Baseball team ready for some sun
Utah State’s club baseball Head Coach Ernie Rivers hopes the team’s home opener this weekend will coincide with an improvement in the team’s fortunes.
The Aggies, playing in exhibition games on the road while waiting for the sun to come out in Logan, started the season with a 1-12 record.
“We’ve been pretty inconsistent and all the teams that we’ve played, except two, have been scholarship programs,” Rivers said.
As a club baseball team, none of the Aggies receive scholarships like university-sponsored teams’ players do.
With the beginning of the conference season, Utah State’s goals remain the same as always: “To win our conference, to win 70 percent of conference games, and to have a winning record,” Rivers said. “Last year, we fell short by one run. This year, we have a better pitching staff. I think overall we have better chemistry on our team. We’re probably as talented as last year, but it’s spread out. It’s not just two or three individuals doing everything.”
Despite the disappointing record, Rivers said playing against tougher teams should help out his team in the long run.
“We set it up that way on purpose, hoping to come away at least .500, so that we’d have the experience of facing some high quality teams and even Major League draft picks from last year,” Rivers said.
The Aggies will play two games on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m., and one game Sunday, beginning at the same time.
With the Utah State Tournament coming up Saturday and Sunday in Providence, the Aggies moved their practice outdoors for the first time Tuesday in preparation. Until now, the team has been able to work only in the Fieldhouse, without a chance to practice fielding or game situations, Rivers said.
While winter snows keep the Aggies from hosting games until late March, other things can also impede their schedule. Weather and logistics problems have caused the cancellation of 10 games, so far this year for the Aggies, about one-fourth of the season.
Another adjustment the Aggies have to make now is to switch from wood bats to metal. The team used wood bats during the first 10 games and will now use metal bats.
“That hampered us as well, because there’s a big difference between metal and wood,” he said.
While the team hasn’t met its expectations so far, Rivers said there have been some consistent performances.
“Mike Farr has been our most consistent pitcher,” Rivers said. “His record is 1-2 right now, but that doesn’t really tell how well he’s done. I think his ERA is about a 2.2. We haven’t gotten him the run support he’s needed.”
Farr, a right-hander from Highland, has the Aggies’ only win of the year.
“His last outing he only gave up two hits and zero earned runs in five innings,” Rivers said. “He got the win and that was nice to see.”
Offensively, Sean Maynard and Dan Gay have been the most consistent.
“[Maynard] has hit the ball pretty well every time he goes out,” Rivers said. “Gay had two home runs in a game last week with wood bats against a pretty good team,” he said.
As a team, Rivers said, Utah State’s defense is getting better.
“It’s improved quite a bit,” he said. “A couple of weeks ago it was pretty poor, but I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that we hadn’t been outside at all.”
Rivers said while the team can work on mechanics indoors, it’s difficult to replicate the conditions of an outdoor game. Fielding ground balls, for instance.
“The guys are pretty excited,” Rivers said about holding their first practice outdoors.
-royburton@cc.usu.edu