October is a lonely time for college baseball fans. It’s an even more lonesome time for college baseball stadiums.

Here at Eastern good intentions and poor planning have collided in move that will create a virtual fortress of solitude. The new baseball field, Coaches’ Stadium at Monier Field, is set to open sometime in October, but will not host a game until March.

Thus are the constraints of college athletics.

As professional baseball enters its prime, college baseball lies dormant. In most cases, this situation is both reasonable and acceptable, but not here.

Sometime in October, Coaches’ Stadium will open, complete with ribbon cutting, fanfare and many a thank you addressed to the legislators and donors who made the construction possible.

The new venue will come complete with all the amenities, including a new press box and seat-back chairs.

The only that missing will be the baseball.

The 560-seat back chairs will glimmer in the afternoon sun, reflecting their superiority over the rickety bleachers they replaced. But who will bare witness to their glory?

While every student and faculty member should want to take a peak at just one of the projects Eastern is throwing its cash at, ribbon cutting ceremonies aren’t known for generating huge attendance numbers.

The snipping of a ribbon, while enthralling to administrators and coaches who see it as a sign of campus progress, will fail to draw the same crowd as actual, tangible baseball.

Baseball speaks much louder than words. Coaches’ Stadium should be introduced to the campus with more than just a ribbon cutting.

An exhibition game is the answer.

An inter-gender softball battle would be interesting, but if getting both the women’s and men’s teams to face each other isn’t possible couldn’t Eastern’s baseball team play a split-squad game to christen the new field?

If rounding up the players during the off-season isn’t a feasible option than why not have high school baseball teams of Charleston and Mattoon face off in the new stadium?

If that doesn’t work field two amateur teams, one made up of students and one comprised of faculty members to battle it out in a 16-inch softball exhibition. That way there’s no need for gloves and the game would certainly be more interesting than the cutting of any ribbon.

Timing is everything and by the time the baseball season starts next spring, the new stadium will be old news.

In a perfect world, the Old Main construction would have been completed three weeks ago and the new baseball stadium would be opening in the spring and not the fall. Completion dates, however, can’t be changed.

The way the current schedule is set, Coaches’ Stadium at Monier Field will be finished next month, but only a handful of people will see its splendor until next spring.

The neatly manicured lawn, bordered by freshly chalked foul lines will be just begging to be played on. The empty stadium will yearn for the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd.

But alas, the new stadium will see its first snowfall before the first pop fly falls toward the virgin infield.

Local baseball fans have so little to look forward to that an October exhibition game would be a nice treat.

Both Illinois and Missouri shall be barren of baseball in October as it appears that the Cardinals, Cubs and White Sox will all fail to make the post-season.

In October, Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field and Busch Stadium will all be empty.

Will Eastern also let its field lay fallow?

Perhaps not. It turns out fans may get to see to some baseball after all. John Smith, assistant athletic director for development, said preliminary plans to open the stadium for Homecoming weekend are in the works. Included in the plan is a alumni game tentatively scheduled for the Sunday Oct. 13.

It’s not the World Series, but it will have to do.