Baseball is just around the corner. Seriously.

BERKELEY -- If you're curious, and you might be, the playing surface at AT&T currently is covered by mounds of dirt and construction equipment. So seriously, it can't be baseball season yet, can it? Well, this morning, sports editor extraordinaire Matt O'Donnell and I rolled into China Basin for the annual Northern California College Baseball Media Day. UC Davis was invited for the first time, which makes for decent exposure for the baseball program.

The event included coaches and players from Stanford, Cal, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Saint Mary's, San Francisco, Sac State, Pacific and UCD. All spoke about the growth of college baseball over the last decade, coinciding with an article in Baseball America making a similar point.

Starting on Sunday, you can look forward to a three-day baseball preview extravaganza, touching on the changes and challenges facing the sport, recurring themes in Northern California and an in depth peek at the new-look Aggie team. UCD opens its season on Tuesday at Santa Clara. The home opener is Feb. 13 against Saint Mary's. Also, coming soon in The Enterprise's gold-top section: A look at the ongoing dispute between UCD students and the administration over just what sort of cheering is acceptable at Aggie games, full coverage of this weekend's home hoops action and a report on Zalesky-fest, Friday's wrestling match between the Aggies (coached by Lennie Zalesky) and Oregon State (coached by his little brother, Jim).