MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama baseball team will hold its first official practice of the spring Friday at 2 p.m. at Stanky Field.

The Jaguars will begin an intrasquad game at 3:15, and will also intrasquad at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. USA is scheduled to  play an intrasquad game at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, and plans on holding intrasquad games every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday at Stanky Field leading up to the season opener on Fri., Feb. 17 against Eastern Illinois.

"All of the guys came back in really good shape," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "I was pleased with the fall – the production that we got in. We pushed fall practice back this year and finished around Nov. 20, so there was a much smaller gap with their time off and starting in the spring. I think it provided plenty of rest for the guys, but we also got a lot of work in closer to the spring. So there wasn't that big block of time where they lost what they had gained through the fall, either in the weight room or on the field. I have been pleased to see some of the jumps and improvement in our team. 

"Our guys are super excited. We have a lot of new pitchers who are some talented guys, and we have some returners in there as well. We have some new guys on offense, but we also have a lot of returners there. We started a young offense last year – five guys in that lineup pretty much every day were freshmen and sophomores – so we're excited about that. But it all comes back to how well you pitch and play defense, and pressuring the other team on offense. I think we have some of the pieces in place. Obviously there are some question marks; no one has everything answered at the start of the year. There are some questions in there that will only be answered by playing outside competition, and our guys are looking forward to that."

South Alabama returns seven starters from last year's Sun Belt Conference champion squad that won 42 games and reached the NCAA Regional final in Tallahassee, Fla., including Freshman All-American Travis Swaggerty and all-SBC shortstop Drew LaBounty.

"Pitching and defense has obviously been our trademark," Calvi said. "That's how we have won a lot of games. We have been opportunistic offensively. We have brought some guys in who can run and do some things. It's an exciting team; we steal some bases and put some bunts down. We're going to have some speed on the team, so it is an exciting team to watch. Our guys never quit; that's a trademark of our program. You have to play well and play all nine innings to beat us, and our guys know that. I think we are going to pitch well. There are a lot of moving pieces on defense. We have some versatility. But it's all on how well we defend the ball on the infield. 

"I think we will play very good defense in the outfield. We can really run out there with (Travis) Swaggerty, (Dylan) Hardy, (Adam) Wolfe, (Kyle) Bayles and Colton Thomas – there are guys out there who can go get the baseball. And they bring some speed on offense as well. Hardy didn't play a lot last year, but he is the fastest guy on the team and maybe the fastest guy in the league. I think we will be able to pressure some teams on the bases, not just with stolen bases but going first-to-third on a routine single or scoring on a routine single with a runner at second base. It is all how these guys mesh together offensively and do the things that we need them to do to win. Really, you take the first 20-25 games and figure out who you are offensively, barring any major setback or injuries. You can't ask your team to do things they are not capable of offensively, which is why we try to practice a lot of different things and be versatile offensively to give us different options as coaches and give the players different options of how to win a ball game. We are going to put the ball in play, get our bunts down and run the bases aggressively and intelligently. I think that gives us an edge over a lot of other teams. But we are going to figure out what we do best and really enhance that this spring."

Follow South Alabama baseball on Twitter (@SouthALBaseball) for news and updates regarding this spring's preseason intrasquad schedule. 

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).