UT MARTIN BASEBALL LOOKS TO VETERAN PRESENCE IN 2019
2/8/2019 4:24:00 PM | Baseball
MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team has its eyes set on the 2019 campaign with second-year head coach Ryan Jenkins leading the pack, surrounded by an experienced core of players.
UT Martin returns a group of young men that saw a ton of playing time last season led by a talented group of seniors.
"Our senior leadership is the greatest strength of this squad," Jenkins said. "We are returning so many experienced players beginning with guys like Jordan Stoner, who had a great season last year, and Creighton Eldridge, who has been around the conference for a bit and has been a great leader. Then we also return guys like sophomores Ethan Whitley, Casey Harford and Blake Davis at key positions. Those three young men gained a tremendous amount of experience last season, have a ton of at-bats under their belts already and have seen what the league has to offer. Offensively, we are very talented and love the direction in which our defense is headed."
Jenkins used last year to get acquainted to the head coaching world, as he was elevated to interim head coach in December of 2017 and having the interim tag removed in April of the 2018 season.
"The biggest thing going from being an assistant coach last year to taking over the reins as the head coach was that you can't have tunnel vision – you have to look at the whole picture," Jenkins said. "Last season we had to stop and take a look at where we wanted to be as a team and how we wanted to go forward. We faced a lot of adversity and I think that will be good for our program because these returners have been battle-tested. Failure is a huge part of the game and you have to take those experiences and learn from them to find solutions to certain areas. I think that last year was good for the guys who played every day and it was certainly good for me as a coach. I had to go from worrying about 'are we getting the hits that we need on a daily basis' or 'are our swings looking good' to overseeing what the team is doing as a whole."
Making his mark on the culture of Skyhawk baseball is a key driving force for Jenkins. He knows that with every mistake comes a learning experience and is pushing the 2019 UT Martin team to make great strides.
"There are so many different facets of a baseball program that are important and so many things that a coaching staff has to look at that made last year a great learning experience," Jenkins said. "We learned that we want to be an aggressive team that pitches to contact, we want our defense to be in every play and be active and when we swing the bat that we want an aggressive offense that strikes fear in our opponents. We have some guys who swing a big bat and can swipe bases, which sets the groundwork for our team's identity going forward. The ultimate change going from an assistant to a head coach is that you want to be sure that you put that stamp of 'this is a UT Martin baseball team' on a program that will be well respected around the league."
With the majority of position players returning, Jenkins looks for those players to provide guidance of the newcomers on the field.
Four spots on the infield seem solidified going into the season. Davis garnered an All-OVC Newcomer Team spot last season and put up impressive numbers as the workhorse behind the plate. Whitley gives the Skyhawks a great option at first base as the sophomore collected an All-OVC Newcomer Team selection as well as a Collegiate Baseball Newspaper All-American nod in 2018. Harford battled injuries while starting 44 games at shortstop last season but he is back at full strength and will transition over to second base. Freshman Tyson Cox provides excellent glove work at shortstop after helping propel Poplar Bluff High School to one of the top-20 teams in the state of Missouri.
The third base job is still up for grabs, as the trio of Blake Daniels, Noah Thigpen and Hayden Cooper are in an ongoing battle to man the hot corner. Daniels was a utility option at Southwest Tennessee Community College and also earned all-state honors at the high school level in Arkansas. Thigpen also brings a great wealth of utility knowledge as he played all infield positions in high school. Cooper helped lead Holt High School to a 2017 conference title while also nabbing a pair of consecutive first team all-conference honors at the prep level.
The outfield projects to be one of the team's biggest assets in 2019. Stoner is coming off of a stellar junior campaign as the Puyallup, Wash. native collected an All-OVC first team honor. The Preseason All-OVC honoree will bat leadoff and will also move from center field to left field this spring.
The starting center fielder is slated to be redshirt junior Sean Dixson. After being ranked as one of the top outfield prospects in the state of Oklahoma at the high school level, he hit .347 with a .978 OPS at Murray State College in 2017.
Eldridge missed all but seven games last season because of an injury. However, he had an exceptional 2017 campaign when he tallied a .548 slugging percentage thanks in large part to six triples and nine homers. The left-handed slugger is projected to start in right field and hit in the middle of the lineup.
