inside the dugout

The College Baseball Foundation announced that voting is under way for the 2010 class of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in Lubbock, Texas. The ballot to select this year’s inductees features 44 players and 17 coaches, including legendary Georgia Southern head coach Jack Stallings. “We always look forward to seeing who the voters will elect each year,” said Mike Gustafson, co-chair of the College Baseball Hall of Fame and Executive Director of the College Baseball Foundation. “Each person on the ballot is a deserving collegiate baseball contributor as a player or coach so we never know what to expect.” Coach Stallings led the Eagles from 1976-1999 and holds the record for most coach-ing wins (858) and years as head coach (24) at Georgia Southern. Stallings boasts a career record of 1,257-799-10 in 39 seasons as head coach and took the Eagles to five NCAA

tournaments, including the 1990 College World Series trip to Omaha. He owns one Southern Conference Championship title in 1996 since Georgia Southern’s mem-bership began in 1992. A 2004 inductee into the Georgia Southern Athletics De-partment Hall of Fame, Stallings was honored in 2005 by having the playing field named after him. His #1 jersey was just the second jersey ever retired in the Eagles’ baseball program. Among those on the ballot are seven “vintage era” (pre-1947) candidates, including George Sisler and Eddie Collins, who have also been recognized for their

excellence as major leaguers by being enshrined in Cooper-stown. The members of the 2010 College Baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced this week once all the ballots have been tallied and the results verified. Those selected will join previous inductees including coaches Skip Bertman of LSU, Jerry Kindall of Arizona, Gary Ward of Oklahoma State and New Mexico State, Ron Polk of Mississippi State and the late Rod Dedeaux of USC, and players Dave Win-

field of Minnesota, Burt Hooton of Texas, Derek Tatsuno of Hawaii and Floyd Bannister of Arizona State.

INSIDE DUGOUTVol. 1 No. 2 Feb. 19, 2010

Upcoming EventsFebruary 19GSU President Brooks A. Keel will throw out the first pitch against Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m. February 20First 500 fans receive a free Domino’s and GSU pen February 21Junior Eagle Club Day and first 200 fans receive free Domino’s and GSU coozies February 27Baseball Alumni weekend; Harvey’s tailgate for Muscular Dystrophy AssociationFebruary 28Junior Eagle Club Day

THE

STALLINGS LISTED ON HALL OF FAME BALLOT

Coach’s letter Vol.1 No. 2 Feb 19, 2010

Season Preview Table of Contents

Opening Day is almost here! This is al-ways a very exciting time for our players and coaches as we anticipate the start of a new season. For our eight seniors, this will be their final season in an Eagle uniform and for our 13 newcomers it will be their first opportunity to compete as Georgia Southern Eagles. I am confident that our veterans will provide outstanding leader-ship for our team and believe that our new

players will infuse fresh energy and enthusiasm to the squad. Our coaching staff has been pleased with the effort at practice as the team has made progress the last couple of weeks. Although the weather has been cold and wet on many days, we have been very fortunate to get outside on the field and get our work in. We should have eight scrimmages under our belt before opening day arrives. This has given us an opportu-nity to further evaluate our team and also define some roles for the start the season. We are all looking forward to the start of the season and hope you will come along with us. Hope to see you at the park. Go Eagles!

Coach’s Letter ........................ Attendance Report ................ Page 3

Alumni Weekend ................... Page 3

Callin’ Baton Rouge .............. Page 4 Hennon’s Scouting Report ... Page 6

Scouting The Opposition .... Page 7

Dugout Club Form ............... Page 8 Season Tickets Form ............ Page 9

Georgia Southern University Eagles Inside Dugout Vol. 1 No. 2 Page 2The

Head Coach Rodney Hennon

GS

Sold Out

At the conclusion of the 2009 baseball season, the NCAA released the ‘Top 50’ universities that brought in the largest home attendances for Division I, II and III levels. Georgia Southern earned a 39th-place ranking in total home attendance, drawing in 43,744 spectators over 31 games. With 1,562 fans drawn in per contest, the Eagles ranked 37th nationally in average home attendance - a mark they look to surpass in 2010. The largest crowd ever to witness a game at J.I. Clements Stadium was 2,805 when the Eagles took on No. 13 Georgia Tech on February 12, 2005. Meanwhile, for 2009, the largest crowd occurred when GS chal-lenged Indiana on March 6. A crowd of 2,319 spectators came to watch the Eagles defeat the Hoosiers, 8-5. Georgia Southern will look to surpass its attendance record in 2010 welcoming perennial powerhouses No. 10 Georgia Tech, Marshall and No. 13 South Carolina to J.I. Clements Stadium. Season tickets for the baseball season are currently on sale and a ticket form is attached at the end of this newsletter.

