FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
NORMAN, Okla. — The 2009 baseball season is a week away and SoonerSports.com has released part two of the season preview which focuses on the OU pitchers and catchers.
Stay tuned to SoonerSports.com on Saturday for the final preview of the infielders and outfielders.
Oklahoma is ranked No. 16 in Baseball America’s preseason poll.
The Sooners began team practices on Sunday, Feb. 1 and will open the 2009 season at home on Friday, Feb. 20. The season opener against Western Illinois is slated for a 3 p.m. start at L. Dale Mitchell Park and is the first of four games set for the weekend.
The last time the Sooners opened a season at home was in 2003, a 9-5 win over Texas San Antonio on Feb. 14.
The 2008 Sooners finished with a 36-26-1 overall mark and lost to then-No. 4 Arizona State in the NCAA Tempe Regional final. OU returns 18 letterwinners from that squad, including seven position starters and six hurlers with at least five starts.
Head coach Sunny Golloway is entering his fifth year at OU’s helm since taking over at the end of the 2005 season. The Sooners are 127-78-1 under Golloway and have appeared in three NCAA Regional finals in the last four years, including the program’s lone super regional appearance in 2006.
CATCHERS
A question mark heading into the spring, the Sooners have options at the catcher position. Golloway and company are waiting for a starter to emerge as the roster has plenty of options at the position. Senior J.T. Wise returns after starting 59 games in 2008 and is joined by juniors Aaron Baker, Bryan Groth and Ross Hubbard and freshman Tyler Ogle.
“We haven’t named a starter behind the plate because it is a crucial position for the team’s success and we still have a lot of work to do with this group,” said Golloway. “We have had great catchers at Oklahoma in the past and I think a solid catcher, a pro catcher, will emerge this year, but who it will be remains to be seen.”
Wise provided the team with offense during his first full year behind the plate as a Division I catcher but Groth has been solid on the defensive side throughout his three years at OU.
“We get more offense with Wise and more defense with Groth,” said Golloway. “We wish we had a hybrid so we could have that complete player behind the plate. With that said, J.T. has to work on his defensive game because he only has one year of experience behind the plate at this level after playing in LSU’s infield for two years. And Groth has once again displayed his defensive skills in the fall, but he has to improve on his at-bats.”
Ogle and Hubbard both bring a power bat to OU’s offense from the right and left side, respectively. If they don’t see time behind the plate, they will appear in the lineup as a DH.
PITCHERS
Oklahoma returns 10 letterwinners on the 2009 pitching staff, a mark tied for the most returners in program history with the 1998 Sooners. Several members of that OU team won the program’s last Big 12 Championship during the inaugural 1997 conference tournament. The 1998 team went on to win 42 games and finished fourth in the Big 12 standings.
The coaches believe that same kind of success can hold true for this year’s club with close to 500 innings logged from the 2008 season returning.
“This pitching staff has a chance to be very good,” said Golloway. “We are excited about the experience and the arm strength in this group, especially with Garrett Richards and Antwonie Hubbard. They will start in the weekend rotation and have the ability to put themselves in a position to have a lot of success. ”
Richards and Hubbard are expected to solidify a weekend rotation led by junior Andrew Doyle. The right-hander is on the Wallace Brooks watch preseason list for player of the year after he topped all Sooners in 2008 with nine wins, a mark that ranked third in the Big 12.
Doyle’s contributions were vital to the Sooners’ strong postseason run and his continued success will by key to the team’s run in 2009.
“Andrew is sitting at the No. 1 spot because he is one of the best three-pitch arms in the Big 12,” added Golloway. “All of the experience in this group starts with him and his experience last year in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments will only make him a better pitcher.”
The staff has the potential to feature 9-10 different hurlers in the starting rotation.
“The depth is very important and we are excited to have it,” said Golloway. “A lot of guys started Big 12 games last year and that experience will pay dividends for us this year.”
That group of Big 12 starters includes Doyle, C.J. Blue, Ryan Duke, Jeremy Erben and Michael Rocha and they will be joined by four others with Big 12 game experience.
“J.R. Robinson is probably the closest to the three weekend starters and then we have Ryan Duke, Chase Anderson and Michael Rocha not far behind,” said Golloway.
In addition, seven newcomers on the roster gives OU the ability to match up with hitters on both sides of the plate. Overall, the staff features four left-handed pitchers.
“We have a chance to manage games from the left and right side, but we have to be cautious that we don’t over manage the pitching,” said Golloway. “We don’t want to force things and we have to utilize the guys who are throwing well at that point in time.”
