MOBILE, Ala. — The South Alabama baseball team opens fall practice Friday with an intrasquad game at Eddie Stanky Field, scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.
The Jaguars will scrimmage again at 11 a.m. Saturday and play another intrasquad game at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
Fall Schedule
The fall period includes two weeks of individual and four-on-one workouts. As they did last fall, the Jaguars will play intrasquad games every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday during the workout period, giving the coaching staff a chance to evaluate players in game situations.
The date of the annual Red and Blue World Series, the final intrasquad event of the fall, has not been set.
Competition at Every Position
South Alabama returns a number of players and has added newcomers expected to compete for key positions. Head coach Mark Calvi said every position will be open to competition.
The staff has identified pitching quality and depth as the top area for improvement. A year ago, the Jaguars began fall practice without established starters in the top three spots of the rotation or a set closer, and they returned only about 30 innings of pitching experience. Calvi estimates the staff returns roughly 350 innings this fall, along with several junior college transfers.
Strength Program Credited
Calvi said the players have benefited from offseason conditioning under associate strength and conditioning coach Jon Hersel.
“Our guys appear to be much stronger,” Calvi said. “Coach Hersel has really worked hard in putting his workouts together to make the guys better. And there is a competitive balance. You want the workouts to be very competitive, but you also don’t want to cross the line where someone gets hurt.”
“Our guys are flexible, and the key to strength and conditioning is you want to keep your players on the field performing at their best,” he said. “There is that balance, and I think Jon has struck a good balance of getting their work in, yet, have them at peak-ability on the field. I’m very pleased with the way the strength and conditioning part of the program has been going.”
South Alabama competes in the Sun Belt Conference.