Eagles Earn National Ranking in Attendance for 2009

Alumni WeekendWall of Fame inductees to throw out first pitches at Saturday’s game against Holy Cross.

Former Eagles will join together Feb. 26-28 in celebration of Alumni Weekend. Festivities begin Friday with a golf tournament and Saturday at 9:30 a.m. with the Wall of Fame induction of Derrell Baker, Tod Lee and William Rushing, three distinguished members in Georgia Southern baseball history. Following the induction, a brunch will be held on the concourse of J.I. Clements Stadium for all alumni beginning 10:30 a.m. Inductees will throw out first pitches at Saturday’s game beginning at 1:30

p.m. against Holy Cross. The 20th anniversary team of the 1990 College World Series trip will also be recognized before the start of Saturday’s game.

Wall of Fame Inductee RecordsDerrell Baker: Baker currently holds the highest batting average in a career with .462 and hits in a season with 108.Tod Lee: Lee, the most recent player to be honored (‘96-’97), has the highest career save record with a total of 29 and the high-est number of relief appearances in two seasons with 42 and 38 in 1997 and 1996, respectively.William Rushing: Rushing holds the highest strikeout total in a season at 172.

Georgia Southern University Eagles Inside Dugout Vol. 1 No. 2 The

S

Callin’ Baton Rouge, My Sweet Baton Rouge

A class of eight seniors lead the way for the 2010 Georgia Southern Baseball Eagles and their 13 new-comers. One of those eight seniors is A.J. Wirnsberger, a Tuscaloosa, Ala., native that joined the program in 2007 as a freshman. Since then, Wirnsberger has accumulated leadership roles and has become a steady influence in the lineup. At the start of 2009, Wirnsberger was a Preseason First Team All-Southern Conference, Third Team Pre-season All-America and a Collegiate Baseball Insider Honorable Mention All-America. He enters the 2010 campaign tied for 10th in Georgia Southern baseball history with 38 career home runs and is the team’s leading home run returner having launched 13 last season. A SoCon ‘Player of the Week’ for the week of May 18, 2009, Wirnsberger earned Second Team honors in the 2010 preseason polls as announced by the Southern Conference last week. In addition, the senior was named First Team in the preseason release by SEBaseball.com. A part of a new addition to the newsletter, Wirnsberger sat down with Athletics Media Relations this past week for a Q&A session off the field. This is the first installment.


AN INTERVIEW WITH GEORGIA SOUTHERN EAGLES’ THIRD BASEMAN A.J. WIRNSBERGER

Inside the Dugout: Thanks for sitting down with us. We’re just going to ask a few questions so the Dugout Club members can get to know you better. So, how did playing summer ball in Virginia go? AJ Wirnsberger: It is always fun to go away for the summer and meet new people. I have played summer ball every summer since I was nine years old. I got to travel around and see new places; it is a great experience.

ITD: Where have you played summer ball?AJ: I have played in New Hampshire, for the Keene swamp bats, Cape Cod with the Fal-mouth Commodores and played in Virginia with Luray Wrangler baseball.

IDT: You’re from Alabama and you men-tioned two places nowhere near the south. What has been your favorite summer of ex-periencing different cultures?AJ: Well I was born in Wisconsin, so being up north was not a big deal to me. Cape Cod was fun for a little bit. But I think the most fun I had was in Virginia. I had a coach that was amazing. I lived with him - they were my host family. His stepson played on the team as well. Virginia was an amazing place. I had a great time up there meeting new people.

IDT: What are your plans after graduation? AJ: I haven’t even thought about that yet. I don’t graduate until next December. Hope-fully, I will get drafted this year and come back and finish school in the fall. If not, I will finish school in the fall and stay on as a student coach and then move to the busi-ness world.

IDT: Is coaching something you want to do?AJ: Coaching is something I want to do. I like working with little kids and working with the high school age. It’s a great experience when you get to work with kids because they look up to you and learn from you.

IDT: Even though there are no walk-up songs this year, if you could choose a song what would it be and why? AJ: This is tough! I would probably go with the same one I used before, “Callin’ Baton Rouge” by Garth Brooks. I like country and the fans got into it.

IDT: After you leave college what will you define as success? AJ: One day I would like to have a fam-ily and successfully teach my kids - if I am lucky enough to have them - just the right way of life. That would be successful to me. People make mistakes throughout their life, but teaching them the right way on how to do things and watching them grow up and be successful.

IDT: What legacy do you want to leave be-hind at Georgia Southern?AJ: I hope to inspire the way I feel to others and the way they go about their work ethic. You have to get down here and work as hard as you can and hustle around the field.

