Baseball has coach’s policies on the athletes not missing classes for practices.

According to Pitt-Johnstown baseball head coach Todd Williams, class comes first with his players.

“Baseball is second. There is overlapping, but my players do not miss classes for practice,” Williams said.

To keep scheduling straight, Williams said that he has a system to make sure he knows where each of his players are and when.

“We have sheets in our dugouts for players that are leaving late to go to class, and early to go to an evening class.

“The coaches keep track of everyone that is coming and going,” Willaims  said.

When it comes time for student-athletes to schedule for their next semester, Williams said that his athletes know what to do to avoid conflict between baseball and classes.

If any conflicts are unavoidable, Williams works with his players.

According to Williams, he works around the class schedules of each player to make times for team practices.

“We had practice in the fall at 4 in the afternoon; upperclassmen were not considered if they had classes that they could not schedule earlier.

“In the spring, we rent our practice facilities and we work around the schedules, and sometimes practice at different facilities,” Williams said.

Even with players and Williams working around schedules, there are still conflicts.

According to Williams, with players who miss practices, they practice at different times.

“We have different practices with different positions.

“Our pitchers have their bullpen workouts, which can be easily changed if conflicts occur with classes, and our infielders need reps, so they will stay after if they came late to practice and missed that workout,” Williams said.

During the season, the schedule gets more hectic for the baseball team.

The players have more practices, more away games and more travel time to go to their away games.

When the season starts in the spring, Williams said class is still first, if the athletes have to go for a test or assignment.

“If a professor schedules an exam on a day that we have a game scheduled, and will not change the test, or help the player, the test still comes first and my players will not miss it.”