Swing for another ring

You can tell it is spring, because the bats are about to swing for the Southern University Jaguars baseball team. Head coach Roger Cador is getting his squad ready to play for their first game of the 2003 season against the University of New Orleans on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champions finished last season 44-10 overall and 28-3 in the SWAC and ended their season with a bid in the 2002 NCAA tourney, but failed to get past Tulane University and cross-town rival Louisiana State University.
Cador has lost a handful of quality players since last season, including junior outfielder Fred Lewis. The San Francisco Giants drafted Lewis in the second round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft and Lewis was selected 66th overall. But it is not the outfield that concerns Cador right now. Cador contends that he feels good about the outfield, but he is mostly concerned with pitching.
“…We have lost six quality arms (pitchers),” said Cador. “But I feel that we’ve still got some quality this year. Due to tendonitis and other ailments…We are compelled to go with inexperienced arms.”
Cador says that senior pitcher Dewon Day or junior pitcher Corey Poret will be the probable starter Saturday. Other players to look out for this season are senior pitcher Antwon Beasley and freshmen pitchers Emary Frederick and Jonathan Kohn.
The Jags have a schedule that is similar to that of last season. In addition to playing UNO, the SWAC champs will face their regular conference foes and other schools such as McNeese State and Loyola. The Jags will also face off with LSU at Lee-Hines Field on March 18.
When asked if he favored or prepared for any specific team, Cador replied that he had the Jags preparing for every game as if it were the most important.
As far as playing at Lee-Hines, Cador is quite ecstatic. The first two phases of the stadium project are scheduled for completion in the near future and then there is a third phase that includes a dressing area and administrative offices for the coaching staff.
“We are making wonderful progress. For so many years we have wanted this and now we have it,” said Cador. “We appreciate the wonderful commitment from the administration to complete this…”
According to Cador, the Jags have everything going for them and should be right where they were last year, champions of the SWAC. Of course, an intricate player in this would be none other than junior second baseman Rickie Weeks.
Weeks finished last season with a .497 batting average and in 53 games he appeared at the plate 195 times with 20 home runs and 96 RBI’s. The 2002 SWAC Player of the Year made First Team on Baseball America 2003 Preseason All-America Team and although he is expected to be a very high pick in this year’s MLB draft, he isn’t putting any extra pressure on himself.
“It makes me feel good to succeed in a sport like baseball, especially at a small school and black college like Southern,” said Weeks. “But I can’t put too much pressure on myself…I just have a job to do…that’s to win games.”
Although Weeks is definitely a point of interest on the team, a great infield and solid defense is definitely a necessity for Cador. He should not have much of a problem though.
With players such as senior third baseman and 2002 SWAC Newcomer of the Year Antoin Gray and outfielders such as senior Theo Dumas, his squad should definitely be ready to defend the championship and having the conference tournament at Lee-Hines Field will definitely be a plus.
The Jags will start swinging at another SWAC championship season on February 8 in New Orleans against UNO at 1 p.m. They will face UNO again on February 9 at 1p.m.