Oil up the gloves, get out the fungo bats and restock the sunflower seeds because the Texas Tech baseball season is officially under way.
The Tech baseball team began its preseason practices Sunday at Dan Law Field. Expectations are high for both players and coaches as the team prepares for the 2007 season.
"This is a fun time of year for anyone that loves the game," Tech coach Larry Hayes said. "It is always exciting to get your team together and begin preparing for the new season."
After coming off a 31-26-1 record and losing 11 players to graduation and the Major League Draft last season, Hayes said he is especially excited about this year's returning squad.
"I really like some of the guys we have coming back," Hayes said. "We have more quality guys returning this year compared to recent years and I like our new guys too."
Tech has two returning All-Americans in junior catcher Matt Smith and sophomore outfielder Roger Kieschnick. It also fields four returning players named to All-Big 12 teams including Smith, Kieschnick, sophomore infielder Willie Rueda and sophomore pitcher Miles Morgan. Kieschnick was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Morgan was named Big 12 Freshman Pitcher of the Year.
Tech's current 38-man roster is comprised of five seniors and 22 underclassmen. Morgan said he sees the team's youth as more of a positive than a negative.
"The dangerous teams are the ones with the younger players who have nothing to lose and everything to gain," Morgan said. "Our team can only get better."
Smith said since the team is so cohesive, clubhouse leadership is not a problem, but it still is important that the upperclassmen, like himself, make their voices heard.
"The age thing is not a big concern because the team is so tight," Smith said, "but being more vocal is a goal of mine because that is not usually my nature."
Hayes said the age factor does not worry him because the team's ability offsets its lack of experience.
"If they're good enough, it will not make a difference how old they are," Hayes said.
The Tech team uses spring practice to get back in the swing of playing baseball again. Rueda said the teammates will spend the bulk of their time preparing mentally and physically for the upcoming season.
"It is important to practice fundamental techniques, but we also need to get mentally stronger in order to reduce mistakes," Rueda said.
Kieschnick said the team uses spring practice to improve on every aspect of the game. He also said he is confident about this season because of the talent on Tech's roster.
"We know we are going to have a good team so it's exciting to get together for Spring practice," Kieschnick said. " As long as we work on being more consistent, we will win a lot of games."
Spring two-a-day practices end today. Tech will resume regular in-season practices on Thursday. The Red Raiders will open the season with a three-game series against Stephen F. Austin Feb. 2 at Dan Law Field.
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