“I’m excited to get rolling here,” said Boss, who is in his first year with the Spartans after coaching at Eastern Michigan. “I wanted our guys to know that we’re the first team in the country that’s going to start and we’re ready to roll. There isn’t going to be anybody that gets a head start on us, and we don’t want to miss a minute.”

The Spartans, coming off a 24-29 record in 2008, planned to practice from midnight until 3 a.m. early Sunday morning, spending two hours in the football building before going to the indoor hitting facility at Old College Field to spend an hour in the batting cages.

It’s the first team practice for the Spartans since they got together for two hours in early January.

For about three weeks, coaches have been able to work with different position groups twice a week, due to NCAA regulations that allow teams only two hours a week to work with players.

Junior outfielder Chris Roberts, who led the team with a .363 batting average in 2008, said he and his teammates prepared for the early morning practice session by sleeping periodically throughout the day. Regardless of the oddly timed practice, Roberts said he was excited about Boss’ “interesting” concept.

“Baseball’s kind of weird where you have to wait all year to get going and it’s kind of a tease watching all these other teams get going,” Roberts said. “So we’re ready to just get ready to go and everyone’s at the point where the season’s right around the corner and we’re ready to get after it and hit the field.”

Boss said he knew of southern and western schools doing something similar to open the practice schedule, such as a home run derby or an inter-squad scrimmage, but wasn’t sure of any team in the northern states getting an especially early start. Given MSU’s location in the Eastern time zone, it’s possible the Spartans were the first NCAA team to practice in 2009.

Last season, Boss used the same tactic with Eastern Michigan in his only season as head coach.

Although the early practice didn’t produce a fast start for the Eagles, who began the season 0-17 before winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament, Boss said the main reason for the practice is to evoke excitement in the players.

“You’re talking about a matter of hours, so in the grand scheme of things, I don’t know that it helps or hurts,” Boss said. “But it’s a good chance for our team to come together and get excited as a unit about something. And it’s a little bit unique, so it’s something they can kind of hang their hats on.”