David Almeda, Staff Writer
As the crisp fall air begins to engulf Stillwell Stadium, Kennesaw State’s baseball team is beginning to gear up to defend their Atlantic Sun Conference crown in what they hope will be a worthy sequel season to their Super Regional run.
The Owls are wrapping up fall practices, which are essentially their equivalent to what professional players have in spring training — an evaluation time and a chance to shake the rust off.
“We try to do some different things in practice,” head coach Mike Sansing said. “We try to go over some fundamentals, but not do it every day to where it gets a little bit old. Not playing any outside competition kind of gets old.”
There may not be any outside competition to play at this point, but Sansing has come up with a way to keep players loose and wrap up the fall season on a high note. Coinciding with MLB’s World Series is the Owls’ own version of the Fall Classic. A series of scrimmages dubbed The Black and Gold World Series will take place Monday to Wednesday at 3 p.m. Fans will be able to come to the games for free.
“We have a draft, get two teams and they just battle it out for a couple of days,” Sansing said. “This is a way to cap off the fall and kind of get some energy back in there, finish off with a good note.”
Sansing also has the task of figuring out what roles players will have for the upcoming season. The fall practices have given him and his coaching staff a chance to do that.
“We’re strongly evaluating a few positions that we’re still trying to figure out,” Sansing said. “We did have a large group returning but there were some spots that we had to get a better feel for. That’s been my main purpose.”
With the departures of some prominent players over the offseason, the coaching staff has looked at different areas where shifts are necessary, starting with the bullpen.
“Probably the most significant thing we were approaching this fall was the backend of the bullpen,” Sansing said. “We lost two quality guys with multiple appearances with James [Connell] and Justin [McCalvin]. That’s been a high focus for me.”
The Owls’ outfield situation is also something that Sansing has focused on. However, two of the players that look to have a role there haven’t been at full strength during the fall season.
“I think our fourth guy last year was Justin Motley,” Sansing said. “He had shoulder surgery over the summer. He’s been very limited to what he could do this fall. Cornell Nixon had shoulder surgery so he’s been hampered. We have to continue to move the program and we feel like those guys will be back healthy.”
With Max Pentecost now in the Toronto Blue Jays’ farm system, the Owls’ situation at catcher has also changed, but seems to be a little bit more settled.
“Brennan Morgan caught a good bit for us last year too,” Sansing said. “That was kind of the purpose of doing that so you’re not behind the eight-ball with somebody who hasn’t played.”
Positions weren’t the only thing that the veteran coach focused on this fall. He also named the team captains, Travis Bergen from the pitching side, and Chris McGowan from the hitter’s side. McGowan, now in his fifth year, is excited for the opportunity.
“It means a lot,” McGowan said. “I’ve been here for a long time and I’ve always wanted to be team captain. It’s an honor.”
With the season still months away, the Owls still have to stay motivated. McGowan says the best way to do to that is to look ahead.
“You just have to keep your sights at the spring,” McGowan said. “Especially with the run we made last year, we have high expectations on what we’re going to do this year. We want to get back to that point and even further.”
