Baseball look: Catcher

February 15, 2008

Drew Champlin

The first of five baseball looks over the next couple of days - we’ll go catchers, infielders, outfielders, pitchers, and batting order. This, obviously, will be the shortest.

For the last couple of years, Beau Brooks and Josh Blackwell have split the duties at the catcher position. This year, the job is strictly that of Brooks, a junior. Brooks had a little bit of a shoulder injury late in the fall, but has recovered from that.

“Beau’s definitely the No. 1 guy,“ Troy head coach Bobby Pierce said. “It’s time for him to step up and be the No. 1 guy. Josh Blackwell (senior) is a great No. 2 guy to have.“

The No. 3 catcher will either be Steven Felix, a sophomore who should start in left field, or true freshman Blake Martz.

Ouch

February 13, 2008

Drew Champlin

Don’t look if you’re a Troy basketball fan.

I’ll have to admit, I did not listen to a second of the game. I’m supposed to be off today.

Troy hoops…

Drew Champlin

....is at Western Kentucky tonight at 7 p.m.

Trojans usually play well against WKU, but this year’s team isn’t as good as years past and this year’s WKU team is better, and they’re at home.

Trojans badly need a win. Can they get it? Tune in to 94.7 FM and listen to Barry McKnight and

man that Jerry Miller’s gonna sound good cohort Travis Jarome.

Signee look: Defensive backs

February 12, 2008

Drew Champlin

Troy’s biggest needs were in the secondary. JUCO signees Michael Ricks (who is already on campus but can’t participate in spring ball because of academics), Kedric Manning, Demarcus Robertson, Daniel Sheffield and Jorrick Calvin will all have chances to contribute as will freshman Bryan Willis.

Everyone except Ricks and Sheffield are corners.

“We had to get some immediate needs at corner,“ defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell said. “We signed three junior college guys who I think are really going to be able to help us and be really good football players.“

On Michael Ricks: (Linebackers) Coach (Benjy) Parker coached Mike Ricks in junior college as a freshman and we recruited him out of high school. He’s a phenomenal athlete and a really good football player. He can do a bunch of things for us.

On Jorrick Calvin: Unbelieveable athlete. Hadn’t had a chance to play a bunch. He didn’t play this past year. (Has used a redshirt year)

On Daniel Sheffield (has three years left to play three): He’s a big safety out of Garden City. It’s a bonus because he’s not necessarily a junior college guy or a high school guy, but in-between. He’s a guy you can bring in and not worry about having him to step up immediately. He’s a bit raw in that he hasn’t played safety in a year but he’s got tremendous upside.

On Demarcus Robertson, who was at UMass for a year before going to Garden City CC: Demarcus played at Garden City and did some really good things. We talked to people (at Massachusetts) and they had nothing but high remarks about him. We talked to the Garden City folks and they said the same thing, which backed up what we saw on film.

On Kedric Manning: We talked to some guys that we really know. He played safety at Kilgore but he’s a natural corner. He had to play there because of necessity.

On Bryan Willis: He’s a young guy with tremendous ability. I’m tremendously excited about him because I thought he was a heck of a football player. He’s got good upside. He’s got speed, physicalness and he really understands how to play. He’s a great athlete and he’s going to have a chance to hopefully be a great player for us out of Shaw High School.

Sun Belt baseball

Drew Champlin

From the Sun Belt office - Troy was picked third in the league by the coaches but did not have a member on the all-conference preseason team.

Preseason All-Sun Belt Baseball Team

Danny Farquhar (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr., SP)

Hunter Moody (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr., SP)

Mike Obradovich (Florida Atlantic, Sr., RP)

Chris LaGrow (South Alabama, So., RP)

David Doss (South Alabama, Jr., C)

Rawley Bishop (Middle Tennessee, Jr., 1B)

Johnny Giavotella (New Orleans, Jr., 2B)

Terrence Dayleg (WKU, Jr., SS)

T.J. Baxter (New Orleans, Sr., 3B)

Mike McKenna (Florida Atlantic, Sr., OF)

Nolan Gisclair (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr., OF)

Clint Toomey (South Alabama, Sr., OF)

Scott Hawkins (Louisiana-Lafayette, Jr., DH)

Preseason Player of the Year

Johnny Giavotella (New Orleans, Jr., 2B)

Preseason Pitcher of the Year

Danny Farquhar (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr., SP)

Preseason Coaches Poll (First place votes in parenthesis)

School
Points
Louisiana-Lafayette (11)
121
New Orleans
107
Troy
94
Florida Atlantic
81
Middle Tennessee
74
South Alabama
69
WKU
56
Louisiana-Monroe
45
Florida International
36
Arkansas State
28
UALR
15