The Forum

On September 23, the Archers–STLCC’s campus-wide baseball team–competed at Busch Stadium against the Falcons, the team of East Central College, a two-year university with locations in both Union and Rolla, Missouri.

The Archers played following a Cardinals game scheduled for the same day at 1:15 p.m. A special promotion was advertised on the Archers Athletics website offering one $30 ticket for entry to both the Cardinals and Archers games. “Two Games for the Price of One!” it said. What the website failed to mention, though, was that the Archers game was free. In reality, it was “One Game for the Price of One!” The ticket did include a complimentary jumbo hotdog and soda, though.

The Cardinal’s game, despite concerns that it would be rained out from a heavy downpour earlier in the day, proceeded normally on a cool, Sunday after- noon, ending with the Cardinals winning 2-1 against the Cleveland Guardians. There was a thirty-minute-or-so intermission, during which a majority of the red and white clad fans in the stadium left, but a couple dozen blue and white clad fans took their place. Whether the fans were supporting the Archers or the East Central Falcons, I couldn’t tell; the two schools have the same color palette.

The game began at approximately 4:45 p.m. to a stellar start: a score of 0-0 in the first inning. The Falcons quickly picked up the slack, though, scoring 5 runs in one inning. 

The Archers attempted to catch up, scoring a home run in the fourth inning, but couldn’t find their footing amidst the dizzyingly large stands of Busch Stadium.

Throughout the game, the Archers would tend to strike out fast and easy, an assembly line of batters rotating around first base: Swing, swing, swing, “out!” The Falcons, meanwhile, were able to keep themselves on the offensive and players on the bases much longer.

Their success might be due to their new head coach, Luke Miller, who played baseball at STLCC many years ago. 

He faced off against Scott Goodrich, the current coach of the Archers. While Miller may have been nostalgic for the opposing team, he didn’t let this blast from the past stop him from letting the Falcons show no mercy.

The last inning of the game was cut short because, as opposed to most baseball matches, it had a time limit set at 6:55 p.m.—the Sunday curfew for Busch Stadium. The announcer made the time limit well known earlier in the day by advising the teams to ‘hurry up warmups’ over the intercom. Swinging one more time, the Archers failed to score the 3 additional runs they needed to tie and lost to the Falcons 6-9. After the shortened eighth inning, the game was metaphorically and literally wrapped up; as soon as the players walked off to their pits at 6:54, workers began covering the field with a protective tarp. It almost felt like the colleges were getting evicted: “You got a taste of mega-screens keeping score and a professionally manicured field, now get out!” The two teams shook hands and the sprinkling of fans in the stands scattered out, some having been there for nearly seven hours now if they took advantage of the “Two Games for the Price of One!” deal. Either way, everyone was ready to go home after a long day of baseball at St. Louis’ premier stadium.