The University of Mississippi Athletics
Mike Bianco Preseason Press Conference Transcript
2/11/2002 | Baseball
Feb. 9, 2002
Opening Comments:
Thanks for coming. We appreciate you being here. Thanks to (UM baseball SID) Rick Stupak on this year's media guide. What a great job. One of the best I've ever seen. It's an award-winner. Secondly, congratulations to (assistant coaches) Dan McDonnell and Clint Carver for the great job they did last year. They were a huge part of the success. Turning this program around is not a one man show. In our first full year probably the proudest thing we've done is to have the No. 6 recruiting class in the country. With Dan leading that effort and Clint assisting him in the first year is impressive. We also have a new assistant coach, Kyle Bunn, who was hired last August to replace Butch Millet. Kyle is a former pitcher at The Citadel. He was with us the entire fall and has picked up the system and done a terrific job.
We're a week away, and there's a lot of excitement around here. Ticket sales are up and that shows the fans are excited. Last year we sold a record number of season tickets at 1,075. This year we've surpassed that record. A week away we're at 1,420. So we're thankful to the fans. Our kids are excited to be ranked in the top 20 in all three polls. It's a huge boost. We're excited about that. The players have worked tremendously hard to get ready. We had a strong fall, and the pitchers dominated. This recruiting class was very pitcher-oriented. With guys like Pete Montrenes returning and Alan Horne showing up says a lot about those kids and about our program. So far this spring I'm excited offensively about what we've done. I'm more excited now than after the fall. I feel offensively we're better than expected.
As far as our lineup, right now we feel we have much more depth than last year, not just on the pitching staff but position to position. We'll be able to play some better defensive lineups, some better offensive lineups. We'll be able to play some lineups that have more power, some left-handed oriented lineups, some right-handed oriented lineups. We just have more options this year.
In the opener in left field, Drew Rogers will start, a transfer from San Jacinto Junior College in Texas. In center field is returnee Matt Mossberg who had significant playing time last year but mostly as a defensive replacement. He's had a terrific fall and spring and will be one of the best defensive outfielders in the Southeastern Conference. Starting in right field is Burney Hutchinson, All-Southeastern Conference, pre-season All-American back for his senior year, and one of those kids that's primed to have one of those Player of the Year type years. He's athletic and can do a lot of things. As a sidenote, Burney has been elected by his peers as team captain for this year. That's an impressive honor.
At third base we have two different options in Clint Farrar and Jonathan Swearingen. Farrar started at second a couple of years ago, and we moved him to left field last year . He's back in the infield, a switch-hitter with a chance to hit early in our lineup. Swearingen is a junior college transfer from Chipola Community College in Florida. He was a shortstop and will backup at short, play some third, and also play some second.
Chad Sterbens returns at shortstop. Chad had a tremendous year last year, batting .340 or .350 with good leadership in our infield. Matt Tolbert, a freshman All-American last year, did a great job at second base and will start at second again. At first base Josh Christian returns, another All-SEC performer last year, a kid that will bat fourth in our lineup, giving us a lot of power in our lineup and a good batting average. Behind the plate is Charlie Waite, who caught a good bit at the end of last year. Charlie's a very good defensive catcher who throws tremendously well. He has some big shoes to fill in Carl Lafferty, but we're excited to have to have Charlie back there this year.
At pitcher, the Friday night starter is no surprise. Pete Montrenes, All-SEC pitcher, All-American, and also the preseason SEC Pitcher of the Year. He had his best outing of the fall and spring just last week. He was almost unhittable. He's ready for a big, big senior year. Pitching second on Saturday will be J.R. Pickens, a transfer from Blinn Junior College in Texas. He probably had the best fall of all the pitchers. That says a lot. As of now, we're not sure about the Sunday starter. On paper it looks to be Alan Horne, the first-round draft choice who came to college. But Alan has been slowed by some discomfort in his lower back. He was held out all of January from any activity so he could heal and the inflammation could get out of there. He started throwing last week, and we'll play it by ear to see when he can pitch in a game. We want to make sure he's fine.
Knowing that Horne's out right now, the Sunday starter is between T.J. Beam, a junior college transfer from Scottsdale (Ariz.), and Nick Bradshaw, the freshman that did so, so well last year. He had the second-lowest ERA on the team last year. Both have done very well in the fall and the spring. We'll come up with the Sunday starter soon.
Adam Yates, a freshman All-American last year, will come out of the bullpen this year. Adam's pitched well. He will pitch some relief that first weekend, and he could possibly start the first Tuesday game the following week. Also in relief, Nathan Lyons is back for his senior year. As for a closer, right now the two guys there seem to be Josh Grant, a freshman out of Hattiesburg, and also Glen Morris, who led the Southeastern Conference last year in saves.
There are a lot of other kids who will be in the mix as far as pitching goes. Now I will open it up for questions.
Q: You seem to have dipped into the juco ranks a good bit and brought in some outstanding players.
Bianco: Yes. Our sport's a little different. We only have 11.7 scholarships. We are more limited than football or basketball, and it's harder to redshirt some kids. Usually when you are recruiting you are looking for kids to come in and play immediately. If you need a specific need, your best bet normally is to sign a junior college kid. They are already 21 years old, and a lot of kids are not in junior college because they are subpar students, but because of the lack of scholarships and the major league draft. They end up going to junior college - like Josh Christian did. We signed some junior college kids because we felt we needed immediate help, especially pitching. That doesn't mean freshmen can't help. But sometimes a 21-year-old kid can help you more than an 18-year-old kid.
Q: Talk about the expectations surrounding this program now.
Bianco: We're excited the expectations are high. We've talked about that with the team. It's good that people think we're good. Being ranked means we have a good team and a good program. We're also aware that with some losses we could fall in a hurry, especially with a program that hasn't spent a lot of time in the top 20. We need to continue to win. Our goals are the same every year - to win the SEC, to win 40 regular season games, to host a regional, to host a super region, to get to Omaha and win a national championships. We said that a year ago. That should be the goals.
Q: How does having Montrenes back help your staff, beside winning games, of course?
Bianco: What it obviously does is move everybody back. Pete goes first, otherwise we'd have Pickens first and Beam second. So depth and experience is a key. If Pete isn't here last year, we don't have the season we did. We don't go to postseason. That's how valuable he is. He just adds so much.
Q: What about your lead-off role and your batting lineup?
Bianco: Right now we haven't decided. Christian and Hutchinson are up there. Drew Rogers and Bryce Morrison are hitting well. Seth Smith is as well. Farrar has had a good fall. Sterbens is still hitting well. We're stronger throughout the lineup than last year.
