Flags in left-center field of Security Service Field stiffened with the breeze flowing through the stadium.

The wind started from the northwest, blowing to the southeast. It changed several times Saturday throughout the Colorado Springs Sky Sox’s 10-7 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers. But the wind always blew out of the stadium, making the batters look a bit more powerful than they might be.

Sweatshirts, hats, coats and gloves were the preferred attire. There were T-shirts with long-sleeve shirts beneath them. There were a few brave souls – read, adolescent boys – who only wore T-shirts. They, however, get a pass. Since when has a 10-year-old boy been able to feel the elements at a baseball game?

The day was actually sunny and partially clouded, which equates to a beautiful April day at the corner of Barnes Road and Tutt Avenue.

It was just cold.

Cold and windy.

But there’s little more that folks can ask for on opening day at the base of America’s Mountain.

The conditions could’ve been a lot worse. On Friday, the Sky Sox’s scheduled home opener was postponed because of cold weather.

“It was a typical PCL game with that wind blowing out and a lot of runs and never feeling like you’ve got enough,” Sky Sox manager Tom Runnells said. “… Those aren’t easy conditions – cold and windy.”

For a day in mid-April, c’mon, that’s amazing weather for the Sky Sox.

“They don’t know that though!” Runnells said, laughing. “I know that. The guys that have been here before know that. The new guys are thinking, ‘Ahh, this is cold!’ And I’m thinking, ‘Dude, this is nice. This is nice as it gets maybe.’

“It was good, though, the guys showed up today. They swung the bats. That’s kind of what I expect from our lineup, not that we’ll get that all the time.”

If the middle of the Sky Sox lineup – Seth Smith, Ian Stewart, Sean Barker and Joe Koshansky – somehow stays intact, the Sky Sox could easily boast three batters with 20-plus home runs no matter the conditions.

The weather will get nicer out here. But not much. Odds are good that the Sky Sox will play under more bad weather than good.

That’s a good thing. No ballpark in the nation better prepares an athlete for what he will face in Coors Field than Security Service Field.

Hitting, fielding and especially pitching can be nightmares out here. The thinner air allows the balls to sail a bit farther. Couple that altitude with the wind, and a chop swing sends a ball 360 feet. The edge of the infield grass is as unpredictable as the area’s weather patterns. As for pitchers, former Sky Sox and Colorado Rockies pitcher, Jason Jennings, said it best a couple of years ago.

Said Jennings in 2006: “I started one game there. It was 10:30 in the morning. I’m standing on the mound and sleet is hitting me in the face. If you can mentally keep yourself in the game and just keep yourself mentally tough down there, you’ll be fine up here.”

Nothing has changed.

If Sky Sox pitchers Greg Reynolds, Josh Towers, Josh Newman, Jose Capellan and Victor Zambrano – or any others – want to find a longtime home at Coors Field, this is the proving ground.

Do it here, and it’ll be easier in Coors.

Contact Bryant at 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazettedev.gazette.com.