Baseball team that lost 5 will play season opener

The Bluffton coach is still recovering from injuries suffered in the bus crash.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The opposing coach is talking about prayers instead of plays on the eve of the baseball season's first game for an Ohio college team that lost five players in a bus crash in Atlanta.
Bluffton University players will wear black today instead of their purple-and-white team colors in honor of teammates killed on the way to Florida when their bus plunged off an overpass March 2.
"We're still going to play hard. We will do everything within the rules to win the game," said Chuck Murray, coach of Mount St. Joseph of Cincinnati. "But if we have to lose a game this year, that would be the one we'd want to lose."
The Beavers were headed to Florida when the bus went off the overpass on Interstate 75 after the driver apparently mistook an exit ramp for a highway lane, according to investigators. Four players died that day, and a fifth died a week later. The driver and his wife also were killed. One player remains hospitalized.
When the Beavers take the field for the first time, they will be without coach James Grandey, who is recovering from breaking the bones in his face and injuring his right leg. Up to six players could miss all or part of the season with injuries.
Decision to play
The players were unanimous in their decision to play this spring, their only concern about the feelings of the families who lost sons. No one objected.
Murray, whose team also will play Bluffton twice Saturday, said playing the season will be a way for the Bluffton players to begin the healing process.
"I'm really happy that despite this tragedy that they are able to get back on the field," he said. "It's heartbreaking. I pray for them every night."
Students and teachers at Bluffton will wear the small Mennonite-affiliated school's colors today as part of Spirit Day and then will be encouraged to wear black at the game. There will be a prayer and moment of silence before the national anthem.
The bleachers, which hold about 100 fans, won't be big enough to hold the large crowd expected for the game at the 1,200-student school about 55 miles south of Toledo.
"For the players, it will be a marker that allows them to move on in some ways, but never forget that part of their team isn't with them anymore," said university President James Harder. "I think it's the right thing to do."
Coping with grief
Counselors and sports psychologists have been made available to players and students who need help coping with the grief.
The team resumed practices March 19 and hopes to make up the four games it has missed in the Heartland Collegiate Conference. Bluffton coaches and players have not been available to speak to reporters.
Athletic director Phill Talavinia said the players seem excited about the game.
"I've enjoyed -- when I'm sitting in my office -- hearing the ping of that bat again," he said of practice, which has been held indoors sometimes because of rain.
Murray fully grasps how meaningful this game is to the players and the school.
"We'll do everything to help them through this," Murray said. "It's not another baseball game. It's going to be a very emotional setting. I'll have some emotions. We know these guys. We play them every year."
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.