There are two outs in the bottom of the ninth with the winning run in scoring position and ASU left fielder Colin Curtis walks up to the plate. He takes a couple of practice swings and steps into the batter's box as the crowd at Packard Stadium hangs on every pitch.
It's not really the preseason First Team All-American, but a virtual version of him immortalized in the first-ever NCAA college baseball video game -- "MVP 06 NCAA Baseball" from EA Sports, available in stores Thursday, Jan. 19.
"I'm not exactly a huge video game player, but I'm thinking about getting it," Curtis said. "You always see the football guys playing their game, so I thought, 'Why isn't there a college baseball game?' Now that there is, I just hope I'm not bad in it."
What is notable from an ASU point of view are the production ties the team had in the making of the game.
Graham Rossini, ASU baseball's director of operations and player development, said EA Sports contacted him in April asking for information about Packard Stadium, ranging from ballpark dimensions to the appearance of the seats.
"It was fun to be involved and see the game evolve," he said. "They wanted as much detail as we could give them, so we took about 150 pictures of anything and everything around the ballpark, from Camelback Mountain in the background to the picnic tables on the patio. We probably went above and beyond what they asked for, but they wanted to make this as authentic as possible."
NCAA rules prohibit the names and likenesses of amateur athletes from being used in a licensed game, but the makeup of the rosters in the video game are strikingly similar to that of each individual school.
"The only stipulation with us getting involved was we couldn't give (EA Sports) any information from a player standpoint," Rossini said. "But from what I understand, they looked at our roster on our website and tried to incorporate if it's a right-handed pitcher that's 6 foot 2 inches, they tried to do that as close as possible. But it's more of a coincidence than the actual player."
Rossini added that entertainment value was not the only reason ASU baseball was on board with the project.
"The game is obviously good for college baseball, but you can use anything surrounding the program for recruiting," he said. "With as many kids that play video games nowadays, we wanted to make sure our ballpark was featured in there."
Reach the reporter at derrik.miller@asu.edu.
