Aggie baseball club heads to Boise State
The young Utah State baseball club is ready to hit the road for its opening series against Boise State on Friday and Saturday.
USU Head Coach Ernie Rivers said he schedules early season road games to get the players away from their everyday lives and concentrate on being a team.
“We’ve scheduled this way the last couple of years,” Rivers said. “There’s nothing better than a road trip to help a club come together.”
The Broncos are an up-and-coming program and will be a good early season test for the Aggies. Prior to this year, Boise State has never competed in fall ball, but with 11 returning players, the Bronco’s are looking to improve on their 8-12 spring record from a year ago.
“Boise State is coming along as a program,” Rivers said. “We have so many new players, we don’t know how good we are, so this should be a good series.”
With plenty of raw talent that has yet to play at the college level, the team has concentrated on fundamentals in preparation for their opening games.
“We’ll have a better idea of what to focus on in practice next week,” Rivers said. “This is what fall baseball is for. The young guys will be challenged.”
It takes more than coaching and road trips to make a team come together, Rivers said.
Returning players have to be an example for the new players and help them learn how to compete at this level.
“I want to get on base, make no errors and hit well this weekend,” said junior third baseman Dan Gay. “My job is to establish leadership this weekend and set a good attitude for the team.”
Developing a belief that it can win every game and coming together as a team are two goals the club is looking to achieve in its opening series.
“We want to set the attitude for the season now,” Gay said. “As a veteran on the team, it’s my job to make sure we get the right mindset this weekend.”
Gay is ready to play spring ball right now and the team is expecting a big year from him, Rivers said.
With the talent of the new players and the level of the club’s returning players, the team is prepared to chase another championship.
Rivers said the optimism in fall camp has had a positive effect on the entire club. The young guys are ready to go.
“I can’t wait,” said freshman catcher Orion Bell. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing at a higher level. I came down here from Anchorage, Alaska to play baseball and major in engineering. I like the team, I like the school and I’m ready to get going.”
During the spring season, the club has a sponsor that supplies them with a bus for overnight trips. There are no such luxuries for fall ball, though.
The team will be taking personal vehicles for all of their fall road trips. When the team stops to eat or stays in a motel, it’s nothing fancy either.
“We usually stop at a fast-food place along the way or go to a grocery store, buy some food and cook on hot plates in our rooms,” Rivers said. “With four of us in a room, we make a lot of fun out of it and it helps us bond as a team. We’re all the same on the road.”
-eds@cc.usu.edu