Seahawks ace Roupp takes the ball on Saturday

VCU (0-0) at UNCW (0-0)

It’s been 346 days since the Seahawks surrounded home plate to celebrate, jumping for joy that night in March when Matt Suggs’ bomb lifted UNCW to a walkoff win over ECU on March 11.

It was the cusp of Springtime in the South and maybe, too, the cusp of something for a team that that was finding its footing and had shown the potential for a few more celebrations long after the Azaleas had bloomed.

Little did we know, that would be the final image of the 2020 Seahawks, who several days later, found out their season was ending with the rest of college baseball due to COVID-19.

This weekend’s series:

Saturday, 4 p.m. | Seahawk Digital Network
Sunday, 2 p.m. | Seahawk Digital Network
Monday, 3 p.m. | FloSports

And here we are on February 20, 11 months into a pandemic that has changed so much of how we go about our business.

But some things haven’t changed.

Just after 2 p.m. today, a UNCW baseball team poised to compete for a CAA championship will run out onto Brooks Field, led by a coach who patiently waited his turn next to a legend.

A program that has always defied the odds and done more with less will again roll out a lineup of kids from North Carolina — some that weren’t big enough, fast enough or strong enough for other programs — who used those doubts to fuel their careers in Wilmington.

It’s easy to romanticize Opening Day in a normal season; it’s even easier after one of the darkest winters in our nation’s history, grasping for normalcy and any glimmer of optimism that good fortune — in baseball or otherwise — might lie in the months ahead.

And boy, does hope spring eternal for the Seahawks.

The CAA’s preseason player of the year and UNCW ace Landen Roupp gets the ball for today’s opener looking to build on his success in the abbreviated 2020 season where he allowed six earned runs in 27 innings while striking out 30 batters.

Followed by fifth-year senior Luke Gesell on Saturday, the Seahawks boast the league’s best 1-2 punch on the weekend, with promising freshman Ethan Chenault getting the ball on Monday.

It’s no secret that pitching depth is what separates Power Five programs from mid-majors, and thanks to this season’s circumstances leading to transfers and extended eligibility, UNCW might have its best top-to-bottom staff since the program’s breakthrough in the early 2000s.

Add to that a lineup that features fifth-year senior Cole Weiss, who might be the league’s best position player, and exciting youngsters like Trevor Marsh, Brooks Baldwin and Ron Evans, and the Seahawks have the makings of another potent offense.

It might take some time for everyone to find a rhythm this season, as COVID-19 protocols have altered how every team has been able to spend time together on and off the field.

VCU arrives at Brooks Field as the Atlantic 10 favorite, offering a chance to get ahead of the curve in stacking up meaningful nonconference wins.

Plenty more opportunity lies ahead on the schedule thanks to nonconference matchups with Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, ECU, N.C. State and North Carolina. The CAA’s divisional alignment means double the chances against Charleston and Elon, too.

Most importantly though, there’s no reason to believe this season will end with phone calls and meetings.

And there’s every reason to believe that the Seahawks will stick around long enough to play into those warm summer evenings, maybe even with a few fans at Brooks Field to help celebrate a return to normalcy and those better days we’ve been dreaming about for so long.

At the very least, our days are a whole lot better with UNCW baseball back.

At the most, well, we’ll find out exactly how much better they are in June.