When it comes to the cream of the crop in NCAA baseball, several teams might come to mind. There’s Texas, winners of the 2002 and 2005 College World Series, and Louisiana State, which claimed five titles from 1991 to 2000.
Of course there’s also Southern California, which proudly owns 12 trophies since the inauguration of the championship in 1947.
So, when EA Sports designers plotted the development of the original MVP NCAA College Baseball video game last year, it was only fitting that these teams received first priority.
Detailed player statistics of previous seasons, accurate numbers and positions and even hometowns were expected. But what about the rest of the baseball community,
namely teams like Temple, which don’t regularly reach the College World Series?
The Owls were left out of last year’s MVP NCAA College Baseball 2006. But when the 2007 edition hit shelves earlier this month, the Owls were included with the rest of the Atlantic Ten Conference.
But to the dismay of two Owls, the accuracy
of the attributes and information included for every player were sub par.
“All the numbers are wrong, and the pitching staff’s not right either,” first baseman Lenny DelGrippo said. “There are no stats from last year, nothing like that. I mean the only thing that’s correct is that it has our positions lined up with the correct batting order.”
The players said being represented in the game, which was released Feb. 6, is certainly an upgrade, but said they were dissatisfied that the necessary research was not taken to create more precise rosters.
“They don’t look like us,” pitcher Eric Fritz said. “The height and weight and numbers are all messed up, so they are just characters out there. I kind of expected it, but I was a little disappointed.”
“I expected there was going to be a few flaws, but I thought it was going to be a little bit better than what it was,” DelGrippo said.
Naturally, whenever Fritz and DelGrippo get the chance to play the game, they use the Owls. They said they enjoy taking on the rest of the country virtually, just as they will be doing in reality this season.
“It will be cool to actually see me out there, and I will play with us,” Fritz said.
Anthony Stipa can be reached at anthonystipa@temple.edu.
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