Owain Evans
ASU Student Journalist

Smiles all round after "Baseball Day Arizona"

April 16, 2019 by Owain Evans, Arizona State University


Corona del Sol defeated rival Desert Vista, 11-3, in a game at Chase Field. (Photo: Owain Evans/AZPreps365)

It’s April, and another high school baseball game was in the books. On his way out, Desert Vista coach Cody Brassfield stopped to answer questions, saying that the team “had a great time.”

The Thunder had just lost, 11-3 -- a score that hardly suggests they’d been having a party. So why so happy?

They’d just opened the first "Baseball Day Arizona" at Chase Field, live on television.

Some players made the most of that stage this past Saturday. A spectacular catch by Thunder catcher Jax Chapman was seen on Twitter by over 20,000 people -- more than six times the number enrolled in his school.

“I do know a lot of family back home [were watching on TV],” Corona del Sol infielder Brian Kalmer said. “They couldn’t make it, they were watching and hopefully I made them proud.” Tuned in to Fox Sports Arizona, they saw him hit a home run into the left bleachers in the first inning.

For Corona, this was far from the first highlight of their season. They already claimed the crown at the Boras Classic of Arizona, and just a week prior were in Cary, North Carolina, with 15 of the nation's best teams for USA Baseball’s National High School Invitational. Yet there was something special about playing at Chase Field.

“It’s a dream,” catcher-turned-starting pitcher Jack Schobinger said of being on the mound at Chase. “Not many people get to do it, and I’m one of them. That was awesome.”

For veteran coaches like the Aztecs’ Dave Webb, the feeling is one that’s been seen time and time again.

“All the kids grow up watching the D-backs and they get on this field…every time they look at it and go ‘we’re really playing here’,” he said.

“It’s almost surreal for them because they grew up playing baseball in the Valley and they watched the D-backs and they watched baseball on TV. They come to games. To be on the field, it’s a surreal experience.”

By most measures, the inaugural Baseball Day Arizona was a roaring success. According to Fox Sports Arizona, #BaseballDayAZ even ended up trending internationally on Twitter.

Now, with the season coming to its close, two questions have appeared on the lips of many high school players: ‘When can we do this again, and how do we get involved?’