USU baseball club ready for fall season
Although the temperature has slowly begun to cool, the familiar ping of an aluminum baseball bat is echoing around Max Johnson Field in Providence.
The Utah State baseball club started practice for their fall season.
Fall baseball is comparable to spring football. New players are trying to make the team and impress the coach, while the veterans are working on improving their game.
“It’s really hard to sit around for six months and do nothing and then try and come out and play in the spring at the level a player is accustomed to,” said Head Coach Ernie Rivers. “It also gives us a chance to put in our bunt plays, work on fundamentals and set our defense.”
Having a good fall season is more important for individual athletes than the win-loss record is for the team.
“It gives new players a chance to earn playing time in the spring,” Rivers said. “We inter-squad a lot and play competitive games that allow the younger players to show what they can do.”
Having a fall season also starts a competitive fire within the team. There are 35 to 40 players in fall camp, which made the competition keen during an inter-squad game Thursday.
The roster will be cut over the winter to the final 25 players that will make up the club for spring ball. The players are especially anxious for spring to arrive so they can play Weber State.
In the Western Mountain Conference Championships last year, USU lost two games to the Wildcats by one run.
“Weber is our big rival,” Rivers said. “We have some great games with them. They’re always a good team.”
There is more to the Aggie season than Weber State though, said assistant coach Brian Polokoff.
“We play a very competitive schedule,” Polokoff said. “There are some great pitchers who throw against us, but this is a hitter’s league. It’s very good baseball.”
The Aggies plan on making another run at the championship this year with returning All-Americans first baseman Mark Larsen, who led the nation with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs while batting .609, and outfielder Jared Shepard, who led the league with 33 stolen bases while batting .612.
The USU squad also returns Western Mountain All-Conference selections shortstop Eric Spackman, outfielder Justin Johnson and right-handed pitcher Brock Yancey.
Two newcomers that the team hopes will make an impact in the lineup are outfielder Ty Al-Imari and left-handed pitcher Justin McDermit.
On the road to the championship game last year, the team won 18 games.
“We want to win 20 games this year,” Rivers said. “We have gotten better every year and we want to keep it up.”
The team has called Max Johnson Field home for the past several years and it was recently reported that the city of Providence was discussing charging the club to play there.
“They have not contacted me about charging to use the field,” Rivers said. “That’s just speculation at this point.”
The USU baseball team has made improvements to the park and performs regular maintenance on the field, Rivers said.
“I hope that counts for something; if they were to start charging us we would have to move to another field,” he said.
The player’s pay anywhere from $500 to $1,000 to play for the club, and the team also receives a small amount of money from the Utah State student fee allotment.
While a fee for using Max Johnson Field is up in the air, the club continues to get ready for its first fall games at the University of Montana on Sept. 12 through 14. The first home games are Sept. 26 and 27 against Weber State.
The team practices Monday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. Anyone wishing to try out can contact Rivers at 770-6395 or e-mail baseball@cc.usu.edu.
-eds@cc.usu.edu