While one of the major components of Kentucky Baseball?s successful season – perhaps the most notable to fans ? was the Wildcats? offensive prowess. And while UK hit 99 home runs last season, it was the success of the pitching staff that allowed the Wildcats to turn those big innings into complete-game wins.
?I think our team will be a little different in that I don?t think we?ll hit close to 100 home runs like it did a year ago,? UK head coach John Cohen said. ?I have to bring up [Associate Head Coach] Gary Henderson and our pitching staff. We gave up the least amount of home runs last season in the Southeastern Conference.?
And while the Wildcats look for the strong pitching to continue and possibly be one of the benchmarks of the 2007 squad, they will have to rely on some raw, but talented young arms.
?We don?t know who?s going to start,? Cohen said. ?We?re going to give a lot of innings to a lot of folks early in the year. We have several freshmen and I think it speaks volumes about the job our staff has done recruiting, because we have some really young quality arms in our program. How quickly they will come along is kind of hard to tell at this point.?
As one of the top pitching staffs in the SEC a year ago, the starting rotation appears to be a bit uncertain simply because of a deep wealth of talent on the mound. UK returns ace right-hander Greg Dombrowski after he excelled during the 2006 season, posting 10 wins and a 2.83 ERA.
?Greg Dombrowski is obviously a fixture on this staff,? Cohen said. ?He is very economic; he can race through a game. He did a tremendous job for us on Sundays last year.? While the coaching staff struggles with the luxury of deciding which day to throw Dombrowski, several arms will be looking to crack the weekend rotation.
?Andrew Albers has made great strides, whether he is a starter or a late inning guy for us we aren?t sure,? Cohen said of the junior southpaw who notched a team-high seven saves in 2006.
?Maybe we can get a little bit of both out of him at the beginning of the season. Scott Green is kind of the X-factor on the pitching staff. If he is healthy, he can be dominant. Aaron Lovett is a junior-college guy who we feel like has a tremendous curveball and is a great competitor. We feel like he is going to contribute in the starting rotation.?
While there may be a few question marks in the starting rotation, the bullpen should provide the necessary depth and talent needed to propel the team to new heights.
Several freshmen will look to break into the rotation, including a trio of right-handers Clint Tilford, Colby Brown, and Tyler Henry.
?We love what Clint Tilford brings to the table,? Cohen said. ?He has tremendous fastball location and has developed a solid slider under [associate head] coach [Gary] Henderson. We believe Colby Brown and Clint Tilford can be two of the better freshmen right-handers in the league.?
Among the right-handed arms looking to contribute as middle relievers will be Jonathan Huff, Chris Craycraft, Dewayne Oxford, and Chris Walden.
While the bullpen will be well stocked with talented right-handers, Cohen likes the talent of some of his southpaws.
?Tommy Warner made some huge strides in the summer and made some huge strides at the end of last year,? Cohen said. ?Chris Rusin is an outstanding young man who has developed an excellent curve ball. James Paxton is a freshman who we have big plans for ?he is 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4 with a very good breaking ball and the ability to locate a fastball on both sides of the plate.?
Likely to earn the closer role is junior right-hander Brock Baber, who had four saves in 2006 and is coming off a solid summer in the prestigious Cape Cod Summer League.
?Brock Baber had a tremendous summer,? Cohen said. ?He was incredible this fall for us and we expect him to elevate his play at the end of games for us.?
Editor’s Note:
This is the final article of a four-part series on the Wildcat baseball team leading up to the 2007 season opener on Friday, Feb. 16 at Furman in Greenville, S.C. Live statistics and audio of Kentucky?s 3 p.m. EST game will be available at ukathletics.com.
