University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Continues Preparation For Feb. 20 Season Opener
2/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Continues Preparation For Feb. 20 Season Opener
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? The Southern Miss baseball team continues practicing in preparation for its Feb. 20 season opener against Northwestern (La.) State at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field at 3 p.m. The Golden Eagles, who are in their third week of preseason practice, look to continue scrimmaging later this week.
"We have been working on fundamentals and hope to compete in some intrasquad scrimmages later in the week," Southern Miss Head Coach Corky Palmer said. "The pitchers have been getting in shape working on strengthening their arms and legs. We have most of our defensive work in, but we need to scrimmage as much as we can to let our pitchers get some innings in and allows our hitters to have live at-bats."
"The pitching is ahead of the hitting, which is to be expected at this time of the year. Anthony Dewitt and Austin Tubb threw the ball well their first time back, which is important. Patrick Ezell also has thrown well so far.
"Nathan Sanders has been hitting the ball well, but of all the newcomers, Casey Summerlin, Trey Cueves and Jody Blount are all starting to come on. Blount has displayed the best defense of the newcomers. He has a tremendous throwing arm and between that and his bat, he has a bright future. We are planning on scrimmaging on Friday, Sunday and next Tuesday."
The Golden Eagles received preseason recognition in two of the national polls, earning votes in the ESPN/Coaches Poll, coming in No. 40, and No. 30 in the NCBWA Poll.
Southern Miss opens the season at home against Northwestern (La.) State on Feb. 20-22 with a three-game weekend series. Friday?s game is set for 3 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday?s games both are set for 1 p.m.
