UCF Golden Knights Baseball preview 2007

Head Coach: Jay Bergman (25th season, Rollins College '63)

Recruiting/Pitching Coach: Craig Cozart (11th season, UCF '96)

Asst. Coach: Bryan Peters(1st season, USF '97)

Volunteer Asst. Coach: Rich Wallace (2nd year, UCF '04)

NCAA regional appearances: 9

Catcher Brandon Romans has big shoes to fill in 2007, as he will be taking the place of the departed Ryan Bono.

UCF's 2007 Projected Roster
CF Tyson Auer (.323, 17 SB, Jun.)
RF Ryan Richardson (.321 Seminole Comm. College, Jun.)
LF Chad Hartman(.244,Soph.) or Ryan Williams(.290, Soph.)
C Brandon Romans (.216, 18 r at Birmingham Southern, Soph.)
1B Kiko Vazquez (.247, Soph.)
2B Dwayne Bailey (Fresh)
SS Eric Kallstrom (.255, Soph)
3B Chris Duffy (Fresh)

Pitchers
Mitch Houck (3-4, 4.24 ERA, 70K)
Kyle Sweat (3-4, 4.52 ERA, 36K)
Mitch Herold (1-4, 5.23 ERA, 39K)
Eric English (1-0, 3.82 ERA, 26K at LSU)

Closers
LHP Brian Brooks(2-1, 4.43ERA,5 career saves)
RHP Derek Abriola(3-3, 6.69 ERA, 2 career saves)

Last season, the UCF entered its first season of Conference USA play. The Golden Knights ended the year at 23-33 and were 5-19 in conference play. They failed to qualify for the 2006 Conference USA tournament and finished out the season losing fourteen of their last fifteen games.

The Knights are still adapting to life in one of the nation’s premier baseball leagues and have learned from the stronger level of play the faced in 2006.

UCF was forced to rely on inexperienced freshmen in 2006--their first season in C-USA. Sophomore Ryan Williams finished with a solid .290 batting average while playing in 51 games, which included 40 starts, a season ago.

"Obviously we will be better than last year,"said 25 th year head coach Jay Bergman. "We had so many freshmen and so many inexperienced players that when they reached about 35-40 games, which is a normal high school schedule, it was hard for them to keep going in the right direction. They just hit a brick wall."

This explains how the Knights fell apart at the end of last season.

UCF lost a first team Conference USA selection in right-handed pitcher Tim Bascom when he was drafted in the 2006 draft. The Knights also lost the likes of catcher Ryan Bono, third baseman Matt Ray, right fielder Dave DiNatle, first baseman/designated hitter Dave Lambert and relief pitcher Dominic Petracca.

The Golden Knights relied heavily on freshmen to fill in for several players who were injured last season. They will look to use that to their advantage, as they now possess valuable experience that they may not have received otherwise.

"So from having gone through the league and understanding Conference USA better, I think we will be able to handle the situations much better as a team." Bergman said.

The Golden Knights’ roster is dominated by players from the state of Florida. Right-handed pitcher Jagger Good is the lone player who came from outside of the state.

2007 UCF Baseball Schedule

The Knights’ schedule will feature multiple teams that are currently in the Top 25, including preseason #1 Rice (now ranked 6th in the Collegiate Baseball Poll). UCF just finished playing #15 TCU and has other quality non-conference games ahead with unranked SEC powers such as LSU and Florida. The Golden Knights will face three non-conference teams for the first time, as they will play Maryland, Michigan State and Army. All of these games will be played at Jay Bergman Field.

The Golden Knights will play 24 of their first 27 games at Jay Bergman Field, their home ballpark which is named for their long-time coach.

There is then the always difficult league schedule. UCF starts out Conference USA play by hosting Houston on March 23-25. It will also host Southern Miss, Tulane, and Marshall. They will travel to Rice, UAB, Memphis, and East Carolina. UCF hopes to attend the Conference USA Tournament in New Orleans this year after failing to qualify for it a season ago.

Only time will tell if the Knights will be able to learn from their troubled 2006 season or if they will need another year underneath their belt to return to their winning ways.

The Knights are off to a 2-3 start, which includes a win over 15th ranked TCU this past weekend. They have had the luxury of playing 24 of their first 27 games at home. UCF’s first road trip will be a challenging one, as they will travel to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers on February 23-25 at Alex Box Stadium.