After waiting eight months for the 2003 season to begin, the Colonels baseball team is ready to jumpstart the season this weekend against Prairie View at Didier Field.
B.D. Parker, head baseball coach, said the Colonels have been preparing for the grueling stretch of the upcoming season since Jan. 6.
“We’ve had a good run with the weather and we were able to get a lot of practices in. In our preseason, we basically worked on getting some repetitions at the bat and conditioning,” Parker said.
During that time, Parker said the Colonels have been focusing both on the mental and physical parts of the game.
“It is important to prepare the guys physically and mentally. It starts to become a grind when you go through the four weeks before the season begins because there are not any immediate rewards at that time,” Parker said.
“But you have to go out and prepare yourself everyday to get ready for the long season. If you are not physically prepared for it, you are not going to meet your expectations.”
Last season, the Colonels surprised everyone with an 8-0 start and 18-7 record after one month. But the Colonels finished the season 7-19 and in eighth place in the Southland Conference.
“Our expectations for ourselves are high, but we are not going to try to look down the road. We need to take care of business one day at a time, and try to return to our one goal which is to improve ourselves daily,” Parker said.
The Colonels will be led both at the plate and on defense by senior shortstop Chuck Hickman, who Parker said is an important part of the Colonels team this season.
“Chuck is an outstanding player that brings a lot to the table. He is a good defensive player, and offensively, he is a guy that is going to be in the huddle and can steal bases,” Parker said.
In the outfield, the Colonels will be led by senior outfielders Bryan James, Brad Dantonio, Clint Joffrion and sophomore Kade Rogers. Each will play an essential part to the Colonels defense this season.
“All four of those guys made substantial contributions last year,” Parker said.
Another change this season is junior Dustin Malbrough will be moved from backup catcher to first base to compete against senior first-baseman Mike Kelso.
Parker said that he will have big expectations for sophomore infielder Jacob Naquin.
“Jacob is a guy who will have the job to play every game this year,” Parker said.
Leading the Colonels pitching staff are seniors David Bourg, Matt Overman and Eric Walker. They will be joined in the pitching rotation by junior pitchers Mike Prejean, Beau Lambert, Dustin Atkins and Casey Duhe.
Parker said consistency is important for the Colonels pitching staff this season.
“We have to have quality starts anytime somebody goes out. Something that really hurt us last year was that we couldn’t get a quality start on Sunday. We were pretty good on Friday nights and Saturday, and we couldn’t win on Sunday,” Parker said.
“We are going to have somebody step forward that can be the guy that can make contributions for us as a number two starter, as a midweek starter and then the closer role.”
The Colonels will play 20 pre-conference games before the Southland Conference season starts March 15. Parker said the Southland Conference continues to grow every year.
“The Southland Conference is just getting better all the time. Everybody is building stadiums and taking big steps forward. There were a couple of first round picks out of our conference last year, and it is just solid from top to bottom,” Parker said.
Parker said his main goal is for the Colonels to be in the middle of things come conference time.
“All you can ask for is to be in the mix. In our three years here, we have been in the mix all the way to the end,” Parker said.
“We want to have an opportunity to compete for a spot in the conference tournament, and if things go well along the way, an opportunity to compete for a championship.