KU Baseball preps for upcoming season
KU Golden Bear baseball is good, real good. Not just a team that plays well one season and fades the next, it keeps the talent coming, making itself one of the elite teams in the PSAC East conference.
After finishing with a convincing 35-16 record in the 2009 season, placing second in the PSAC East and third overall, the Bears were selected by the coaches as the favorite to win the East in the 2010 season.
An off-season that saw many players transfer to KU, with left-hander Nate Reed headlining the group, Head Coach Chris Blum focused on adding depth and left-handed arms into his pitching staff. A former 20thround pick out of the University of Pittsburgh, Reed will give KU a solid left-handed arm and also bring depth to the entire rotation.
Although KU’s strength appears to be the depth of its pitchers (out of the 13 pitchers, over half are lefthanded), Blum does not discount his team’s ability to produce runs. Last year, KU scored a total of 322 runs to its opponents’ 233, so there is no doubt that the Bears can put runs on the board.
A “power team” by Blum’s estimation, he still wants discipline in every aspect of the game. “I do enjoy playing small ball,” said Blum. “But I’ve got to conform to the strength of my team.”
Third baseman Shayne Houck is a prime example of that strength. In just his rookie season as a Golden Bear, Houck put up astronomical numbers in the regular season. Playing in all 51 games and starting 50 of them, Houck hit a respectable .390 with 7 home runs, 35 RBI and a had .610 slugging percentage. With such success as a freshman, he received the 2009 PSAC East Rookie of the Year.
But the sophomore still understands that having fun is what it’s all about. “As a team, we all joke around with each other,” says Houck. “[But] when it all comes down to it, we get serious.”
Pitcher Mike Bucklin shared the same thoughts as his teammate. “[There’s] no other team out there like us,” Bucklin chuckled. “We like to have a lot of fun.”
With that said, the Golden Bears still have a long season ahead of them, and with the news of being the favorites to win the big dance, it’s important that the team stays within itself.
“We try to focus on the game at hand,” stressed Blum. “And to focus on playing to the best of our ability.”
They’ll have to stay focused to steal the crown from the defending PSAC East champion West Chester Rams, whom Blum regards as a “power hitting team with a lot of returning players.”
But with the KU addition of Reed and other lefty pitchers during the offseason, it seems that the best way to beat good hitting is to “counter with a good pitching staff,” stated Blum.
Having Houck in the line-up probably won’t hurt their chances either. With all the pieces and talent in place, the Bears will set out to play Lock Haven University on Feb. 18 in the Builder Invitational, to begin what hopes to be a promising, championship- winning season.
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