Baseball Begins Fall Practice on Monday
9/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 29, 2007
HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team takes its first steps toward the 2008 season Monday when it begins fall practice at the friendly confines of Cougar Field.
Practices are tentatively scheduled to begin daily around 2:30 p.m., with similar workouts during the weekend. However, workouts during the week will be closed to fans. Weekend practices will be open to all fans.
Seventeen letterwinners return from the 2007 team, which posted a 28-28 overall record and finished tied for fourth in a competitive Conference USA with a 12-12 mark.
Under new NCAA rules in 2008, the college baseball season will not begin until late February. Since the season will end around the same time of year as seasons past, the Cougars will have more time during the fall season to practice as a team.
UH is not scheduled to wrap up its fall drills until early November, and that is counting on favorable weather conditions every day or practice.
Leading the way offensively is junior Jimmy Cesario, who batted a team-best .352 with 13 doubles, three home runs and 35 RBIs in 2007. The Metairie, La., native also became only the fifth player in school history to rap out a 20-game hitting streak on the way to being named to the All-Conference USA First Team and the C-USA Newcomer of the Year.
Sophomore centerfielder Zak Presley finished third in 2007 with a .306 batting average and added 28 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. The Southlake native earned a place on the 2007 C-USA All-Freshmen Team with his performance.
Senior infielder Ryan Lormand batted .298 with four home runs, 39 RBIs, 12 doubles and a team-best 23 stolen bases in 25 attempts. The Waco native started all 56 games a year ago and earned a place on the Southwest Diamond Classic All-Tournament Team.
Leading the way on the mound is redshirt sophomore southpaw Wes Musick. The Lufkin native led the Cougars in ERA (3.00), wins (6), innings pitched (93.0), strikeouts (73) and opponents' batting average (.246) on the way to being named to the All-Conference USA First Team during his first season of competition in the league.
The Cougars also will be boosted by the return of junior righthander Ricky Hargrove who was forced to sit out the entire 2007 campaign with a shoulder injury.
Musick and Hargrove are expected to play prominent roles on the mound for the Cougars in 2008. Noble and his staff will use the fall season to begin laying out the rest of the Cougar starting rotation and bullpen.
"The first thing we have to do is solidify our pitching staff. We have to get those down the road, and we plan on doing that," Noble said. "But we have quite a bit of time to get our pitching staff in order."
In addition to the returnees, the Cougars also will welcome 13 newcomers to the program this season. Freshmen Chase Dempsay and Ty Stuckey were All-District and All-Greater Houston First-Team honorees, while junior righthander David McClain and sophomore pitcher/infielder Taylor Hammack were previously selected in Major League Baseball's annual first-year player draft.
Getting the new players acclimated to the collegiate level and comfortable in the Cougar program will be an important step for the fall season, Noble said.
"We have a few young guys that are going to be filling some key positions," Noble said. "We need to be sure they are ready to step into the spring well prepared."
The Cougars open their 2008 season on Feb. 22-24 when it plays host to Pacific in a weekend, non-conference series at Cougar Field. That series begins at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 22, continues at 3 p.m., Feb. 23 and wraps up at 1 p.m., Feb. 24.