IDT: What advice do you give high school baseball players that have hopes for playing for Georgia Southern one day?AJ: They need to relax and not worry so much about big schools and worry about where they are going to play at. Just go out and play the game. Have fun.

IDT: Did you find that baseball came natu-rally to you or did you have to practice ev-eryday and put forth effort? AJ: Being a high school kid you want to have fun with your friends. It’s hard to real-ize at that time, when you are putting in all the work and they are out having fun, that it is going to pay off down the road. That is what came so hard to me. I was putting in time and not being able to have fun with friends.

IDT: What drew you to the game?AJ: Ever since I was a young kid I had a glove and ball in my hand. I had a passion and love for the game. Coming out and getting dirty all the time, I was always the kid playing around in the dirt. I love facing a pitcher that is throwing right at you and beating them. It is a good feeling.

IDT: What is your favorite moment in your Georgia Southern career? AJ: I would say winning the SoCon Champi-onship last year.

IDT: How did that feel? AJ: There aren’t words that can describe it. You have this feeling inside you after the last out was made. Everyone piled up in the pile. It was an amazing feeling.

IDT: Was there ever a point in the game when you were like “we’re going to win this?” AJ: I think when Kyle Blackburn hit the home run right before the rain delay. After a rain delay it’s fair game. You have to warm up a pitcher again and get ready. It was about the 7th or 8th inning where I thought “we have a closer that is going to come in and shut them down and we are going to win this.”

IDT: What major league player would you compare your game to? AJ: My favorite player has always been Cal Ripken Jr. I always watched him play grow-ing up. I’ve always admired the way he car-ried himself and I wanted to carry myself the same way.

IDT: We want to get to know you a little outside of baseball. What was/is your favor-ite class at Georgia Southern?AJ: Probably the racquetball class! No! I re-ally enjoyed a criminal justice class I had my sophomore year.

IDT: How would you describe yourself ? AJ: I am very laid back and I don’t get to upset very easily. I like to go at stuff with all my heart and just have fun in life and not have any worries.

IDT: What do you do when you are not playing baseball? AJ: I usually just relax on the couch; take my girlfriend out to dinner from time to time. Oh yea! I like to play golf too.

IDT: Do you have any baseball traditions, like something you always do before a game? AJ: Before the start of the season, I always watch “For the Love of the Game.”


“EVER SINCE I WAS A YOUNG KID I HAD A GLOVE AND BALL IN HAND. I HAD A PASSION AND LOVE FOR THE GAME.”

Coach Hennon’s Team Scouting Report


PITCHINGFrom a pitching standpoint, we have fo-cused on building up the pitch counts of our starters and have tried to simulate situational roles for our relievers. Coach Green is really stressing an aggressive mindset with our staff. They have really focused on working down in the strike zone and attacking hitters. Jake Brown and Matt Murray figure to start the first two games of the season and we will set the rest of the rotation after our final scrimmage. Trent Franzago, Colin Snow and fresh-man Chris Beck are all also competing for spots in the starting rotation. In the bullpen, Andy Moye has looked im-pressive in his new role in the pen. We should have some experience out of the bullpen with Andy, Dexter Bobo and Charles Matthews. Our pitching staff is capable of being our team strength. We have good options and a lot of depth. Playing five games in six days to start the season will present plenty of opportunities for both our starters and relievers and will give us time to define roles based on their performances. Hopefully we can stay healthy and continue to develop each of these young men and can keep our staff fresh and strong throughout the season.

POSITION Our position players seem to be getting in more of a rhythm at the plate and in the field. The last two scrimmag-es we have swung the bats more aggres-sively and shown improvements on the defensive side. We have really worked hard on our situational hitting and base running. Our veterans are setting good

examples as our younger players con-tinue to learn and develop. This team features more team speed this year than in the past and it is important that we utilize it. We must be able to do the little things such as: bunt, steal, hit & run, move runners and two-strike hit in order to be productive offensively.

iNFIELD The infield features some lead-ership and experience with returning starters A.J. Wirnsberger, Kevin Bowles and Eric Phillips - who has moved to the shortstop position and is adjusting well. Jake Ware will give us some added depth and experience in the middle in-field, while both Roman Grimaldi and junior college transfer Steve Cochrane add some athleticism at first base. Kyle Blackburn will be a strong presence in the middle of our lineup either as the designated hitter or at first base.

cATCHING Behind the plate, senior Randy J. Williams takes over in 2010. Randy did an outstanding job last year in a lim-ited role and we are confident in his abil-ity as the everyday starter. Redshirt-freshman Michael Burruss has made much improve-ment and will give us depth at the position and an-other left handed bat off the bench.

