Preseason kicks off amid high expectations

The UCF Knights baseball team kicked off its 2012 campaign with its first practice Friday at Jay Bergman Field.

"We're excited to be back. The guys have been working extremely hard all the way from the fall to the spring," head coach Terry Rooney said. "To finally get the entire team out here at one time — it's been great."

Rooney, whose program will enter into this season with more expectations then ever, stressed the importance of spring practice as he prepares the team for opening night Feb. 17.

"Early on in practice, you want to make sure guys are getting game reps. Nothing can replace playing games. For the whole offseason, we haven't played a game. It's been more drills and cages and those kinds of things," Rooney said. "The point of the preseason is to play as many games as we can, to create game situations, to get ground balls, the reps, hits and those kind of things."

The Knights came into practice with several preseason accolades, adding to the expectations surrounding the program. The team was ranked No. 21 in the Baseball America preseason poll, junior D.J. Hicks was voted the preseason Conference USA Player of the Year and juniors Darnell Sweeney and Ronnie Richardson accompany Hicks on the preseason All-C-USA team.

For Rooney, the ranking is a sign of the team's return to the national spotlight.

"I think it's awesome for this program that the program is back at a level where we have national respect and national notoriety, and the kids in this program should be very proud of that because they have earned it," Rooney said. "With that being said, we have got to understand that we have a lot of work to do and we haven't played one game yet."

Sweeney emphasizes the word "preseason" when he views his All-C-USA selection.

"It's good to have the preseason honors, but it's preseason," Sweeney said. "You still have to put [the work] on the field before the season starts and actually perform once the season comes. Because it's not good to have preseason honors, but at the end of the year you don't have that same honor."

The Knights' lineup will be lacking two big bats in Jonathan Griffin and Beau Taylor after the two moved on to the major league, but the team will look to replace their production in different ways.

"I know we lost a really big bat in [Griffin], so offensively we really need to produce runs and manufacture runs a lot better," Sweeney said. "We still have D.J. [Hicks] with the home-run ball, but we don't have two of that like we did last year. So we are going to have to manufacture more runs."

Rooney will be looking to his pitching staff to improve from a year before. Seven of the 13 players in this year's recruiting class are pitchers. Since arriving at UCF, Rooney has consistently brought in some of the top talent from in state and beyond.

Junior closer Joe Rogers sees improvement in the Knights' pitching staff so far.

"We have made a lot more improvements. I think we have a lot more balance this year from the bullpen," Rogers. "I think it's going to be a really good year for the pitching staff."

As practice continues and in light of all the expectations, Rooney wants to make sure his team perfects the basics.

"The biggest thing now is we want to play fundamentally sound," Rooney said. "That is our No. 1 priority now is to play fundamentally sound, and we are doing a pretty good job of that."