via ESPN.com

High and Inside pitch right on target

By Jim Wilkie

Opening Day is more than a month away, but baseball fans should be doubly excited because The Baseball Project’s second album, Volume 2: High and Inside will be released March 1.

Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Linda Pitmon (Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3, Golden Smog) and Peter Buck (R.E.M.) — and special guests, such as Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie and The Decemberists’ Chris Funk and John Moen — serve up another gem with reverence and irreverence for America’s pastime and some of the game’s notable and notorious characters. ESPN.com’s Music in The Life is also offering a free stream of six of the album’s 13 songs as a special preview through March 1.

As reliable as New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning, songwriters Wynn (Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3, The Dream Syndicate, Gutterball, Danny & Dusty) and McCaughey (The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M.) deliver clever, catchy songs that range from the fun “Panda and The Freak” to the tragic “Here Lies Carl Mays.”

From the album’s first song, “1976,” you know you’re in for something…Click here to continue reading and stream tracks from the new album.

Volume 2: High and Inside is available now for pre-order on CD or 180g LP. Click HERE for more info or to order now.