oUTFIELD A f t e r heavy losses to

graduation, our outfield will feature many new faces. We will have a speedy, athletic group that should benefit our team defensively and allow us to be more aggressive on the bases. Both Vince Smith and Roman Grimaldi bring limited experience from last season to the outfield. They are joined by junior college transfer Shawn Payne and a group of freshmen: Arthur Owens, Al “Scooter” Williams and Bryce Dial. There has been a lot of healthy competition within our team as we pre-pare for our season. Many roles will be more clearly defined as we get underway, but our goal is to improve on a daily ba-sis and play unselfish, hard-nosed base-ball on a consistent basis. I am encour-aged by the way in which our new players have meshed with our veterans. Hope-fully, this will make for great chemistry as we journey through the 2010 season. Our program always has lofty goals, but we must focus on playing hard and mak-ing improvements each day and I believe this approach can lead us to another championship.

Scouting the Opposition

During the season, each newsletter will feature a scouting report on the next opposing team. To start the 2010 campaign, Assistant Coach B.J. Green took some time to analyze the Eagles’ first challenger of the season, Tennessee Tech.

Keys to the team:• Very well coached;• Strong fundamentals;• Limit team errors;• Has mental game to close games and win;• Plays solid game.

“Tennessee Tech is a team that knows how to win,” said Green. “They are a very well coached team that won the OVC Tournament last season. From that team, they return five out of eight starting position players and nine of its top 11 pitchers, ERA-wise. They will be a challenging team to open the season, no question.”

PITCHINGPitching should again be a strong point for the Golden Eagles as all-Ohio Valley Conference pitcher Lee Henry returns for his senior season. Henry went 9-3 with a 3.43 ERA last season, and threw five complete games in six starts on the year. He appeared in 21 games, and struck out 80 batters while allowing just 40 walks in 78.2 innings pitched.

The frontrunners to join Henry in the weekend rotation are Adam Liberatore and Matthew Shepherd. Liberatore was a weekend starter to begin the 2009 sea-son, but suffered a season-ending injury early in the year after going 2-0 with a perfect 0.00 ERA in three starts. He struck out 21 batters and allowed only six walks in 17 innings pitched, giving up only seven hits and no runs before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Shepherd started eight games as a freshman in 2009 and made 12 total appearances. He pitched 36.2 innings and finished the season with a 3-3 record. Shepherd also found success in the Valley Baseball League over the summer, finishing with a 1.95 ERA in nine appearances, throwing a total of 37 innings.

CATCHINGBen Burgess is Tech’s most experienced returning catcher after playing 15 games behind the dish in 2009. Burgess was an OVC all-newcomer selection last season after starting 54 games as a freshman, and posting a .316 batting average with nine doubles, four home runs and 45 RBIs. Brandon Crossman will bring a wealth of experience to the position, as he has played in 31 games at catcher for the Golden Eagles in his two-year career.

INFIELDTech’s infield heading into 2010 is a tale of two sides. The left side of the infield will be entirely new, as Evan Webb and Heath Cheverton, who started all 56 games in 2009 at third base and shortstop, leave some large shoes to fill. Junior transfers Devin Rivers and Frankie Beech are two top candidates to fill the left side vacancies. Rivers, out of Northwest Shoals Community College, led all Alabama Junior College players in home runs per game in 2009, hitting 17 on the season, and was second in slugging percentage at .823. Beech, a transfer from Motlow State Community College, led all Tennessee Junior College players with a .438 batting average in 2009, and hit .403 in his two-year career. Both are exceptional athletes and stand-out defensive players.

However, the right side of the field

returns every start from a season ago, as Chad Hayes and Trice powers combined to start every game at second base and A.J. Kirby-Jones and Tate McMillan were Tech’s primary first basemen. Kirby-Jones was a second-team all-OVC selection, and was named the OVC tournament’s MVP. He tied the school record for home runs in a season with 20, and is near the top in almost every other Tech single-season and career batting record. McMillan has 62 starts in his three-year Golden Eagle career, and has a .283 career batting average, and hit .342 in 2008.

OUTFIELDThe Golden Eagles have a star-studded lineup returning in the outfield, high-lighted by 2009 OVC all-tournament team members Casanova Donaldson, Chad Oberacker and Ben Burgess. Oberacker led the team in batting aver-age in 2009, hitting .354, and Donaldson was second with a .333 average. Ober-acker and Donaldson were also Tech’s top two base stealers in 2009. Burgess’ .316 average was fourth on the team, and the trio combined to hit 22 doubles, 10 home runs and start 139 games in 2009.

Georgia Southern University Eagles Inside Dugout Vol. 1 No. 2

FEB. 1

inside the dugout

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