The designated hitter spot provides Jenkins with a plethora of flexibility. It will feature a mixture of Daniels, Cooper, Dawson Moncrief and Robert Worley. Moncrief proved to be a reliable option at Wallace Community College – Selma last season while also coming from a superb high school background. Worley missed last season due to injury but appeared in 30 games in 2017 and gives UT Martin a reliable left-handed option at the position.
The Skyhawk rotation will see Winston Cannon as the Friday night starter. The righty started a team-high 14 games last season as he logged over 71 innings and wrung up 67 batters along the way. Sam Folks looks to be the Saturday starter after the southpaw started 11 games and picked up a victory over No. 13-ranked Southern Miss last season. Right-handers Austen Bullington and Seth Petry will both be considered for Sunday starts. Bullington started six contests while appearing in 17 games, recording 66 innings pitched and fanned 42 batters in the process. Petry is a freshman who helped lead Siegel High School to a regional championship last spring.
Jenkins notes that the first men called upon out of the bullpen will be David Hussey, Dom Bazzani, Zach Denney, Austin Buzick and Jefferey O'Doherty. Hussey led the squad in earned run average last season and posted 33.1 innings in a team-high 22 appearances. He conceded just 12 extra-base hits and sat down 33 opposing batters via strikeout. The left-handed Bazzani has the most experience of any Skyhawk returner, striking out 134 batters over 140.1 career innings. Denney and O'Doherty each appeared in 15 games last season, issuing just seven walks and limiting opponents to just five extra-base hits, respectively. Buzick logged 14 innings in 12 appearances last year and recorded 10 strikeouts in the process.
Marcus Eusebio looks to take over the role of closer for the Skyhawks. Eusebio is a highly-touted freshman who is no stranger to success as the Wayne, NJ native tossed a no-hitter at Passaic County Technical Institute.
Jenkins believes in his assistant coaches and the young men surrounding him. He wants his team to know that they can make a difference in the UT Martin baseball program.
"Our motto this year is 'trust the process,'" Jenkins said. "We are going to make sure that we do the little things better each day than we did the day before. We are trying to instill excitement on a daily basis with our team. The most important thing this upcoming season is making sure that the guys all buy in on what we are believing and are teaching them. I think that we will be happy with the direction that the program is going given the upbeat attitude of every member of this squad."
UT Martin opens the 2019 schedule on Friday, Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. when the Skyhawks host South Dakota State for a four-game series.
UT Martin returns a group of young men that saw a ton of playing time last season led by a talented group of seniors.
"Our senior leadership is the greatest strength of this squad," Jenkins said. "We are returning so many experienced players beginning with guys like Jordan Stoner, who had a great season last year, and Creighton Eldridge, who has been around the conference for a bit and has been a great leader. Then we also return guys like sophomores Ethan Whitley, Casey Harford and Blake Davis at key positions. Those three young men gained a tremendous amount of experience last season, have a ton of at-bats under their belts already and have seen what the league has to offer. Offensively, we are very talented and love the direction in which our defense is headed."
Jenkins used last year to get acquainted to the head coaching world, as he was elevated to interim head coach in December of 2017 and having the interim tag removed in April of the 2018 season.
"The biggest thing going from being an assistant coach last year to taking over the reins as the head coach was that you can't have tunnel vision – you have to look at the whole picture," Jenkins said. "Last season we had to stop and take a look at where we wanted to be as a team and how we wanted to go forward. We faced a lot of adversity and I think that will be good for our program because these returners have been battle-tested. Failure is a huge part of the game and you have to take those experiences and learn from them to find solutions to certain areas. I think that last year was good for the guys who played every day and it was certainly good for me as a coach. I had to go from worrying about 'are we getting the hits that we need on a daily basis' or 'are our swings looking good' to overseeing what the team is doing as a whole."
Making his mark on the culture of Skyhawk baseball is a key driving force for Jenkins. He knows that with every mistake comes a learning experience and is pushing the 2019 UT Martin team to make great strides.
"There are so many different facets of a baseball program that are important and so many things that a coaching staff has to look at that made last year a great learning experience," Jenkins said. "We learned that we want to be an aggressive team that pitches to contact, we want our defense to be in every play and be active and when we swing the bat that we want an aggressive offense that strikes fear in our opponents. We have some guys who swing a big bat and can swipe bases, which sets the groundwork for our team's identity going forward. The ultimate change going from an assistant to a head coach is that you want to be sure that you put that stamp of 'this is a UT Martin baseball team' on a program that will be well respected around the league."
