With finals looming and a substantial amount of class material to learn for my linear algebra and differential equations and probability classes, I headed to Evans to study on Sunday afternoon. This normally wouldn’t come as a surprise; I’m an economics and statistics major and Evans Hall is home to the mathematics, statistics and economics departments. Except I found myself on the opposite end of campus, at the other “Evans”: Evans Diamond.
Watching baseball games was one of the most memorable parts of my high school experience; I was even my school’s PA announcer at the games. After heading to an A’s game two weeks ago with a friend and having a great night, I renewed my love for live baseball and pledged to catch at least one game before end of the semester. Then came the best part: I learned that with a flash of my Cal ID, home games were free!
It was a gorgeous day, sunny with temperatures in the mid-60s and a light breeze: perfect baseball weather. The stadium was packed, with lots of families. Luckily, I was able to snag some space behind home plate so I could spread out with my backpack (turns out the seats behind home aren’t quite the best because the umpire ends up being in the sight line of the pitch). Then came the curious stares; many spectators were surprised to be hear that I’d actually try to get some studying done, but I promised myself I’d try.
The game itself was a tight one. After giving up two runs early off of an error, the game settled down with the Bears getting one back. Then came the offense explosion: the Bears strung together a series of hits, picking up 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning. We couldn’t get enough of it. But the Arizona Wildcats responded with 5 of their own in the top of 7th, taking the score to 7-6. The final innings were played without score and the Bears dropped the game in the end.
It was certainly not the outcome the fans were hoping for. However, it was undeniably a fantastic game, and I am now much, much better at solving homogeneous differential equations, so it still made for an afternoon mixed with productivity and fun.
