MOBILE, Ala. - After more than a week of delays due to wet field conditions, the University of South Alabama baseball team opened its fall practice schedule Thursday afternoon at Stanky Field.
"With all of the rain we've been backing practice up, so the guys were excited to get outside," head coach Steve Kittrell said. "For day one, I'd give us a b-minus or c-plus. We've got a long ways to go in trying to teach our system and trying to get some things done our way."
Thursday's practice marks the beginning of a 45-day period in which the Jags can hold full-squad practices. Once the fall practice schedule ends, USA will not be able to practice as a team again until the NCAA-mandated uniform state date, Feb. 1.
Kittrell's club enters the fall practice period with 39 players on the roster. The Jags have 17 returning letterwinners, including six starting position players and nine pitchers.
Senior outfielder Adam Heisler returns after earning all-conference honors in 2009. He'll be joined in the outfield by Taylor White, who joins the Jags after being named an All-American at Alabama Southern Community College a season ago.
Outfielders Sean Laird, Clint Reynolds and Nathaniel Lami also return, along with infielders Jake Overstreet, Zach Grichor and Brandon Brown. Pitchers Lance Baxter and D.D. Hanks headline a group of five seniors returning to the mound for the Jags.
"I've seen the leadership stepping up already this year," Kittrell said. "They're showing some of the new guys how we do things, so I think we've got some potentially outstanding leaders on this ball club. We've just got to keep carrying that into the spring and play with more intensity; I want to see a South Alabama team playing with the intensity that we used to."
Kittrell, who became the 50th NCAA coach to reach 1,000 career wins when he did so during the 2009 season, is approaching another milestone. Through 26 seasons leading the Jags, Kittrell has amassed 990 victories, more than twice as many as any previous head coach at USA.
USA will scrimmage hold numerous intrasquad scrimmages throughout the fall practice period, including the annual Red & Blue World Series. Kittrell said the Jags will hold their first scrimmage Friday around 4 p.m.
Kittrell said the baseball team will attempt to scrimmage around 10 a.m. on Saturday in order to avoid conflicting with USA's 4 p.m. football game, and the Jags will wrap up with the weekend with a 1 p.m. scrimmage on Sunday.
The Jaguars have not yet released their 2010 schedule, but USA is slated to open the season on Feb. 19 at Stanky Field.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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