I take it back. Last week I wrote how I was happy for it to be spring and it was a time for new beginnings; this week is a different story.

The weekend weather was not something most people would desire after a week-long stint of temperatures in the 60s and 70s.

The Eastern baseball team may just think otherwise.

As the weather got colder and there was even a sight of snow Saturday, the Panther bats got warmer.

How warm, you ask?

Eastern scorched Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne in its four-game weekend series taking three games and scoring a combined 44 runs.

Senior catcher Bret Pignatiello’s bat was so hot that he put up National Player of the Week honors. He belted five home runs, scoring eight runs and drove in seven.

The hitting wasn’t the only thing that improved for the Panthers. Senior starter Damon White earned Ohio Valley Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week honors with a four-hit performance in the first game of the series against IPFW.

In its previous 21 games, Eastern scored just 74 runs and held an overall team batting average of .234. Opponents batted .298 while scoring 174 times.

Most of those first games were played in warm, sunny cities in the south. The Panthers played their first three games in Arkansas, the next three in Alabama and then had a seven-game trip during spring break to Florida.

The Panthers went 4-8 during that stretch and probably couldn’t wait to get back to good ol’ Coaches’ Stadium and the crazy Central Illinois weather. Well, maybe a few would have liked to stay in the sun for a few more days.

So all I am trying to say is that we need to get a little climate control system here in Charleston when Eastern has home games.

When they renovated the baseball field last season they forgot to include one thing. And no, I’m not talking about comfortable seats, though I wouldn’t mind if the blue plastic back-killers were replaced.

I am talking about a nice little dome where we can control the temperature on the field. Forget the field turf at O’Brien Stadium. The football team can do just fine without it.

Rich McDuffie and the athletic department needs to take care of the baseball players so fans can see Pignatiello continue to smash long bombs over the Coaches’ Stadium fence and see White strike out ten batters each game.

Imagine how great that would be. A dome would bring in some solid recruits and the baseball team wouldn’t have to wait forever to practice on decent facilities.

The football team already attracts players from far off places such as Florida, and grass is what real football is all about.

So instead of looking for bids on the field turf approval, let’s start designing ideas on Post-Olney Dome, which is named after all the players who jet from Olney College into a Panther uniform.

Just think about it.