'Bama, UH to play ball

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Prognostications for the Alabama baseball team can be deceiving.

Trapasso

"They did not have the type of year that they're used to, but my understanding is that they have retooled," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of Alabama, coming off a 29-26 season, including 10-20 in the Southeastern Conference. "They kept all their great pitching and added offense to make them better."

The SEC is considered the strongest conference in the nation by Baseball America. Nine of the 12 teams made the regionals last year and nine are predicted to make it again. The Crimson Tide hope to be one of them, but are picked to finish fifth in the six-team West division. Yet, that doesn't reveal Alabama's true strength. Alabama has a preseason ranking of 43, one below UH, which is being picked for a regional spot by Baseball America.

Bauer

Bryant

"We're really going to learn a lot the next three, four days," said Alabama coach Jim Wells before his team's workout last night at UH.

The Crimson Tide return a pitching staff that tied for the SEC lead in earned run average with Vanderbilt at 3.34. Leading the way is sophomore left-hander Wade LeBlanc (8-4, 2.08 ERA), the national Co-Freshman of the Year by Collegiate Baseball last season.

"He could easily be the best pitcher we'll face all year," Trapasso said.

LeBlanc had eight complete games in 15 starts. He struck out 98 and walked 26 in 112á innings.

Wells warned that the team's low ERA is somewhat deceiving because the bulk of the quality pitching was from LeBlanc and left-hander Taylor Tankersley (2-0, 2.00), who signed with the Florida Marlins after being taken 27th overall in last year's draft.

"Those two guys put up great numbers for us," Wells said. "We just had two big guys up front that made the numbers skewed a little bit."

"He's thrown in one scrimmage and we've had three," Wells said. "He had some soreness, came back and seemed to do OK. He'll be on a pitch count and certainly (being the) first (game) of the year, he won't go deep into the game, unless something unusual happens."

Also returning are left-handers Brandon Belcher, who also can play the outfield, and Brent Carter, who has 19 career wins at Alabama. Right-hander T.J. Large is expected to be the fourth starter.

The Rainbows have two experienced starters back in all-Western Athletic Conference first-team pick Ricky Bauer and second-team selection Stephen Bryant, both eight-game winners last year. But the 'Bows will be breaking in new starters in Colby Summer, back from Tommy John surgery, and JC transfer Justin Costi.

Alabama is hoping to improve offensively. It batted .283, second lowest in the SEC, which had a league average of .299. The Tide scored the second fewest runs (330) among SEC teams.

"I know we've improved offensively, but I need a gauge against something else other than ourselves," said Wells, who enters his 11th season at Alabama.

The Crimson Tide improved behind the plate with junior catcher Kody Valverde, a transfer from New Orleans, where he was an all-Sun Belt first-team selection. He batted .327 with seven home runs and 36 RBIs for the Privateers last season.

The Rainbows also are new at catcher with JC transfer Esteban Lopez, who has been drafted twice already.

Both Alabama and Hawai'i will be starting highly touted freshmen at shortstop.

The Rainbows will use Joe Spiers, ranked 42nd in Baseball America's top 50 freshmen. He holds the California Interscholastic Federation consecutive games hitting streak (46).

The Crimson Tide have Cale Iorg (ranked 11th), the son of former major leaguer Garth Iorg. Cale Iorg was drafted in the 16th round by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

"He's certainly a good defensive player that can make some plays that most don't," Wells said.

Wells has returnees at other positions. Possible starters are Zac Welch (.305, 7 HRs, 46 RBIs) at first, Allen Rice (.333, 11 steals) at second and Evan Bush (.324, 8 HRs, 31 RBIs) at third.

The outfield has Emeel Salem (.304) in center, Matt Grooms (.311) in left and Michael McAllister (.272) in right.

A DH candidate is Gabe Scott (.294, 4 HRs).

The Rainbows' infield returns all-WAC second-team second baseman Isaac Omura (.313, 4 HRs, 24 RBIs).

Third base might see a combination of Schafer Magana and Rocky Russo.

First base is new with JC transfers Luis Avila and Adam Roberts, who also could play third.

Greg Kish (all-WAC first team) and Matt Inouye (Wallace national player of the year watch list candidate) will be in left and center, respectively, with JC transfer Jose Castaneda in right. Robbie Wilder also could play left, but the left-handed hitter's playing time might be limited because of Alabama's predominantly left-handed starting staff.

Hawai'i's DH could be a combination of the third and first basemen.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.