Anticipation of our first practice

For a college baseball team, this is an exciting and optimistic time of the year.  We have our first practice of the season in two days (on Monday).  Since my first year (1988) in college coaching, I have always anticipated a great season is approaching.  This year is no exception.  One of our other assistant coaches just did a statistical comparison between our 2010 stats and the stats of all eight DIII World Series participants as well as the other six teams in our Regional Tournament.  Just looking at those stats enables me to see that we are right there we want to be (statistically) with the top teams in the country.  Our pitching stats can indeed improve, but there was no World Series participant with a better ERA than ours, and two Regional opponents had ERAs slightly better than ours.

Despite those favorable comparisons, we need to get better at some things this season.  With the new NCAA bat regulations, I think it is inevitable that all pitching staffs across the country will adjust their pitching statistical goals and have higher expectations.  The one category that we need to show the most improvement in is in our walks per inning/9 innings.  We weren't bad, and we fit into the neighborhood of the other successful teams, but we can get much better.

Because I had a couple of free days this week (due to snow days/school cancellations), I had an opportunity to prepare practice plans for the first week and to do some online scouting of our southern trip opponents.  Our first two games, against Milsaps College, will test our pitching and our defense.  Milsaps was among the nations leaders in home runs, stolen bases, and getting hit by pitches last year.  This will be a great opportunity to emphasize some important aspects of pitching during the pre-season practices.

We need to pitch inside aggressively without worrying about hitting batters, and we need to attack (not just control) their running game when they do reach base.  These will be some constant themes that will be discussed during our five weeks of indoor practice, and I can't wait to get going!!

With our new practice facility on campus, our practice structure has changed from what we have done previously.  Four of our six days (per week) we will have the pitchers and catchers practicing separately from the position players, with the exception of 3-4 pitchers pitching to live hitters each night.  We have yet to discover how this might influence our team dynamic, though I believe we will begin our game schedule with high expectations and the anticipation of another conference championship.

The first practice also makes it seem as though spring is almost upon us, and with the weather being as cold as it is right now, that is a fantastic thought!!