Here's the full article from the Denton Record Chronicle
College baseball on its way to Denton?
Group looks to join TCL as UNTseeks to add program
09:12 AM CDT on Thursday, June 24, 2004
By Brett Vito / Staff Writer
Denton could soon be home to a franchise in the Texas Collegiate Baseball League.
And a team at North Texas might not be too far behind.
"We are looking to get a team in Denton," said John Hampton, a member of the group trying to found a TCL team. "We have been working on getting a team together since the beginning of the year and hope to make an announcement on July 12."
Rick Villarreal
The TCL was founded this year and has franchises in cites in the Dallas area, including Highland Park and McKinney. TCL teams feature college players. The league currently has eight teams.
Members of the group trying to found a team in Denton said they are considering building a stadium on UNT property. A TCL team would use the stadium over the summer, leaving open the possibility a college team could use it during the school year.
"I have said since Day 1 that baseball is something that needs to be back on this campus," UNT Athletic Director Rick Villarreal said. "I don’t want to say that it is definitely going to happen, but if we can help maintain a park and have a place for our club team to play that would generate interest in baseball and help generate the dollars to help us play baseball."
Villarreal named building a stadium as the biggest obstacle to starting a baseball program at UNT.
"Even though the budget of running a sport has a price, it’s usually whether you have a venue that determines if you play the game," Villarreal said. "Having a venue that is capable of hosting collegiate baseball would put us in a better position to bring baseball back."
UNT’s club team competes against junior college and small college teams.
If UNT decides to add a varsity team, it would become a part of arguably the Sun Belt Conference’s strongest league.
The Sun Belt has had at least two teams advance to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 16 years. The Texas Rangers selected New Orleans pitcher Thomas Diamond with the 10th overall pick in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft this spring.
Texas has traditionally been a strong state for collegiate baseball.
"All you have to do is look around at the other universities in Texas like Rice, Texas and Texas A&M and see the success they have had," Villarreal said. "You look at where all of their players are from. It would be a natural fit here."
The addition of a baseball team would also address what was considered a weaknesses of UNT’s program when the school was a candidate for membership in Conference USA earlier this year.
The league eventually invited four teams from the Southwest in two phases. Tulsa, SMU and Rice were all invited in an initial round of expansion. UTEP later received a bid after the conference also considered Louisiana Tech and UNT.
UNT fielded a varsity baseball team from 1984-88 before disbanding the program. The team struggled throughout its five seasons and posted its best campaigns in 1985 and 88 when the Eagles won 14 games.
Reinstating its baseball program would follow trend at UNT, which reinstated its softball team that last played from 1985-88. The Mean Green completed their first season in the program’s new era this spring.
The addition of a softball team helped address UNT’s Title IX concerns. Title IX legislation requires that women receive equal opportunities and treatment at schools receiving federal funds.
"In order for baseball to be viable here we would have to look at our whole program," Villarreal said. "It’s not something we could add and move on. Every time we make a move, we look at all the factors that would affect the whole program."
UNT could consider adding another women’s program to balance the number of female and male athletes in its program.
Ryan baseball coach Bret Warnack said a summer collegiate league team and a new program at UNT could thrive in Denton if a deal to build a stadium can be finalized.
"I wished for a long time that we had [a summer league team]," Warnack said." It would be an opportunity for our local college players, and kids would be able to see games."
There would also be a wealth of local talent for a new program at UNT to draw from if it fielded a team. Ryan has advanced to the Class 4A state title game in each of the last two years, while Ponder fell in the Class 2A finals this year.
There are also a number of top high school programs in the Dallas area, which has produced several of the top players in the Big 12 Conference.
"The Metroplex and the Denton areas have a lot of good players." Warnack said. "We have had some good players and so have Denton and Ponder. There would be a tremendous amount of talent to draw from."
BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870.
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