South Alabama Baseball prepares for Opening Weekend

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - South Alabama baseball is opening the 2023 season with the Jaguar Classic this weekend at Stanky Field.

The tournament runs Friday through Sunday, and they’ll go head-to-head with UAB, Eastern Kentucky, and Northwestern State.

The field is prepared, the walk out songs have been picked, and the Jags are ready to go. Head coach Mark Calvi is ready to see what his guys can do.

“I really am looking forward to watching these guys go out there and compete. I really am. Our inter-squads have been really good. I’m excited about seeing them playing somebody else. With the amount of new guys, I’m just excited to see how they respond and react in a game... in a pressure situation.”

You might see some new faces on the diamond this spring. There are a lot of new names on the roster with JUCO transfers and incoming freshmen, but you will also see some familiar faces.

Diego Altamirano will be back behind the plate. We can expect to see Erick Orbeta at second, and Will Turner in center field.

As for the weekend pitching rotation, right-handed pitcher Jeremy Lee will start things off on the bump Friday. Gehrig Conard, a freshman lefty out of Wiggins, Mississippi will get his first start in the red and navy for game two, and taking the mound for game three is left-handed JUCO transfer Garfield Johns.

There is definitely a mix of old and new, but the team chemistry has already been established. Left fielder and Birmingham native Joseph Sullivan says this squad is a tight knit group.

“This team... you can throw some random person on one side of the locker room and one on the other and put them together and man like they’ll get after it and have a lot of fun so it’s pretty cool in that experience.”

Outfielder and Phenix City, Alabama native Hunter Donaldson could not agree more.

“It’s been outstanding so far. We get together every Thursday night as a team, other nights, I mean we all we all clicked pretty good so I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s gonna be a great year.”

South Alabama will take on Northwestern State on Friday. First pitch is set for 6:30PM.

---

Download the FOX10 Weather App. Get life-saving severe weather warnings and alerts for your location no matter where you are. Available free in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Copyright 2023 WALA. All rights reserved.