With plenty of experienced returners, Bearkats baseball team eagerly anticipate start of 2017 season – Royse City Herald Banner

Preseason baseball practice may have just kicked off, but it’s apparent the Bearkats are itching for opening day to arrive.

With 18 returners, including eight starters at everyday positions, the Kats thinks it’s their time to break through the NCAA regional round.

The Sam Houston State baseball team kicked off practice last Friday and so far, they like what they see as they hope to continue where they left off last season in which they won the Southland Conference’s regular-season and tournament championships, plus advanced to the NCAA regionals and went toe to toe with the eventual national runner-up.

“We got right into it,” Bearkats senior shortstop Taylor Beene said. “It’s been nothing like last year where we went through the motions and got to know all of our teammates.

“This year, we just clicked right away. We already have the maturity and the experience now. We’re just ready to roll.”

Since last Friday, the Bearkats have had four full practices in which they took in some batting practice, fielding and base running drills, game scenarios and also played intrasquad scrimmages.

As long as the Kats can stay healthy, head coach Matt Deggs says that the day-by-day progress is the kind of step his team needs to make each time out.

“We’re in our fourth practice and guys are getting after it,” Deggs said. “Pitching has been really good, pounding the zone with a bunch of strikes. We’ve had some competitive at-bats. It’s all a part of the process. I like where we’re headed.”

Where the Bearkats have youth and inexperience is on their pitching staff.

While the Kats’ starters from last year (Heath Donica, Riley Gossett and Dakota Mills) are experienced, the other pitchers are young. Deggs brought in six freshman pitchers, including four lefthanders.

Like Gossett did a year ago as a freshman, the newcomers have settled in and competed so far.

“They’ve done a fantastic job,” said Gossett, who was a D1Baseball Freshman All-American last year. “Last year, we didn’t have a lot of lefties, but this year, they’ve stacked it on. They’re really impressive. They come out and throw strikes. They’ve got great movement on the ball. It’s great to see for our staff. It’s another step up.”

Approaching the season is different than it was a year ago. Instead of having more than half the roster composed of newcomers with 20 freshmen, the Bearkats have six returning position players (outfielder Bryce Johnson, second baseman Lance Miles, utility player Riley McKnight, catcher Robie Rojas, third baseman Andrew Fregia and Beene, a shortstop) who played at least 55 games in 2016.

With sophomores Jaxxon Grisham, Hunter Hearn, Clayton Harp and Mac Odom, who collectively averaged 43.25 games played, likely starting or seeing plenty of playing time this season, the Bearkats are certainly not short on experience.

“They understand it’s pack baseball. They understand our offense and what our standards are,” Deggs said. “Really and truly, it’s about playing without a whole lot of talking and everybody understands where they need to be and what we’re doing. The learning curve is not real big right now. We return a lot of guys and they’re all hooked up on the same page.

“More than anything, it’s finding the guys who are going to help us off the bench. … We’re not preparing for February 17 (the season opener). We’re preparing for April, May and June. Every day is a little bit different. You’ve got to come out one day at a time and embrace the journey every single day. These guys do that and they’ve got a chance to get better, better and better.”

As they work their way through practice, the Kats know the season will be here quickly when they open with Nevada on Feb. 17 at Don Sanders Stadium.

“We’ve got Super Bowl Sunday, then we’ve got Meet the Kats Sunday (on Feb. 12),” Beene said. “Then it’s go time. It’s exciting. It’s a good feel around the locker room. We can’t wait.”

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