January 23, 2004
| With a solid core of position players returning and the addition of some great arms on the mound, it seems yet another memorable season could be in the making for the Texas A&M baseball team, who started the season on Thursday with the first practice of the spring. Ranked 21st nationally in the preseason poll, the Aggies are coming off a 45-win campaign in 2003 that brought A&M within a game of the Big 12 championship and postseason baseball back to Olsen Field. Despite a tough ending to the year, the accomplishments of that team were impressive, especially considering the number of new faces and the fact that no one on the roster had ever been to the NCAA tournament. "That team will always be special to Mark Johnson because they turned it around," Johnson said. "That was a huge jump, particularly with that many new guys that had no idea what it takes to compete (at this level). I give them a lot of credit and I always will." The biggest loss off last year's team was that of All-American Scott Beerer. A true all-around star, Beerer hit .335 with 11 home runs and 57 RBI while posting a 6-1 record and a 1.82 ERA on the mound and recording a school-record 13 saves. A look at the roster and the results of June's Major League Baseball draft will make this year's biggest question mark, though, quite obvious: pitching. The Aggies return just five of the 45 wins on the mound in 2003 in sophomores Robert Ray (4-0, 2.19 ERA in 37 innings of work) and Dan Donaldson (1-3, 3.41 ERA in 14 appearances). Senior Justin Moore, who battled injury last season and saw just eight innings of work, could as a healthy starter provide A&M with much-needed bullpen depth. Moore went 7-3 with a 3.39 ERA and 11 starts during his sophomore year. The bulk of the faces on the hill will be new ones, led by tall left-hander Zach Jackson-a transfer from Louisville. Jackson went 17-9 in two seasons and earned freshman All-America and all-conference honors for the Cardinals. Also expected to make a significant impact are redshirt freshman Jason Meyer and true freshmen Austin Creps and Doug Frame. "The cupboard's not empty," Johnson said. "We've got some good arms and we've got some guys that can throw. At this point I don't see that short reliever of Scotty Beerer's ability right now, but we have some candidates." The returning players are impressed by what they've seen so far out of the talented group of hurlers. "I really think our pitching this year will be a little bit better than it was last year," Patton said. "Not to say anything bad about our pitching last year, but I think overall we'll have better pitching." At the plate and in the field, however, A&M looks almost exactly the same as they did last season with seven of nine position starters returning. "The strength of this ball club is that we have a lot of position players returning," Johnson said. "We hit a steady .300 last year and fielded close to .965 the whole year, and you have to guess that that part's going to be there and it could get even better. That's encouraging. "I don't think we're going to increase our home runs or stolen bases by a large margin, but we're hopefully going to be improved offensively. All the guys are working hard and they're all going to get better." The leading returners for the Aggies include All-Big 12 selections Cliff Pennington at third base (.340, 2 HR, 21 RBI), Cory Patton in the outfield (.331, 13 HR, 58 RBI, .549 slug pct.), and Erik Schindewolf at second base (.351, 2 HR, 29 RBI, .453 on base pct.). Catchers Justin Pouk (.325, 5 HR, 27 RBI) and Craig Stinson (.274, 8 RBI in 18 starts) are back, as are center fielder Justin Ruggiano (.322, 10 HR, 49 RBI, .555 slug. pct.), infielder Eric Scheidt (.330, 2 HR, 14 RBI in 30 games), and outfielder John Infante (.333, 3 HR in postseason) just to name a few. "It's always good not to have to break in too many new guys at the beginning of a season," Schindewolf said. "It's always a learning experience when you get guys playing together, but to have a core group of guys that have been playing together for a year is a good thing." One problem the Aggies won't have to worry about to start the year is leadership. "We had such a need to develop leaders last year that we earmarked certain guys," Johnson said. "I haven't worried about that role quite as much as I did last year." Patton, last year's leader in home runs and RBI and the only player to start all 64 games, was a newcomer that was counted on for leadership from the day he stepped on campus. As one of eight seniors, he will be counted on again to be a leader but as was the case last season he won't be doing it alone. "We've got a whole bunch of leadership this year," Patton said. "We've got some guys that can step up, and that's what I like about this team-anybody can get it done at any time. I liked that about last year's team and I expect this team will have the same abilities." An inexperienced and untested team in '03, this year's squad has the lessons of last year and the desire of what almost was to build on. "I felt (that desire) in the summertime," Johnson said. "(Last year) we were one game short of winning the championship. It's always terribly disappointing to lose, especially in the playoffs. "But at this point last year, you've got to remember that we (didn't have any) guys that had been to the playoffs, so that vision wasn't there. We have a pretty clear vision right now. It's not as much of a 'something magic has to happen' attitude, it's 'we're going to be there. We're going to make this thing happen.'" The Aggies play 13 of their first 14 games at home before highlighting the non-conference slate with a series at UCLA in early March. And, judging by the smiles out at Olsen Field on Thursday, the Feb. 13 opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi can't come soon enough. "It's going to be a fun year," Patton said. "We have as good a team, if not better, than we had last year, so I'm ready to get out here and show how good this team can be." |