Thanks to some Internet social networking, I was able to reconnect with an old friend I’ve known from elementary school through my college years. We almost literally walked into each other on the first day of college walking near North Carolina’s baseball park, Boshamer Stadium, and found out we lived in Eringhaus dorm three floors apart from each other. From time to time for the next two years, we’d catch games from the north side of the dorm, which overlooks Boshamer Stadium

Unfortunately, that was a long, long time ago, almost 20 years now. Today, Mark and I got back together and went to a game at the Bosh again. It’s now Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium, a new $26 million stadium on the same footprint as the old ballpark. The new Bosh opened Friday, with North Carolina taking on Virginia Military Institute. They celebrated with a fancy cake in the press box, and BA’s Conor Glassey was there to capture the still-pristine confection.

It was cold—the usual weather for college baseball in February. But the new Bosh lives up to the billing Aaron Fitt gave it in our special web feature, which focuses on nine new ballparks.

The game was a college game in February. Plenty of scouts were on hand to see Alex White, who wasn’t sharp (yielding eight hits and three runs in five innings) but who struck out nine in five innings. They also saw Dustin Ackley with some of his usual sweet swings putting together a three-hit day, and they (and the 2,831 fans on hand) saw the Tar Heels slog their way through a three-hour, 27-minute game for a 13-3 victory.

Back almost 20 years ago, I hardly paid attention to college baseball. In that way (and many others, as my graying hair reminds me), times have certainly changed. I couldn’t wait for the opening day of the college season Friday. I’ll probably head to more games this weekend, either in Chapel Hill or at N.C. State. (Sorry, Duke, you’ve got to play a better non-conference schedule to get me out to cold Jack Coombs Field in February.) It’s one of the best things about working at BA, the anticipation of the college season and the ability to go see all these guys we wrote about in the College Preview issue.

Some things hadn’t changed, or seemed as if they hadn’t in those 18 years. Mark and I reminisced and made a lot of the same jokes we made as freshmen, reveled in some Pepper’s Pizza and enjoyed watching a baseball game at the Bosh.

Welcome, baseball season.