Games, studies leave little time for practice

UNLV baseball players jogged through a gate near the right-field wall and began warming up for what has been a rarity this season — practice.

The April workout was one of just 13 for the Rebels this season, and it was relatively short. Coach Buddy Gouldsmith’s mind was as much on his team’s GPA as its ERA, and he wanted his players out of Wilson Stadium by 4 p.m.

Last year, the Rebels went on the field 27 times to run bases, take batting practice and go through drills. Some sessions lasted four hours, with players often heading to the locker room as late as 5:30 p.m.

A newly condensed season, which forces teams to play up to five games per week, has led to shorter, and fewer, practices.

"Every time you add a (weekday) game, you take away a practice," Gouldsmith said. "All we’re thinking about today is, ‘Hey, we need to get out.’ "

The NCAA moved back Opening Day by three weeks but did not push back the season’s end, forcing already taxed student-athletes to play a major league-type schedule.

UNLV players missed 19 class days because of travel and competition, well above the 11 days of excused absences in 2007. Fridays do not count in the figures because the university schedules few classes on that day.

Sophomore first baseman Kyle Kretchmer said he feels the physical and mental wear.

UNLV’s two-time male scholar-athlete of the year, Kretchmer maintains a 3.95 GPA as a kinesiological sciences major.

He said he used to sleep seven to eight hours per night but now lives on four to five hours of sleep, often staying up until 2 or 3 a.m. to finish class work. Sometimes that’s not enough, and he pulls an all-nighter.

"I’ve learned to be able to do homework on buses and plane trips just because that’s what you’ve got to do," Kretchmer said. "If you get 10 minutes here or 10 minutes there, you’ve just got to concentrate more and more, especially with my degree."

To make up for missed time, Kretchmer established residence in professors’ offices and stays in contact with them on the phone and through e-mail.

"There’s no free time anymore," Kretchmer said. "No TV. No hanging out with friends. Just basically school and baseball and then as much sleep as I can get."

All-America candidate Xavier Scruggs, a junior first baseman, helped himself by signing up for in-season classes that require more paperwork than tests.

"I just try to separate that time that I need for homework to do it, but my sleeping hours are the same," Scruggs said.