With the majority of position players returning, Jenkins looks for those players to provide guidance of the newcomers on the field.
Four spots on the infield seem solidified going into the season. Davis garnered an All-OVC Newcomer Team spot last season and put up impressive numbers as the workhorse behind the plate. Whitley gives the Skyhawks a great option at first base as the sophomore collected an All-OVC Newcomer Team selection as well as a Collegiate Baseball Newspaper All-American nod in 2018. Harford battled injuries while starting 44 games at shortstop last season but he is back at full strength and will transition over to second base. Freshman Tyson Cox provides excellent glove work at shortstop after helping propel Poplar Bluff High School to one of the top-20 teams in the state of Missouri.
The third base job is still up for grabs, as the trio of Blake Daniels, Noah Thigpen and Hayden Cooper are in an ongoing battle to man the hot corner. Daniels was a utility option at Southwest Tennessee Community College and also earned all-state honors at the high school level in Arkansas. Thigpen also brings a great wealth of utility knowledge as he played all infield positions in high school. Cooper helped lead Holt High School to a 2017 conference title while also nabbing a pair of consecutive first team all-conference honors at the prep level.
The outfield projects to be one of the team's biggest assets in 2019. Stoner is coming off of a stellar junior campaign as the Puyallup, Wash. native collected an All-OVC first team honor. The Preseason All-OVC honoree will bat leadoff and will also move from center field to left field this spring.
The starting center fielder is slated to be redshirt junior Sean Dixson. After being ranked as one of the top outfield prospects in the state of Oklahoma at the high school level, he hit .347 with a .978 OPS at Murray State College in 2017.
Eldridge missed all but seven games last season because of an injury. However, he had an exceptional 2017 campaign when he tallied a .548 slugging percentage thanks in large part to six triples and nine homers. The left-handed slugger is projected to start in right field and hit in the middle of the lineup.
The designated hitter spot provides Jenkins with a plethora of flexibility. It will feature a mixture of Daniels, Cooper, Dawson Moncrief and Robert Worley. Moncrief proved to be a reliable option at Wallace Community College – Selma last season while also coming from a superb high school background. Worley missed last season due to injury but appeared in 30 games in 2017 and gives UT Martin a reliable left-handed option at the position.
The Skyhawk rotation will see Winston Cannon as the Friday night starter. The righty started a team-high 14 games last season as he logged over 71 innings and wrung up 67 batters along the way. Sam Folks looks to be the Saturday starter after the southpaw started 11 games and picked up a victory over No. 13-ranked Southern Miss last season. Right-handers Austen Bullington and Seth Petry will both be considered for Sunday starts. Bullington started six contests while appearing in 17 games, recording 66 innings pitched and fanned 42 batters in the process. Petry is a freshman who helped lead Siegel High School to a regional championship last spring.
Jenkins notes that the first men called upon out of the bullpen will be David Hussey, Dom Bazzani, Zach Denney, Austin Buzick and Jefferey O'Doherty. Hussey led the squad in earned run average last season and posted 33.1 innings in a team-high 22 appearances. He conceded just 12 extra-base hits and sat down 33 opposing batters via strikeout. The left-handed Bazzani has the most experience of any Skyhawk returner, striking out 134 batters over 140.1 career innings. Denney and O'Doherty each appeared in 15 games last season, issuing just seven walks and limiting opponents to just five extra-base hits, respectively. Buzick logged 14 innings in 12 appearances last year and recorded 10 strikeouts in the process.
Marcus Eusebio looks to take over the role of closer for the Skyhawks. Eusebio is a highly-touted freshman who is no stranger to success as the Wayne, NJ native tossed a no-hitter at Passaic County Technical Institute.
Jenkins believes in his assistant coaches and the young men surrounding him. He wants his team to know that they can make a difference in the UT Martin baseball program.
"Our motto this year is 'trust the process,'" Jenkins said. "We are going to make sure that we do the little things better each day than we did the day before. We are trying to instill excitement on a daily basis with our team. The most important thing this upcoming season is making sure that the guys all buy in on what we are believing and are teaching them. I think that we will be happy with the direction that the program is going given the upbeat attitude of every member of this squad."
UT Martin opens the 2019 schedule on Friday, Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. when the Skyhawks host South Dakota State for a four-game series.
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