Players Ready to Begin
2/17/2012 6:02:00 AM | Baseball
For months, the Bearkats have had their fair share of fall baseball games against other universities and intrasquad scrimmages. Now the Kats will see how they measure up when they kick off the 2012 season tonight against San Diego at Don Sanders Stadium.
"It's definitely exciting. We're kind of ready to get things under way and get the first couple of wins under our belt," senior catcher John Hale said.
After Mark Johnson's highly successful stint as head coach in which the Bearkats appeared in four of five Southland Conference tournaments and reached the NCAA regionals in three of those, the Sam Houston baseball program spurs forward into a new era under the tutelage of new head coach David Pierce, who was hired away from Rice last June.
The Bearkats, who advanced to the semifinals of the Southland tourney last season, have been working with Pierce and his assistants Philip Miller and Sean Allen since then, getting accustomed to their coaching styles and philosophies.
"I don't think the transition was too difficult," junior outfielder Greg Olson said. "His style is obviously a little different than Coach Johnson, a little more up-tempo and in your face, but I think that's good."
"For me, I was at Rice for a year and a half and (Pierce) recruited me out of high school," Hale said. "We already knew each other and he had a pretty good rapport before he came over here. I knew he was going to bring a lot of stuff. It was pretty easy for me, in particular, since I already had him for a coach."
Like it is for many teams, Sam Houston also has the challenge of finding ways to fill the voids left by graduating players.
On the mound, the Bearkats lost a pair of weekend starters in Matt Shelton and Brandon Kimbrel and reliever Brent Powers. Those losses force players such as sophomore starter Caleb Smith and relievers Michael Burchett and Michael Oros to become the leaders of the pitching staff this spring.
"Nobody can really replace Brandon Kimbrel, Matt Shelton and Brent Powers, but we're going to do what we can," said Smith, who will start tonight's game against the Toreros, a team that went 22-31 last season.
"We've got some freshmen that are going to step up like Andrew Godail and Brandon Bergen," added Smith. "I think we're going to get the job done."
Sam Houston also lost infielders Daniel Nottebart, Braeden Riley and Ryan Mooney, outfielders Mark Hudson and Payton Wisener and designated hitter Chris Andreas.
With a strong recruiting class, Pierce believes that the Bearkats will find players to fill those roles.
"We have got some pitchers who left us and they were very good. Basically, you take the entire weekend staff away and you've got a couple of young guys that are sophomores, guys that are becoming depended on," the coach said. "Based on their innings and their numbers last year, they still have a lot of growing up to do to create the longevity and endurance through the course of the season.
"We really need guys who can go 80 to 100 innings this year, so it's going to be interesting to see how the whole pitching staff formulates.
"I think John Hale is very solid behind the plate and as long as he's healthy, he'll be our everyday guy. Kevin Miller is as good a defender as I've seen and I had Anthony Rendon (All-American third baseman for Rice, who was selected sixth overall by the Washington Nationals in the 2011 MLB draft) for three years. He can really defend.
"We've got a young kid at shortstop, Corey Toups, a freshman. Jessie Plumlee has had a good fall and spring and he's going to probably start at second base. We've got a freshman out of Frisco (Ryan O'Hearn) and he's come in with good credentials and he'll start at first. (In the outfield) Greg Olson is back and Luke Plucheck is back. Then we have some pretty good options with some platooning.
"We brought in some good players that have meshed in, but I don't think you truly know how a team reacts until they win together and lose together and fight through battles together."
Like the Bearkats football team in 2010, half of Pierce's first Sam Houston State team will be composed of returners, while the rest are incoming freshmen or junior college transfers.
In the time spent practicing and scrimmaging with the newcomers, the Bearkats have a strong comfort level and the team's chemistry is where it needs to be heading into today's opener.
"We've got a lot of new guys, but a lot of good guys, too. I'm pretty excited about it. You kind of don't really know what you're going to get until you get going. We've got some people that we think are pretty good. We just have to capitalize on it," Hale said.
"It's been interesting to watch the development and the chemistry of the guys coming together. Now we have to find out how we'll do against outside competition," Pierce added.
First pitch for today's game is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday's game is also scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., while the series finale set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
Friday, fans can take advantage of SHSU baseball's special Family Night offer ($8 reserved ticket with hot dog, pop corn and coke) or the Sunday Kids' Day special (one parent buys an $8 reserved seat with up to four children free.
Tickets are on sale now on line at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the SHSU athletic ticket office in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium.
