Baseball team looks forward to 2003, but bad weather cancels openers
- February 7, 2003
- |
- Lisa Ashby, Staff writer
- Section: Sports
The 2003 Skyhawk baseball season was slated to begin at noon on Saturday in an opening double header against Western Illinois, but the games have been canceled because of bad weather.
The games with Western Illinois will not be rescheduled, according to UTM Sports Information. Next up is Kentucky Wesleyan on Feb. 15.
The Skyhawks, who had a 20-31 overall record for the 2002 season, have 18 players returning, but lost 14. All of the players not returning were lost because of graduation except Don Waller, who transferred to another school to be closer to family.
The team is composed of 15 newcomers, nine of which are freshmen.
"Standout newcomers include Jarrad Robinson and Adam Salter. Both are junior college transfers with experience and will play important roles in our success," said head coach Bubba Cates.
The team regained its top three hitters for the 2003 season. Brett Hall leads the trio with a .364 batting average. Brian Jordan and Kelly Davis both have .316 averages. Of the 20 batters from last season, only half are returning.
"Like every season before, some changes have to be made for a team to be successful and continue to grow. We have made some changes and adjustments in those areas where we thought we really needed to improve. We return a lot of experienced position players which has helped us in making changes because we have a good feel for the things they can do well and the things that we needed to be able to do better," Cates said.
The top pitcher returning for the season is Donnie Corey. He had a 6.02 earned run average. Other pitchers returning include Wes Huckaba, Dustin Summers, Jonathan Spiceland and Bobby Alford.
The games won last season included Arkansas-Little Rock, Southeastern Louisiana, Illinois-Chicago, Western Illinois, Tennessee Tech, Eastern Illinois, Saint Louis, Martin Methodist, Mississippi Valley State, Bethel, Southern Illinois, Arkansas State, Belmont, Lipscomb and Austin Peay.
Players not returning this season include Adam Gibson, Bart Hammack, Don Waller, Brad Meadows, Casey Bevis, Michael Roof, Joey Price, Trey Prewitt, Curtis Wooten, Wes Bacon, Jason Venczel, T.J. Allen and Jeremy Hite.
Nine seniors are returning to the field this season, but the ones to step up to the bat and become leaders will be Brady Nighswonger, Dan Stephens, Jordan and Corey.
"These guys have all been with us and understand a little better what we need to do to be successful," Cates said.
Players returning are Alford, Ryan Bethel, Corey, Davis, Hall, Huckaba, Bryant Jones, Jordan, Nighswonger, Clayton Pittman, Spiceland, Stephens, Summers, and Loren Turner. Newcomers include Kayo Anderson, Brian Berryman, Justin Bryant, Patrick Bunch, Mickey Dobson, Casey Estill, Brian Fisher, Hunter Hart, Rob Hearnsberger, Justin Knees, Scott Massey, Kyle McBride, Douglas Nicodemus, Luke Parham, Jared Robinson, Adam Salter, Jacob Smothers and Brett Spivey.
"I am expecting our team to be much improved from an offensive and defensive standpoint this spring. Our pitching staff will be young and inexperienced but has the potential to be very good. Our overall attitude and leadership is the best it has been. I think we will have a very good spring. I expect us to qualify for the conference tournament and compete for the championship in Paducah. I think 'determined' is a good way to describe our team makeup. I would like to think we would play with a passion on daily basis," Cates said of his team for the 2003 season.
For more information on baseball, such as the schedule, roster and statistics for each game of the season, visit the UTM athletics Web site at http://www.utmsports.com.