The fastballs will not pop as loudly, or be clobbered so easily. The 6-4-3 might be just the 6-4. The uniforms baggier, the tempers hotter.

New NIU head baseball Coach Spanky McFarland has no scholarships to offer the young men who will fill the new program’s lineup card on the first day of the 1991 season. He will have seven to offer next year’s prospects.

“We (NIU athletics) decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to recruit kids who might not be good enough to make the team in a couple of years,” McFarland explained. When he opens tryouts Sept. 4, McFarland will bargain with: 1) whatever charm DeKalb offers, and 2) the chance for players overlooked by bigger, or more established schools to play Division I baseball right away, something McFarland said is promised but rarely delivered. For a couple of years, it’s a promise McFarland will have to honor.

“That might pull us together,” said McFarland, who has a .656 winning percentage in his 13-year coaching career. “We’re gonna be a bunch of guys nobody wanted.”

More, McFarland will have only a graduate assistant to mold the muddy clay, at least for the first year. Along with other college and major league scouts, McFarland is circling the summer high school tournament circuit, timing, charting and talking. Again he is disadvantaged by the newness of the program. He has to go through the small-talk stage with area coaches, gaining respect and trust. While other college coaches are holding radar guns, he is holding a phone—ordering equipment or initiating alumni relations.

McFarland is overseeing the construction of a diamond and has 31 of the 40 or so spring games scheduled. The Huskies cannot compete for the Mid-Continent Conference crown their first year and most likely will not be able to. McFarland has scheduled more Division II and III schools than is usual, but will play four games each against MCC schools Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Northern Iowa. The MCC has no automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The first step, the tryouts, will be themed “Field of Dreams,” McFarland said. He expects more than 100 hopefuls.

“The coach in me says we can win next year,” said McFarland, who has helped coach one Atlantic Coast Conference champion (Georgia Tech) and two Sun Belt Conference winners (South Florida). “The realist in me says we’ll take some losses.”