Feb. 2, 2010

Cullowhee, N.C. - With a blanket of snow covering Childress Field at Hennon Stadium and impending threats of more inclement wintry weather, Western Carolina head baseball coach Bobby Moranda was busy talking about the "rule of the farm and the harvest" during the Catamount Coaches' Luncheon Tuesday afternoon held on-campus in the Ramsey Center.

Moranda was among three WCU coaches that spoke at the luncheon on Tuesday, joining Catamount softball coach Christine Hornak and WCU men's basketbal head coach Larry Hunter.

Although the weather outside does not have many people thinking about the outdoor spring sports, the 2010 Catamount baseball season is right around the corner, set to open on Friday, Feb. 19 in Cullowhee against Gardner-Webb.

"Throughout our preseason, we have been making a lot of preparations; planting the seeds, cultivating the land, pulling the weeds. As we sit here today, we have 17 more days of preparation before opening day on February 19; and, there are 101 days from now until our goal is to be accomplished and that's the Sunday of the Southern Conference Baseball Championship," said Moranda who opens his third season at the helm this in just over two weeks.

"Our season is coming up; we've got snow on the ground. But we are getting after it no matter what the weather, simply overcoming adversity," Moranda added. "We have had some fun with the snow on the field, diving into snow drifts and such going after ground balls. But we've got work to do regardless of the weather as we count down to our season opener against Gardner-Webb."

WCU's first day of official team practice last Friday (Jan. 29) was greeted with a blanket of snow, the second such bout of wintry weather this season. Unable to get onto the diamond, the team spent time in the batting cages and working indoors on fundamental mechanics. As the snow has melted away, the tarp has been rolled back allowing for more on-field activities on the infield.

The team has still yet to take a live batting practice round at Hennon Stadium, but the coaching staff has adapted and is manipulating the practice plan according to the weather. A lot of the practice has been individual work - pitchers working bull pens, hitters in the cages, long tossing and implementing the theory behind overall team defense so that once the weather breaks, the squad can go full-force into competitive action on the field.

The Catamounts, which lost a combined 11 players from last year's 35-20 squad due to graduation, the MLB Draft and two transfers, spent the majority of the fall establishing a roster and defining individual roles to enter the 2010 season.

After individual training sessions and a combined 30 practice team off-season practices during the fall, the Catamount baseball team reconvened in mid-January at the start of the spring semester for additional individual workouts prior to last Friday's first day of team practice.

The 2010 Catamounts will return seven players that started 21-or-more games a season ago, including reigning Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, second baseman Ross Heffley. The Snellville, Ga., native, who spent the summer playing in the prestigious Cape Cod League, is WCU's top returner at the plate after hitting .391 with 18 doubles, four homers and 51 RBI in his rookie season.

Heffley was named to the 2010 Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American team as selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

Stephen Notaro, who led the squad with a career-best 13 home runs a year ago, headlines a combined six senior position players for Moranda's squad. The Thousand Oaks, Calif., native legged out 10 doubles with 13 home runs after starting 42 of his 48 games played behind the plate. He is joined by classmates Trevor Collias and one of two team captains in Dylan de Graaf in the outfield, with Tyler Kirkpatrick along the infield and catching counterpart, Russell Robertson.

Two of the top newcomers this season are transfers Austin Schultz at shortstop and Ollie Goulder behind the plate. Shultz, a native of Alpharetta, Ga., played at Young Harris College prior to coming to Cullowhee. Assistant Coach Alan Beck coached at YHC and helped recruit the likes of Shultz, Collias and former Catamount, J.C. Lyons, to Cullowhee over the past two seasons. Goulder was a catcher at Chandler Gilbert Community College in Arizona before coming east.

"I think one of our strengths going into this season will be our defense," Moranda said. "I think our defense is much improved over a year ago. I really like the play of our new shortstop, Austin Schultz, who transferred in from Young Harris College. He is an outstanding player, very athletic and has already had a great collegiate career."

The Catamount pitching rotation is headlined by a pair of seniors in Jason Sullivan and Daniel Ottone, who was additionally tabbed as a team captain during the fall. Ottone is an all-conference caliber closer while Sullivan will move into the starting rotation this year after a solid summer in collegiate wooden bat league play. Sophomore Kyle Stewart is expected to see his role increase after starting in seven of his 12 appearances a season ago, while reliever Brandon Johnson also figures to have an increased role as a set-up man for the Catamount staff.

"One of our weaknesses - or more opportunities - is our starting pitching. We are very inexperienced in the starter role. We are very talented, but we have a whole new weekend rotation. The pitchers we will throw out there this season have never been on that stage and they are going to have to step it up and make it happen for us to be successful," explained Moranda. "But, on the backend, I think one of our pitching strengths will be our closer, Daniel Ottone. He is a tough young man with a lot of experience and is perhaps the hardest worker I've ever coached."

Western Carolina continues preparations for its season opener against Gardner-Webb on Feb. 19 before traveling to Forest City, N.C., for the second two games of the three-game set. The squad is attempting to hit the field each afternoon nearly six days a week as the weather permits.

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