Sam Houston opens early fall practice
8/31/2015 7:22:00 PM | Baseball
HUNTSVILLE – Sam Houston State baseball head coach Matt Deggs has seen a lot of firsts dating to his coaching beginnings in the mid-90s at Northwestern State. On Tuesday, the second-year head man will add another to that list when the Bearkats open fall practice.
“That's as early as I've ever started a fall in my career,” Deggs said. “I just felt like it was important coming off a season where we lost in the eighth inning of a championship game to get back on the field as soon as we could and get that taste out of our mouth. We've got a bunch of new guys so it's important to get out there as early as we can.”
Among the Kats' 38-man roster, 19 are incoming freshmen and including transfers, a total of 28 are first-year players to the program. Despite all the new faces, Deggs believes this year's squad owns a key element to success.
“The one thing they have is the good old fashion secret ingredient and that's hard work,” Deggs said. “This group predominately comes from a blue-collar background and they like to work and know what it is to work. When you mix hard work with a little talent good things are possible. We haven't done anything yet but I like this group and the way they approach each day.”
According to Deggs, the Bearkats will spend the next six weeks focusing on fundamentals and coming together as a unit, something he says is easily said but harder to do. Meanwhile, Sam Houston will begin its push to rebound from a 31-28 campaign that saw the Kats miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011.
“I thought we pitched the ball very well last year,” Deggs said. “I thought last year's ball club was one that could have won 40-plus games and probably should have. When you make errors and it takes three hits to score a run, it was hard to overcome some of the deficits we found ourselves in.
“Last year's club liked to scrap and compete and gave it everything they had. They were in as many close games as I've ever been a part of in a season.”
Sam Houston returns Southland Conference Honorable Mention Bryce Johnson, an outfielder who hit .310 and led the Kats in stolen bases (16) while finishing second in hits (33) as a junior. On the mound, a trio of seniors – Greg Belton (1-1, 2.19 ERA), Jordan Church (2-1, 3.49 ERA) and Hayden Nixon (0-1, 3.09 ERA) – return alongside junior Sam Odom (4-5, 4.45 ERA).
In the infield, sophomore Nate Van Dyke (.231/1 run/1 RBI) joins seniors Miles Manning (.277/20 runs/19 RBI), Spence Rahm (.295/34 runs/37 RBI) and Zach Smith (.275/23 runs/22 RBI). The Kats also bring back pitcher and infielder Lance Miles, a transfer from Kansas State who redshirted last season.
On Monday afternoon, the Bearkats released their 56-game 2016 schedule, which features 28 home games and 12 games against 2015 NCAA Regional teams. Key notables on the schedule included visits from Oklahoma, Rice, Baylor, Houston and Texas Tech among others. See the full schedule here.
“We're going to be hard at work starting tomorrow,” Deggs said. “We're going to work in preparation of this schedule.”
For the latest on Sam Houston baseball, follow @BearkatBaseball on Twitter and visit GoBearkats.com.
