He lay motionless.

His head quickly swelled like a balloon. The hearts of all Huskie players and fans dipped at one moment.

NIU pitcher Mark Badgley had been struck in the temple by a sizzling line drive off the bat of Bradley’s Mark Santoro. Badgley escaped with his health intact, but his injury is just one of many.

Horrific injuries, like that suffered by Badgley in April 2005, have been prevalent throughout college baseball, and many place the blame on aluminium bats.

Despite the injuries, colleges continue to use aluminum bats. Some believe the reason is economics.

NIU head baseball coach Ed Mathey believes inexperience with wood bats would make broken bats more prevalent at the college level than the professional, which could also potentially impact clubs from a financial level by having to continue purchasing new bats.

“College players are less experienced swinging a wooden bat,” Mathey said. “At this level, we would have a lot more broken bats.”

NIU design......