When you think of homecoming, the last thing that likely comes to mind is the crack of a baseball bat.
    In fact, in college baseball, it’s usually more of a “ping.”
    But those two things will converge Friday, November 5 as the Georgia Southern baseball team hosts a homecoming cookout, as well as a scrimmage featuring wooden bats, to culminate fall camp.
                                            “This is really the first time we’ve opened it to the public, and we don’t really know what to expect, but I think it’s a great weekend to do it,” said GSU coach Rodney Hennon. “With all that’s going on with homecoming — the App State game on Saturday and the basketball scrimmage — I think it’s a nice way for our guys to wrap up fall practice.”
    Fall practice has been a little different this year, as the Eagles have used wooden bats throughout all five weeks. The NCAA once again changed the protocol for the metal bats allowed in the game, and while the manufacturing companies work to meet the new standards, GSU hasn’t been able to get its hands on the new style of bats.
    “What’s going on right now is the NCAA has changed the bat standard. All the bat companies are experimenting and there’s some prototypes that are out there, but there’s a limited number of those, and we have been unable to get anything,” Hennon said. “We haven’t been able to use the bat we’ll be using in the spring. From talking to people it seems like it’s going to play closer to wooden bats than aluminum, so we felt like it would be in our best interest to go ahead and use wood bats.”
    The Eagles — who set the NCAA record for home runs in a single game in 2008 with 14 against Columbia — have had to adjust to the new equipment.
    “It definitely changes the game,” said Hennon. “It’s going to be that much more important to be able to do the little things. It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out.”
    So far, the pitching has had the upper hand.
    “Our pitching has probably gotten the best of our hitters for most of the fall,” said the GSU coach. “Right now those guys have been pitching with a lot of confidence. I think we have a chance to have more depth than maybe we had a year ago. That’s what you want to see.
    “Base on balls have been cut down, I think we’ve done a better job with the run game and two of our catchers that we’ve brought in have done a good job. Our pitchers have done a better job holding runners.”
    The dinner, which will feature low country boil, will be available to the public at 6 p.m. and the following scrimmage, also open to the public, looks to be as much a treat for the players as it is for the fans.
    “When you’re out here for five weeks and you don’t get to play outside competition, it tends to get a little monotonous, so it’s different,” said Hennon. “You flip the lights on and you get fans in the stands.”
    The scrimmage will simulate a complete nine-inning game, but due to some fall injuries, some players may shuttle between both teams. Everything else will be as close to a game-day experience as they can make it.
    “We’ll try to make it as realistic as we can,” Hennon said. “It’s really the only opportunity we’ll have to do something like this until February.”

    Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.