Baseball squad ready for spring season
The USU club baseball team proved a lot of doubters wrong last season by competing in the Northern Pacific East Conference and giving Weber State a run for its money. They now have bigger plans this year and look to bring home the conference championship.
“Our main goal this year is to win our conference,” said senior Alex Davis. “Winning our conference gives us an automatic bid into the College World Series in Florida and that’s the overall goal.”
The Aggies have been ranked No. 35 in the NCBA preseason poll. USU should be tested all season as they play No. 32 UC Santa Barbara, No. 20 Western Washington, No. 14 Weber State and No. 3 Oregon during the regular season.
“The spring break trip in Mesquite will definitely show us where we stand and how good we are capable of being. We face a lot of quality teams and it should be a fun experience for the whole team,” said USU head coach Brett Al Imari.
The return of seven starters will help set the tone right away for the team, led by key players Alex Davis, Ryan Doyle, Brock Neagle and Casey Jorgensen.
“Our team is basically made up of solid pitching with a good offense,” Davis said.
Winning games comes down to great pitching and the Aggies have plenty of it this season – especially the tandem of Jorgensen and Doyle.
“As far as pitching, I believe we have the best one-two punch in the conference,” Al Imari said. “They have shown great ability during last season and fall ball what they are capable of, and that’s great things.”
Coached by Al Imari and Norm Doyle, the Aggies have experienced men who know the game of baseball pretty well. Al Imari, known for his offensive mindset, played in the minor leagues until an injury ended his career.
“Everyone always says defense and pitching wins games, but in my mind if you can score and play small ball and create offensive opportunities, then you are going to be pretty successful,” Al Imari said.
Doyle, who is in his first year of coaching and father of Ryan Doyle, is the behind the scenes guy who keeps all the stats and updates the teams Web site, usubaseball.com.
A very upbeat bunch who have great chemistry and love making fun of each other are what this group of guys are all about, but being relaxed and poised is what makes this team’s engine run.
Some of this year’s new people are catcher Gavin Johnson and infielder Brad Singer, both are expected to contribute right away for the team. Sleepers to look out for include shortstops Zach Gunn and Kelden Petersen.
During the fall, the team played a handful of games against teams like the College of Eastern Utah and Weber State that got them accustomed to playing together and previewing a little about how the team is going to fare this season.
“Fall ball was tough because we really didn’t get to play that many games due to weather and scheduling difficulties and the commitment of the players was so-so,” Al Imari said.
Along with the commitment of the players being worrisome, the lack of pitching depth and the injury bug could also come to play into the season.
“The commitment of the players is crucial if we want to have a successful season, and also we don’t have a deep pitching staff,” Al Imari said. “We obviously have two aces but we can’t overload them with everything and there is also the case of injuries that could happen.”
The team traveled to CEU Saturday to play a doubleheader where they dropped both games.
“I thought we were kind of shaky at the start, just because we haven’t played a real game in a while,” Al Imari said. “But overall, I was very pleased with what I saw and Ryan Doyle played very well.”
Next week, the Aggies tangle with Boise State, Central Oregon and Northwest Nazarene. Team members said they would like everyone to come show their support this season just like other sports and clubs at the school.
–jare.ro@aggiemail.usu.edu