The South Alabama baseball team will be back in action on Feb. 13 as it looks to get back to the top of the Sun Belt Conference.
The Jaguars went 23-28 and 12-18 in conference play last season, landing them in 11th in the conference and failing to make the conference tournament. Despite the underwhelming season, the Jaguars finished third in the league in batting average and sixth in ERA. They also had a huge marquee victory over ranked Ole Miss last year at Stanky Field.
The Jags return two of their best hitters from last year in Duncan Matthews and Rett Johnson as they both had breakout sophomore campaigns. Matthews posted a .336 batting average along with a .486 on-base percentage, which led the team last year. Johnson hit .327 and finished 2nd on the team in hits with 56.
The Jags are also returning two of their best pitchers from last year in Mitchell Heer and Jaxon Shineflew. At the beginning of last season, Shineflew was the Friday night starter, and he totaled 59 strikeouts on the year, while Heer seemed to be the team’s most reliable pitcher last year as he finished with a 7-2 record last year.
One player to watch out for this year is Damien Gatson. Gatson is a freshman outfielder from Mobile, Alabama, who is extremely talented and can play a big role for this year’s team even as a freshman.
The Sun Belt Conference is one of the most underrated baseball conferences in the country, so winning in this league would be quite the achievement. Coastal Carolina, Southern Miss and Troy were all ranked at one point last season, and Coastal Carolina made it all the way to the College World Series finals last year.
This will mark the 15th season for Mark Calvi as the head baseball coach of South Alabama, and he is looking to bounce back. Before Calvi came to Mobile, he was the pitching coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks where he helped lead the Gamecocks to a national championship.
South Alabama has some big home games this year including one against the University of Alabama on March 17, and a weekend series against Southern Miss in April.
It has been a long offseason for South Alabama baseball fans, and it is almost time to pack out Stanky Field once again.
