Baseball helps Va. Tech return to normal

Virginia Tech's baseball program isn't among the elite in the country. Miami is suffering through a season of unmet expectations. These teams met at English Field in Blacksburg, Va., on Friday night and a stadium-record 3,132 fans witnessed it.

Miami walked away a winner as a potential game-tying home run in the ninth was snagged at the wall, leaving the Hokies on the short end of an 11-9 score.

But (cliche alert) the real winners were the Virginia Tech students and the Blacksburg community. After Monday's rampage that left 32 students and a student gunman dead, Friday's game again showed the healing power of sports, especially at the college level. Few things on a college campus mean as much to the student body as a sporting event. Few things can bring together such a collage of students together like sports.

Think back to the Texas A&M bonfire. The University of Texas cancelled its annual Hex Rally and both student communities bonded before the annual rivalry game. Even more recently, think of how LSU football brought people together after the horrors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Sure college sports has become big business and lost a bit of its soul, but it still has healing powers on campuses across the country.