You've got to love Winthrop head coach Joe Hudek. I've referred to him as the Pat Hill of college baseball 'coz he's got that same mindset of "we'll play anyone, anytime, anywhere." Last year, the Eagles won an early series at Miami and followed that up with a series win at Alabama. As Eddie Murphy's grandmother would say, "Her-ca-lees! Her-ca-lees! Her-ca-lees!"

That's some impressive wins. The big gun was Mr. Wilson, in the season opener in Coral Gables, he went 8.2 innings to get the win. That's nearly a complete-game in the first action of the season! Unlike the mindest of most coaches, look for Hudek to give Wilson the green light... as long as he's still effective.

Also looking forward to seeing how Bruin newbies like Alden Carrithers (a transfer from UC Santa Barbara) and Mickey Weiser (a JC All American last year). Let's see how they handle the intimidating and unintimidatable presence of Wilson on the bump.

As I drove to last night's Oregon-UCLA game, off the freeway, I could see the Winthrop team practicing at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Which was a good sign, because a lot of teams come out to the west coast and think it's always warm and sunny here in Fakeland. But at night, especially in the tree-lined pocket of the Veteran's Administration grounds where JRS sits, it gets downright chilly after the sun goes down. So at least the Eagles have had a night to get used to the cool conditions they'll face during tonight's game.