Baseball Set To Open Fall Practice Monday Afternoon

9/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Sept. 18, 2008

HATTIESBURG, Miss - The Southern Miss baseball team will officially begin their march toward a seventh consecutive NCAA Regional in 2009 as they open fall practice at Pete Taylor Park Monday afternoon.

"This is always an exciting time of year," head coach Corky Palmer said. "We have a lot of new players this season so we really need this fall period to evaluate where they fit best into our system."

The Golden Eagles will feature plenty of new faces as Coach Corky Palmer and recruiting coordinator Chad Caillet have added 16 new players ready to make an impact this season.

The new players of course will build around the nucleus of veterans returning. The middle of the diamond will once again be a strong point for Southern Miss this season. Seniors Brian Dozier (SS) and James Ewing (2B) return to claim their starting spot in the middle infield and the speedy Bo Davis should patrol centerfield again this season.

Dozier has started 187 out of 188 games at shortstop in his first three years at Southern Miss, including 96 consecutive games, a streak that dating back to his sophomore season.

In the rest of the infield look for newcomers Joey Archer, Taylor Walker, B A Vollmuth and Travis Creel to join returnees Adam Doleac and Josh Fields.

Behind the dish this season the Golden Eagles return junior Kyle Maxie, who started 51 games last season either as a catcher or DH, and add junior college transfer Travis Graves out of Eastfield College in Texas. Senior Josh Fields has worked all summer at catcher and should be able to contribute as well and freshman Drake Zimmerman out of Mobile Christian High School (Ala.) will add depth to the catching position.

In the outfield the Golden Eagles added a nice mix of speed and power to the seasoned players that return. Michael Ewing, Corey Stevens and Anthony Doss all return this season along with redshirt freshmen Bret Shattles and Daniel Covert.

The new faces in the outfield include Kameron Brunty, Tyler Koelling and Nick Smith.

One of the strengths of the Southern Miss team this season will be the depth of quality pitchers. Todd McInnis returns to anchor the staff along with Wade Weathers, Jonathan Johnston, Collin Cargill, JR Ballinger, Seth Hester, Houston Brown and redshirt freshman Matt Warren.

Southern Miss added plenty of new arms including left-handers Moses Munoz, Cody Schlagel, Paxton King and Jeff Stanley along with right-handers Derek Copley, Kyle Lindsey and Scott Copeland.

All the pitchers have been working out this fall throwing in the bullpen and their roles for the upcoming season have not been established as of yet.

The Golden Eagles will practice over the next five weeks in preparation of the 2009 opener on Feb. 20.

-southernmiss.com-