Starting early

Some great names from the past in Demon baseball history were in the stands and on the hillside at Brown-Stroud Field Saturday.

I'll leave it to athletic director Greg Burke and/or others to tell you all about the reunion of the 1998 Demons. I missed that gathering while playing golf in my first-ever Chris Roper Memorial tournament at the Demon Hills Golf Course (that, too, is another story for another blog entry).

But I did get to the park midway through the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, which resulted from the high threat of a rain-soaked Sunday (the rain never came, BTW).

While the game wasn't a happy one for the Demons, who already had an impressive series win over UTA to their credit, it was a great afternoon behind the backstop.

It was a special one for lots of former Demons, none more so that the Alarios, whose deep ties to Demon baseball have been previously covered on www.nsudemons.com on the Demon Dust feature (see this link: http://www.nsudemons.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=12624&DB_OEM_ID=20000&SPSID=102191&ATCLID=1345719 ) from September 2005.

Terry Sr., and Terry Jr., both played first base and wore No. 22. Dad (1966-69) played for Coach Jack Clayton on the 1967 team that reached the NCAA playoffs. Son played (1993-94) for Jim Wells on two straight Southland Conference championship teams, including the 1994 NCAA Midwest Regional team.

The next Alario in the Demon line made his first visit to Brown-Stroud Field Saturday. Terry Jr.'s 3-year-old son played ball with his dad on top of the hill, was envious of the specially designed shoes his dad and grandad were sporting (complete with purple laces and No. 22 inset behind the heels), and made his debut on the field after the second game, running the bases about as fast as his dad used to!

Nobody loves Northwestern more than those Crescent City Demons do.

Doug Ireland, SID