New London — The final out came about 5:30 p.m., the sun having since retired for the day, the wind hanging around for time and a half, leaving it a crisp 43 degrees on the (literally) frozen tundra of Mitchell College.

A most unusual backdrop for the heartwarming news that baseball returned to our corner of the world Wednesday. Mitchell and Coast Guard played amid a surreal scene of snow still entrenched in parts of foul territory and Mitchell players needing some time in the morning to shovel their turfed lawn.

"It was a long pregame. We had to pick and shovel," Mitchell coach Travis Beausoleil said, adding later that "it was 45 at gametime and wasn't so bad."

Only in the northeast.

Maybe it's days like this that should make us appreciate the names of McDonald, Walker, Davis, Leone, Campbell, Carignan, Harvey, Hahn and all the others who have made the majors from this corner of the world. They all honed their skills in this un-baseball weather, too, while many of their future counterparts from warm weather outposts had no idea of their atmospheric advantages.

Put it this way: If a police officer chased some screwball across the outfield Wednesday and yelled "freeze!" the guy would have turned around and said, "I already am!"

But then, chilly weather in the spring here is like French Fries at McDonald's. It comes with the meal.

"We're all tough. We're built for it," said Mitchell's Lelo Martinez, a New London High grad. "Maybe your fingers get a little cold. You don't really feel it when you're out there. Maybe you feel it when pitchers aren't throwing strikes and you're waiting there."

Then there was poor Dougie Delacruz of Montville and Mitchell teammate Steve Cochrane of East Haven, both of whom got drilled with fastballs. Not particularly pleasant when it's 95 out. But when there's still snow lurking around the field?

"It definitely hurts a lot more in the cold," Delacruz said.

So how does one combat the ultimate warm weather game played in conditions suitable to hang meat off the foul pole?

"Really, it's just keeping body parts warm," Delacruz said. "Sweatshirt. Two or three layers. Keep moving. Bouncing up and down or something."

The college baseball season is atypical for many reasons in New England. There are annual southern trips, where perhaps the body acclimates to warmer weather, which precede the games back on campus, where that rock rattling around in your shoe is your toe.

The season isn't all that long, either. What if the weather contributes to a crackled hamstring, quad or other body part that balks at what the smart people call "explosive, dynamic movement?"

"It's on the guys to make sure they're stretching and staying active throughout the day to make sure they don't pull anything," Beausoleil said.

Happily, both teams emerged healthy, although Coast Guard would appear to have some work to do. Mitchell won the game, 15-0.

"We don't really think much about the weather. We just want to make sure we're getting better," Beausoleil said. "We're going to make mistakes. Let's make sure they're not big mistakes. Honestly? My biggest concern is that we played a really good game. I hope our ceiling is a lot higher than it was today because we played really well."

For their chattering teeth, both teams have rewards upcoming. Coast Guard heads to Myrtle Beach for five games beginning Saturday while Mitchell goes to Florida for two weeks.

Then it's back here by mid-March in the hope that summer arrives early.

"We were just in North Carolina. It was like 60," Delacruz said. "We came up here the next day it was snowing. You try to roll with the punches."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro