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02-19-2009, 09:46 PM
http://www.kentucky.com/232/story/700271.html
When Kentucky opens its baseball season Friday, first-year head coach Gary Henderson will be looking for answers.
Who will step into the role as the No. 3 starter?
How will the bullpen pan out?
Who will play well enough to earn starting roles in the corner outfield and right-side infield positions?
Then there's the imposing dilemma of how to survive the loss of two All-America outfielders.
Right fielder Sawyer Carroll belted 19 homers and set a school record with 83 RBI last season. Center fielder Collin Cowgill also hit 19 homers, with 60 RBI and a school-record 80 runs.
Both are pros now, Carroll having gone to the Padres in the third round of last year's major league draft, Cowgill to the Diamondbacks in the fifth round.
Odds are against the lone returning starter in the outfield, Keenan Wiley, banging the ball out of the yard. A redshirt junior out of Madison Central, Wiley has two homers over two seasons.
Wiley will be in center, having moved from left after last season, when the Wildcats open play against Troy in the three-day, four-game Caravelle Resort tournament at Conway, S.C. UK also will meet James Madison and play a pair against tournament host Coastal Carolina.
At 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, Wiley relies on brains, not brawn, using speed and determination. He matured while playing alongside Carroll and Cowgill.
"You play next to two really good players, all of a sudden you start thinking you're pretty good, too," said Henderson, who has moved from pitching coach to head coach this season. "And Keenan's a good player. What I'm hoping is that those guys playing next to him start thinking that they're that good of a player, too."
Wiley helped Madison Central to four straight 43rd District titles and was a two-time All-11th Region pick. As a senior, he batted .349, stole 26 bases and was 7-1 on the mound. Yet, some thought Wiley was too small and not good enough to play in the Southeastern Conference.
"But he never wanted to go anywhere else but Kentucky," said Wiley's father, Tim. "He wanted to play in the SEC. He said, 'I just want to see if I'm good enough to play at that level.' He just set his mind on it."
Redshirted during UK's 2006 run to a share of its first SEC title, Wiley spent much of 2007 as a defensive substitute. Thirty-four games in and looking for a spark in the final game of a three-game series against Tennessee, Henderson's predecessor, John Cohen, gave Wiley his first start. Wiley stole a base and went 1-for-4 to start a five-game hitting streak. He earned 20 more starts, going 17-for-41 (.415) in the first 10 games after cracking the lineup.
The next weekend, against No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt, Wiley broke up David Price's no-hitter with a seventh-inning single. That David Price, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft, helped Tampa Bay reach the World Series last fall.
Wiley came into 2008 with his spot secure in left field...........
When Kentucky opens its baseball season Friday, first-year head coach Gary Henderson will be looking for answers.
Who will step into the role as the No. 3 starter?
How will the bullpen pan out?
Who will play well enough to earn starting roles in the corner outfield and right-side infield positions?
Then there's the imposing dilemma of how to survive the loss of two All-America outfielders.
Right fielder Sawyer Carroll belted 19 homers and set a school record with 83 RBI last season. Center fielder Collin Cowgill also hit 19 homers, with 60 RBI and a school-record 80 runs.
Both are pros now, Carroll having gone to the Padres in the third round of last year's major league draft, Cowgill to the Diamondbacks in the fifth round.
Odds are against the lone returning starter in the outfield, Keenan Wiley, banging the ball out of the yard. A redshirt junior out of Madison Central, Wiley has two homers over two seasons.
Wiley will be in center, having moved from left after last season, when the Wildcats open play against Troy in the three-day, four-game Caravelle Resort tournament at Conway, S.C. UK also will meet James Madison and play a pair against tournament host Coastal Carolina.
At 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, Wiley relies on brains, not brawn, using speed and determination. He matured while playing alongside Carroll and Cowgill.
"You play next to two really good players, all of a sudden you start thinking you're pretty good, too," said Henderson, who has moved from pitching coach to head coach this season. "And Keenan's a good player. What I'm hoping is that those guys playing next to him start thinking that they're that good of a player, too."
Wiley helped Madison Central to four straight 43rd District titles and was a two-time All-11th Region pick. As a senior, he batted .349, stole 26 bases and was 7-1 on the mound. Yet, some thought Wiley was too small and not good enough to play in the Southeastern Conference.
"But he never wanted to go anywhere else but Kentucky," said Wiley's father, Tim. "He wanted to play in the SEC. He said, 'I just want to see if I'm good enough to play at that level.' He just set his mind on it."
Redshirted during UK's 2006 run to a share of its first SEC title, Wiley spent much of 2007 as a defensive substitute. Thirty-four games in and looking for a spark in the final game of a three-game series against Tennessee, Henderson's predecessor, John Cohen, gave Wiley his first start. Wiley stole a base and went 1-for-4 to start a five-game hitting streak. He earned 20 more starts, going 17-for-41 (.415) in the first 10 games after cracking the lineup.
The next weekend, against No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt, Wiley broke up David Price's no-hitter with a seventh-inning single. That David Price, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft, helped Tampa Bay reach the World Series last fall.
Wiley came into 2008 with his spot secure in left field...........
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02-20-2009, 01:40 PM
Can anyone post the schedule this year?
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