RUSTON, La. - Wade Simoneaux and his coaching staff will begin fall practice with the Louisiana Tech baseball team on Thursday with squad tryouts followed by the fall practice period that will culminate in the Fall World Series at the end of the month.
Close to 80 players will go through tryouts over the next few days before that numbers is trimmed to around 40 on Monday.
We put all of our returnees, signees and walk-ons out there together to measure everyone against each other, Simoneaux said. We will come out of fall with 40 guys and we will red shirt 10 of those.
The Bulldogs return a solid nucleus of players and hope some talented newcomers will lead to a better season in 2005.
We hope to come out of fall with no injuries and have a good idea of our weekend rotation and starting lineup at the end of October, Simoneaux added.
Tech finished last year on a strong note, upsetting Rice in the final WAC series of the season.
On the mound, Matt Lacy and Clayton Meyer lead the list of returnees, as 11 new pitcher signees will be looked at to provide immediate help.
We have 11 new pitcher signees coming in with six of them being junior college guys, so we are expecting big things out of them, Simoneaux said.
Tech returns three starters in the infield, second baseman Brandon Haygood, catcher Mims Boyce and shortstop Gary Holik.
I have been real pleased with how our guys have been conducting their off season workouts, Simoneaux said They are either lifting or running each morning at 6 a.m.
In the outfield, Gil Laird returns in right field and part-time starter Brandon Hudson started some last year in left. Hudson is expected to see time at several spots in 2005 including pitcher.
A big part of our schedule in the fall is our community service activities. The guys volunteer at church groups and make school and hospital visits, Simoneaux said.
The seven game Fall Work Series will start on Thursday, October 21st at 6 p.m. and there will be games daily until game seven is played on October 28th to conclude fall practice for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs open the season on February 4th when plays at McNeese State in a three game series. Tech opens the home schedule, February 18th when the Bulldogs take on the defending Southeastern Conference regular season champion and College World Series participant Arkansas in the first game of a three game set.