The Prairie View A&M University baseball program made giant strides last season, reaching goals never before attained by a Panther baseball team. After making history last season by advancing to the championship game in their first-ever trip to the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament, the Prairie View Panther baseball team enters the 2006 season hungrier than ever in its quest for a SWAC title.
Led by fourth-year head coach Michael Robertson, the Panthers return 13 lettermen and three starters from a team that finished one game short of reaching the NCAA baseball tournament. Robertson feels last season’s performance motivated the returnees to put in extra work during the off-season.
“The players are very confident after playing and having the success we had last year,” said Robertson. “We came up just short of our goal and I’m excited about this year.”
Robertson is excited due to several factors. He returns his top two starters from last season’s pitching staff in addition to an influx of talented newcomers who’ll be expected to offset the loss of five starters who made significant contributions in the team’s tournament run.
The pitching staff, led by the 1-2 punch of sophomore Wrandal Taylor and junior Matt Chase, will again be the heart of the team. Taylor, a 2005 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and SWAC freshman of the year, led the SWAC with 11 wins and struck out 71 batters. Chase, the SWAC’s newcomer of the year, led the conference with a 3.51 ERA in his first season after transferring from the junior college ranks.
“Both Chase and Taylor have great control. We need them to take their game to a higher level this year,” added Robertson. “I anticipate them pitching backwards, meaning when they get behind by counts of 2-0 or 3-1, you won’t see them try to catch up by throwing just fast balls. I want to see more off-speed pitches. Outside of that, their main goal is to stay healthy and get stronger as the season progresses.”
Also returning on the mound is junior Josh Terrell. The Houston native showed his versatility last season with 10 starts and 20 appearances.
“Josh is locating his curveball better now, whereas a year ago he mostly threw fastballs and change-ups,” added Robertson. “You’ll probably see him throw his breaking pitch a little more now.”
In the bullpen, Fernando Almaguer, Brian Lloyd and Michael Vega all return for their second season. They’ll be joined by several newcomers who should give the bullpen additional depth.
“Our goal this year with the pitching staff is to heighten their awareness and challenge them every day at practice,” Robertson said. “We’ll carry 10 pitchers this season and all are pretty competitive and can throw strikes consistently.”
Despite the success on the diamond last season, one area of concern Robertson sought to address during the off-season was to reduce the amount of errors made in 2005. As a team, the Panthers committed 167 errors with 86 coming from the starting infield. As a result, Robertson signed several infielders who should help minimize those mistakes.
“We’ve added several players in the infield from the junior college ranks that are tremendous baseball players,” said Robertson. “They have a lot of ability, but it will be up to the coaching staff to get the most out of them.
“However, as a team I think we should be a lot more fundamental than we were last year,” added Robertson. “I was not pleased with our defense due to the amount of errors, so we’re focusing more on defense in practice now. I don’t anticipate a repeat of what we saw last season.”
Another area of concern going into the 2006 season is the lack of an experienced catcher due to the loss of the team’s top three catchers. Robertson believes he has found several candidates after fall drills to fill the void.
“We have several athletic guys we can plug in at catcher that should be productive for us because they are exceptional athletes and most athletes will pick up things faster than your average kid,” he said. “Garland Jamison, who came here as a shortstop, was converted to catcher because he had some catching experience. He’ll split time with Brandon Whitby, who’s a freshman that’s coming off the football field. Brandon is a true catcher but Garland understands the game well. Those will be the two guys we’ll depend on throughout the season.”
Offensively, Robertson is excited about his team’s overall speed. The Panthers have the ability to play small ball or put up huge offensive numbers.
“Our team speed is exceptional. I think we’ll be slightly stronger this year at the three, four and five spots in our lineup,” said Robertson.
The Panthers’ 2006 schedule will be competitive with the addition of several solid baseball powers. Robertson hopes the increased competition will pay big dividends. “We’ve added Lamar, Houston and Texas State and we’ll play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, McNeese State and NAIA power Houston Baptist again,” said Robertson. “What we’re trying to do is get our kids in position to play some competitive teams. Hopefully, that’ll carry over into conference play.”
In the SWAC West, the Panthers will again be in a dogfight for a tournament bid. Prior to last season, the SWAC was known as an offensive conference with less emphasis on pitching. However, the tide turned as the SWAC became known for its pitching staffs last season.
“The SWAC West will be strong this season with every team returning at least two quality starters,” said Robertson.
Four years ago, Prairie View was coming off a 3-46 season. Now, they have made a compete turnaround on and off the field. Even though the Panthers have made progress, Robertson said the program still has some goals to achieve.
“We’re not there until we win the conference championship. Because of the support and commitment from the athletic administration we’ve been able to get the program to this point.” Robertson said. “Our ultimate goal is to make that trip to Nebraska for the College World Series and until we do that, we haven’t reached all of our goals.