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The 2008 season and the road to Millington Tennessee begin with, as one would expect a great deal of excitement. The ball club is as solid as it has ever been. This group is aware that they have some unfinished business to tend to and they are hungry to get back and finish it. This group has not forgotten the tremendous run through the 2007 Region 24 tournament. To be tied in the 9th inning of both contests in the District Tournament and losing to the eventual National Champions gives us tremendous motivation to work even harder to get us where we ultimately want to be. Last years success has given us a taste of what it is like to be so close. We feel that this success backs up the statement that we feel that we can play with anyone on our schedule. I will challenge this group to work above their comfort level, to push themselves to the limit but to have fun along the way. The Bulldogs will feature 26 very promising athletes who will all bring a little bit something different to the teams needs. We return 61% of our offense from last years record setting team and 37% of the victories on the mound. We certainly need to fill some big holes that were left after graduation but we feel that we have replaced them with some very solid players. The nucleus of the team returns and with the high number of returnees you could easily fall into the trap of meeting last years level of success. I feel that this team has set its own goals and have their own set of expectations that they want to shoot for. It is not a matter of “we have to”; it is a situation that we expect to be successful by working hard and not be complacent with the success from last year. The coaching staff is happy with the success that we saw on the field this past summer and very pleased with the way the players adjusted to one another during the course of the fall. Although we did not have the dominant type of success we were looking for early on in the fall we were extremely satisfied with the way we finished the fall season. We witnessed the new guys adapting to the level of competition and making the adjustments that the coaches were looking for. The 2008 season will see yet a few new wrinkles that have been added from previous years. The conference schedule will revert back from a four game set to a three game series. The MWAC has also added Heartland Community College to its list of members taking the total up to eleven members resulting in a thirty game conference schedule. Post season play has changed to a sectional format with the four highest MWAC finishers hosting a three team series with the winners advancing on to a four team regional tournament. The Region 24 tournament will now be hosted by the Bulldogs at Lanphier Park. It will be an obvious goal of ours to get to the regional tournament that will be hosted at our friendly confines. This is much easier said then done as the consensus is that the league should be very competitive and balanced. The roster of 26 players features an eleven man pitching staff. This number is a little lower than we would like but we are excited about the staff overall. The four returners tallied 14 victories for us in 2007 and we believe they all have enough experience to lead the way in 2008. We have added 7 new faces to the staff with four lefties and three righties. As in years past, all these guys bring a little something different to the table. Our number one goal will be to average less than two walks a game. This seems to be the most significant goal over the last four years. It has developed our staff into being one of the top three staffs in the conference in team ERA, runs allowed and on base percentage. We will preach throwing strikes early and often so our experienced defense can make the plays. We simply can’t defend the base on balls. We feel that it will be up to this group of guys to emerge on to the college scene and get the job done. We have always believed that the key to a 30 win season is the middle to later part of the staff to step up and take care of business. I don’t care who it is but we will need three or four guys to man up quickly. Defensively I strongly feel that we should be as good as any team that I have coached at SCI. We return an All American, all district, all region, all conference catcher behind the dish. A majority of our infield who helped set a team record with a .957 fielding percentage and a program leading 39 double plays, Individually two infielders, one who was second team all conference and the team defensive player of the year and another who was on the all tournament team. Two additional infielders, one who led the team in starts at third base and another who led the team in fielding percentage at first base. In the outfield we will see the return of three guys: one who started 30 games for us in centerfield and another who gives us the flexibility to play all three outfield spots while the third will most likely change gears as our left handed DH and see a lot of time in left field. We have added a very strong defensive catcher to bolster the catching duties, three infielders who will give us some immediate options to our defense as well as some adequate depth and two highly successful outfielders who solidify this very athletic group. Offensively we feel that we are equally as solid. We return our offensive player of the year, a member of the .400 hitting club and 6 guys who hit over .300 on the year. Specific to the batting lineup we return the meat of the order with six guys who hit from the two through six slots in the line up. We will be looking for a new lead off hitter and for someone to take over in the seven, eight and nine holes. We have added some speed and some pop to the line up with the addition of our incoming guys and we like the blend of talent that the position players offer us. We will stay aggressive on the base paths and stay very fundamental towards our execution. There are three or four guys who offer the threat of the long ball but we will once again be more of a gap to gap type of team. Roughly 60% of all the offensive stats return to what we hope to be a very explosive line up. The 2008 campaign begins March 11 when we head west to the always sunny state of Arizona. The southern trip features a few new names to the schedule. During the eight day trip we will play 10 games against some very good competition. We have added Grays Harbor College from Aberdeen Washington and Fort Scott Community College out of Fort Scott Kansas. The Bulldogs will also embark on some territory when they take the field against a minor league team from the Chicago Cubs organization. The conference schedule has flipped flopped dramatically. In week one we will see LLCC and the Lynx from Lincoln College. Week two we take on newcomer Heartland and some non conference opponents. In week three Danville Community College and the Mudcats from Spoon River College come on the scene. The fourth week of the conference schedule sees us taking on Parkland and Illinois Central. Week five the Bulldogs travel to Shawnee for a three game set followed by Lewis and Clark Community College and we end the season with John Wood Community College out of Quincy Illinois. We currently have a 51 game schedule in a 52 day span. We feel that we are up for the challenge and we are confident that it will help us prepare for post season play. Nothing changes in our approach to the game of baseball. We will play the game the way it is supposed to be played. We will respect all but fear none. We will hustle, flat out bust it, our uniforms will be dirty when the game is over. We will play with class and pride stressing fundamentals, responsibility and positive emotion. Team is the number one word in our program. I will once again close with my signature statement “We are a family and we will always be a family” This group is extremely close and I feel that it will pay off in the end. - Steve Torricelli, Head Coach |
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