playing in a new stadium will never be felt and that ceremonial home game at Milkmen Stadium will have to wait another year.