Short pro update

May 28, 2009

By Drew Champlin

Former Trojan Dion Small, who was a two-time all-Sun Belt performer at Troy while playing right tackle, confirmed to me that he has a tryout with the Buffalo Bills next month.

Small had a tryout with Tampa Bay recently, but that didn’t work out. He’s a good guy and was a heck of a player here so I hope he sticks on. The good thing is that he also graduated this spring.

Football update

May 27, 2009

By Drew Champlin

Spent some time up at Troy today, talking with head coach Larry Blakeney for a story that will run Friday. Also, the following four players have enrolled in the first summer session and are able to start doing weights and conditioning (pending a passed physical).

OT Cody Jenkins
DE Antonio Harvey
DB Caleb Massey
DB Willard Ross

Other players will start to filter in by late June or by early August. Thanks to the help of media relations guru Taylor Bryan and graduate assistant Jamaal Smith (they call him Smooth in the office), I was able to get some interviews with the quartet. I’ll run those little features on the blog over the next week and hopefully will be able to do the same thing for all the newcomers, so you guys as fans can get to know what they’re like before they make plays on the field.

It’s going to be a long two months until practice starts, but I’ll do my best to get some original content between now and then. I also talked to quarterback Levi Brown for a Q and A that I’ll get in the print edition (and online) pretty soon.

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HERE is a Troy preview from Lindy’s sports magazine. No idea if the full magazine is on newsstands yet. Nothing I haven’t told you earlier, but a good read nonetheless.

Troy baseball recap/look ahead

May 26, 2009

By Drew Champlin

As you know, Troy finished with a 33-23 record and didn’t make an NCAA regional for the second straight year after playing in two straight. I recently had a long conversation with assistant Mark Smartt about the state of the program, what was good, what wasn’t good, what the future holds, etc. Head coach Bobby Pierce is in Grand Junction, Colo., watching his son Logan play in the JUCO World Series for Shelton State CC.

So, here are some things to look at

***Freshman pitcher Tyler Ray went 7-3 with a 4.60 ERA, winning the SBC Freshman of the Year award. The ERA went up late in the year because he had never pitched that much in a season. That usually happens with freshmen, but Ray’s year was remarkable and he’s going to be a fixture in the weekend rotation for years to come. “His background and the way he introduced himself to our program suggested that he would be a major contributor right away,“ Smartt said.

What can Ray improve on? Adding weight, Smartt said. Ray is a wiry kid, and needs to be in the 180-pound range next year and probably 190 if he wants to pitch at the next level. Athletes take different forms of poundings and need the added weight for support.

***The team ERA was 6.32, which wasn’t good. The offense was decent enough, but not like the 06 team that could carry it by itself. Ray, Jason Walls, Travis Burge and Chris Sorce did their parts, but others either couldn’t rebound fully from injuries or didn’t perform like their JUCO numbers suggested, or struggled throwing strikes.

“It was a combination of two things - poor performances and injury factors,“ Smartt said. “I think the schedule hurt us. We didn’t have a complete game all year which is kind of rare, but it does tax your bullpen. We had three guys with over 20 appearances and nine guys were above 10 appearances (from the bullpen). We had two or three games that got away from us, giving up 26 to Auburn, 22 to Alabama. You take those games away and our ERA would be like everybody else in the country.“

Coaches expect Tim Wheeler and Andrew Dickinson to be even better next year. Both struggled coming off labrum surgery last offseason and both will be fifth-year seniors. Sophomore A.J. Howard, a lefty who was counted on out of the pen, redshirted following labrum surgery. Senior Josh Storm broke his hand before last fall and missed most of the fall. He fractured the same part of his hand (throwing) during the year and never could regain his command and be an all-conference performer like last year. He did all the right things for the team, but it just didn’t work out for him this year. Robby Loew wasn’t hurt, but struggled early. He got better at the end and should help next year.

“We expect guys like Tyler, Jason Walls and Chris Sorce to be close to this year if not better,“ Smartt said. “We’re excited about A.J’s return. We’ve got some wild cards. Drew Hull should be able to help us win games but at times he struggled to throw strikes.

“The offense was decent, but wasn’t good enough to win by itself,“ Smartt said. “We’ve got to get better on the mound if we want to be in one of the top two spots in the league.“

***Troy signed four pitchers last fall, though one in Joey Delgado won’t be here because of grades. Freshmen lefties Turner Lee and Shane McCain will compete for bullpen innings next year as they develop. The player coaches really like is JUCO transfer Chase Whitley, who started on the mound and started at third base for Southern Union JC. Coaches think he could be a starter at 3B and top reliever with Chris Sorce, but if he isn’t able to make the transition to this level with the bat, he’s got a chance to be a weekend starter. Recruiting efforts are being made this summer to bring in three or four more pitchers, because Walls has a chance to get drafted and sign.

