MONROE, La. -- With the start
of the 2013 ULM Baseball season just a few days away, head coach Jeff Schexnaider
sat down with director of media relations Alex Edwards to discuss the upcoming
baseball season.
Q:
What are the
team's goals this season and how can the team reach those goals?
A:
Our goals are
the same every year. We want to win a conference championship, get a chance to
play in a NCAA Regional and to get as far as we can. We have goals to get
better each and every day and we're excited about the start of the season.
Q:
The 2013 schedule features several strong
programs, most of which you will face before conference play. How do you feel playing those teams will help
the club once they enter league play?
A:
We have a very
good schedule that can help our Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). It's a tough
schedule, but our guys feel like they can compete with anybody. We appreciate
Ole Miss agreeing to play two games here at Warhawk Field in March. We also
have an ACC opponent in Wake Forest coming to Monroe. It may be the first ACC team to ever come to
ULM.
Those
things only make you better. If you want to compete at the highest level, you
have to play those teams. It also gets us ready for competing in our
conference, which is usually in the top seven in conference RPI rankings.
All
of those games are important and we have a lot of teams coming to our place so
our fans can enjoy seeing different teams from different conferences. Our fans
have been so loyal to us that any time we get those types of teams in here, we
try to do it.
Q:
What is it is like coaching and competing in
the Sun Belt Conference?
A:
The Sun Belt
Conference is exciting and there are great programs throughout. There's no
place you can go one weekend and just show up and win. You have to play your
best baseball every weekend to have a chance because they're all well-coached
and very competitive and it shows in their non-conference games year in and
year out. We love our conference and we feel it's competitive and we love being
part of it.
Q:
The conference tournament is changing back to
a double-elimination format rather than the pool play system that was utilized
the previous two seasons. What were your
initial thoughts on the change and how does it impact the tournament?
A:
We voted on it after last season and I think,
as far as a tournament is concerned, it's better to have a double elimination
because every game you play, you still have a chance to win the tournament.
The
old format was better for the teams that do get to go to the NCAA Regional
because you know exactly when you are scheduled to play and it's not as
stressful on your pitchers. That was the intent of the round robin.
As
I mentioned, we did vote against that this year, but an extra day was added to
the tournament to help relieve the pitching and to give the team or teams that
advance to the NCAA Regional a chance to compete.
Q:
The three top hitters from last season's team
graduated and three pitchers that combined to win 20 of the team's 32 games
have departed, how do you expect to fill those holes?
A:
In this
profession, it seems like every year, guys step up and you wonder how you're
going to replace them. I've been saying that every year for 25 years. I'm
looking for some of our new talent to step up and fill those spots. Those guys
last year did what they had to do to help us have a successful season. They had
a very good year and four of them were rewarded and are able to play in
professional baseball.
We
have a good group of seniors this year, a lot of three- and four-year guys,
combined with some new talent, and it should to be exciting.
Q:
The team welcomes a total of 14 newcomers for
the 2013 season, who are some of the players that Warhawk fans should expect to
be significant contributors right away?
A:
There are several new guys that will have the
opportunity to see playing time and get a chance to compete for a starting
position.
Dalton
Harrington, a center fielder and Kodie Tidwell, a shortstop, should see
action. We also added a catcher, Dalton
Todd that's going to get some action and help behind the plate.
Of
course we have a lot of new pitching. We have Cale Wine back as a veteran and
Trey Setzer is a left-handed pitcher that could make his way on the weekend
rotation. Freshman Josh Leone has done really well and Alex Dumaine, a
left-handed pitcher, had a great fall. Carey Taylor is another junior college
arm that is going to be in the mix. As a coaching staff, we're excited about
the depth on the mound and the depth position wise.
