University of Kentucky head baseball coach Keith Madison spoke to the local media Tuesday, February 6, at Rupp Arena about the upcoming baseball season. The Wildcats will begin their 91st season of baseball, 23rd under Madison, Friday, Feb. 9, when they travel to Greenville, S.C., to face Furman University. The Wildcats will be on the road the next three weekends before hosting Kent State in the home-opener on March 2.
Below is what coach Madison and some of his players had to say.
Kentucky Head Coach Keith Madison
Opening Statement…
“Obviously, we’re excited about getting started with another season. We have a lot of pitchers returning from last year. I’m not going to sit up here and tell you how young we are, but most of our pitchers are sophomores. We’re glad to have Jon Hooker back. Jon was drafted last year and decided to come back to finish his senior year, which is very unusual for baseball players with his ability these days. Vince (Harrison) is a three-year starter. He started at shortstop his freshman year and moved to third base last year, but is going to be back at short this year. We open up this weekend against Furman University. We travel every weekend this month, then play our first home game March 2. We will be on the road a lot early in order to catch up with our southern opponents and hopefully by mid-season we will be able to hit those guys pretty well.”
On the importance to getting off to a fast start…
“I think it is crucial. It really propelled us into the top-25 last season. It really built a lot of confidence for our team. With an inexperienced line-up, getting off to a fast start would be a great thing to happen again. I’m not going to say we can get off to a 15-0 start again, but we need to get off to a good start because it will build confidence in our younger players. It would be a great thing for our younger players to if we can win a few games early and help them get comfortable competing at this level.”
On the baseball program as a whole…
“I feel like we are in the process of building some consistency in our program. Besides South Carolina, we are the only team in the Eastern Division that has qualified for the Southeastern Conference Tournament the last three years in a row. There are some good programs like Florida, Tennessee and Georgia that can’t say that. I think that is something we can build on.”
On making up for the loss of offensive firepower from last year’s team…
“I don’t think you can replace a Jon Wilson, Aaron McGlone or Andy Green with freshmen and sophomores. We have to hope guys like Vince Harrison, Beau Moore and people that are returning to our line-up continue to improve and help carry the offensive load. We are going to be a different kind of team that we were last year. Last year, we were more of a power-oriented team. This year, we hope to be a team that does a great job executing offensively. We’re going to have a deep and strong pitching staff and good defense.”
On who will handle the pitching staff…
“We have two catchers from junior college: Caleb Brock, from Whitesburg, Kentucky, played junior college baseball in Illinois (Lincoln Trail CC). He had a great fall. He really showed some leadership skills. He is a very solid defensive player. He is a very good receiver with good arm strength. Our pitchers really have enjoyed working with him. I think he is going to have a good year for us. Caleb is a very strong, confident young man. Our other catcher, Spencer Preston, arrived here late and started school in January. He is just now beginning to feel comfortable with the team. He is going to make some contributions early, but I can project that he will make more of a contribution during the second half of the season once he really gets in shape and feels more comfortable with the team. We are very fortunate to have two solid catchers.”
On who will be looked upon for leadership…
“We’re going to look to Jon to be the leader of the staff. His work ethic is incredible. Last year, our freshman pitchers that we relied on so heavily, would follow Jon around in practice and immolate him. I think Jon provides great leadership for us.”
On the four sophomore starting pitchers…
“They all had pretty good control last season. They had good velocity on their fastballs, but they really needed to improve on to become quality SEC pitchers was their breaking balls. We really needed to develop those pitches, and that is what they have done. Rob Corrado has improved his slider. Joseph Blanton has improved his curve ball. Mark Michael has improved his change-up. Scott Wade has definitely improved his slider. Those guys have better ‘out’ pitches than they did last year. I have seen a large improvement in those guys. They are very talented, young pitchers and I think you are going to see a very deep and talented pitching staff. Pitching is still the name of the game, and you have to have it to win. We fell very confident with our pitching staff.”
UK Player Quotes
Vince Harrison
On whether he feels pressure to produce runs…
“I really don’t feel any pressure. We have a lot of guys this year who can steal a lot of bases. We might not be hitting a lot of home runs, but we will be putting pressure on the defense by using the hit-and-run and executing the small things to make up for the home run power that we lost.”
Jon Hooker
On bypassing the Major League Baseball Draft and returning for his senior season…
“One of my goals when I came here was to try to win an SEC championship. That was one of the goals that we set as a team last year, and I don’t feel that we accomplished everything that we could have in 2000. I wasn’t really pleased with the outcome of the season, I thought we deserved a bid to the NCAA regional and I wanted to come back this year to lead the pitching staff.”
On being a leader to a young pitching staff…
“It’s not very hard to lead a group that comes in willing to work hard already. The main thing is to show that by working hard now, things will pay off in the future.”