***Hopes are high for good offensive production, though the team loses its No. 2, 3 and 5 spots in the order at the end of the year. Usually, JUCO transfers are much better offensively in their second years (think Bryan Miller, who hit .404 in 2008). So, that bodes well for outfielders Chad Watson, Steven Rosado, Miles Hoyle and infielders Ryan Ditthardt and J.R. Myers, all of whom have potential to put up numbers. Rosado and Myers will have chances to get back in the everyday mix. Senior Daryl Otwell is a guy to watch—all he did was hit when he got a chance. Catcher Steven Felix, who could also play outfield, returns, though he could get drafted based on his raw ability. He’ll have to get better than his .268 average, though. If a guy like Zack Martin, who barely played this year, has a preseason and regular season like Kevin Weidlich did in 2007, that could be a difference-maker. Infielder Adam Bryant really turned it on late in the year after a slow start and he’ll be a starter somewhere. Shortstop Bart Pettus and catchers Blake Martz and Jake Sullivan return.

***Not much will be put into finding offensive threats in this class, since so much comes back. Troy signed catcher Todd McCrae from Southern Union JC and he’s already there defensively but they’ll have to see how his bat is at this level. He’ll definitely help next year, though. Wallace-Dothan infielder T.J. Rivera is also in the mix.

***Two players with eligibility left won’t return. Left-handed pitcher Jason Howell has elected to not play baseball any more and lefty Fred Lewis is academically ineligible - which explains why he wasn’t on the postseason roster.

***The NCAA added a week to the college schedule, which is great. But, Troy (and the rest of the country) are looking for opening weekend opponents. The bad news is that Alabama decided to drop Troy from its schedule next year, and no one at Troy can get a straight answer on why. They’re certainly not required to play Troy, but the Trojans will have a better RPI year in and year out than other state opponents and are closer than other state opponents from Tuscaloosa (like South Alabama, which isn’t a fun one-day trip to Mobile from Tuscaloosa). Troy will be playing Auburn home-and-home and other schools. The headliner weekend is at Arkansas, which is the return trip from when Arkansas came in 2007. Troy will host Brown University in a four-game weekend series during the Sun Belt bye weekend (since the SBC has an odd number of baseball teams) and that’ll be played Sat-Mon. Troy also will host Bethune-Cookman in a weekend set, which will be a good series because Bethune-Cookman has been a fixture in regionals the past few years.

Around the Sun Belt, March 26

By Drew Champlin

Just as I figured two Sun Belt teams made it to NCAA regional play - Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky.

MTSU won’t have to go too far, heading to Louisville as a No. 2 seed and will play Vandy, throwing either Kenneth Roberts or Bryce Brentz (DNJ). It would be a good regional to get out of, but facing Vandy’s Mike Minor in the opener - he dominated LSU last week in the SEC Tournament - will be very tough.

Just like Troy was in 2007, Western Kentucky is a No. 3 seed at the beautiful Swayze Field at Ole Miss. They’ll play Missouri in the first game Friday.

And what if college baseball had an NIT? SEBaseball.com’s Mark Etheridge makes a mock field. Check that out to see where Troy landed.

I’ll try to get some final baseball thoughts up later today.

Around the Sun Belt, May 24 (baseball edition)

May 24, 2009

By Drew Champlin

The first of a few conference baseball editions this week

Middle Tennessee: Blue Raiders won the conference tournament at Troy, but what’s more impressive is the story of head coach Steve Peterson, a Blue Raider legend, and his recovery from heart surgery last November. Read about it HERE (Daily News Journal). The Blue Raiders set a school record (DNJ) for wins in a year with the win over ULM.

Ken Rogers wrote about the game from both sides for us.

UL-Lafayette: The magic ran out (The Advertiser in Lafayette) for the Cajuns, which won their first two games in Troy to get in good position for a surprise title. The losses marked the end of several players’ careers, including slugger Scott Hawkins.

Western Kentucky: After tearing up Troy in round two, the bats went silent in the next two games for WKU (BG Daily News). There’s going to be a wait and see approach for WKU to see if they make it in to the NCAA Tournament.

Florida Atlantic: The Owls had a rough year, but are looking ahead (story inside Ted Hutton‘s blog link for Sun-Sentinel)

Florida International: FIU had a great season, but bad ending as Pete Pelegrin wraps up the year in his blog from the Miami Herald.