USA Baseball Releases 2014 Schedule
The University of South Alabama baseball head coach Mark Calvi released their 2014 schedule on Thursday. The schedule includes six NCAA Regional and two College World Series participants from last season. They also include last year’s national runner up.
The Jags will open the season with a three game series against Tennessee Tech at Eddie Stanky Field on February 14-16. They will then host Alabama State on February 18 in a mid-week series. They then travel to New Orleans to face former conference foe New Orleans in a three game series on February 21-23.
They return back to Eddie Stanky Field to host Jacksonville State for a two game mid-week series on February 25 and 26. They then begin a five game road trip when they travel to Fayeteville, Arkansas to face the University of Arkansas for a three game series from February 28 – March 2 who finished runner-up at the NCAA Manhattan (Kansas) Regional last season. The Jags then face Jackson State on March 4 in Mississippi then they end the road trip with a game at Mississippi State on March 5 for a rematch of last year’s NCAA Starkville (Mississippi) Regional winner’s bracket game that the Bulldogs won on their way to a runner-up finish at the College World Series.
The Jags will then host a three game series against Southern Illinois University March 7-9, followed by a mid-week trip to Hattiesburg to face Southern Miss before returning home for a Conference opener against Troy on March 14-16.
Throughout the conference season the Jags will have games against LSU (March 19 in Baton Rouge), Nicholls State (March 25), Southeastern Louisiana (April 1, Hammond, Louisiana), Southern Miss (April 2), Nicholls State (April 9, Thibodaux, Louisiana), Southeastern Louisiana (April 15), Auburn (April 22, Auburn, Alabama), Alabama State (April 30, Montgomery, Alabama).
The Sun Belt Conference Championship will be held in Mobile at Eddie Stanky Field from May 21 through May 25.
“It’s a good schedule,” coach Calvi said. “With our league being as tough as it is, you want to get your guys ready for that type of competition. To be ready for the postseason and get to where we want to go, you have to get used to playing high-quality teams. It’s a great experience for our guys. They come to South Alabama for the tradition and the fact that we’ll play anybody on the road or at home.”
“As we continue to improve and get the program back to where it was, it’s a drawing card as well,” Calvi continued. “We’re excited about this schedule. We definitely have our hands full. There’s no doubt about it, good competition allows you to see what you have and don’t have. It’s a great measuring stick to play a tough schedule.”
The full schedule can be found here.
Go Jags!
Jaguar Baseball Begins Fall Practice This Week
The South Alabama Jaguar baseball team will hold an intrasquad game on Friday at Eddie Stanky Field to kick off their first day of fall practice. The game will begin at 3:30pm.
The Jags will have two weeks of individual and four-on-one workouts. Similar to last fall, they will hold intrasquad games every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday during their workout period. They will scrimmage at 11am on Saturday morning then an intrasquad game on Sunday at 11:30am.
The Jags have several returning players this year with key positions being filled by some newcomers to the program. But head coach Mark Calvi says that there will be competition at all positions. Returners are bigger and stronger but the most important thing that the Jags need to improve is on their quality of pitching and pitching depth.
Last season the Jags opened fall practice without definite one, two or three pitchers or a closer. They only returned around 30 innings of experience in their pitchers. This season coach Calvi estimates they are returning around 350 innings of experience. Plus some JuCo transfers that coach Calvi are quite excited about.
The intrasquad games will be very beneficial to the coaching staff as they evaluate players and see how they react in game-like situations.
Additionally, an emphasis on offseason conditioning is paying off. “Our guys appear to be much stronger,” he said. “[Associate strength and conditioning] Coach [Jon] Hersel has really worked hard in putting his workouts together to make the guys better. And there is a competitive balance. You want the workouts to be very competitive, but you also don’t want to cross the line where someone gets hurt.”
“But I think coach Hersel has done that,” Calvi continued. “Our guys are flexible, and the key to strength and conditioning is you want to keep your players on the field performing at their best. There is that balance, and I think Jon has struck a good balance of getting their work in, yet, have them at peak-ability on the field. I’m very pleased with the way the strength and conditioning part of the program has been going.”
The date for the annual Red and Blue World Series, the final intrasquad game of fall practice, has not yet been set.
Jaguar Baseball Announce Walk-On Tryouts
Head baseball coach Mark Calvi and his staff announced that the Jags baseball team will be holding walk-on tryouts on Wednesday, September 5 beginning at 3pm at Eddie Stanky Field.
Anyone who wants to tryout will need to be present for a pre-participation exam which will include medical clearance, complete sickle cell requirements and proof of medical health insurance before they will be allowed to participate in the workout.
You can find these forms here.
For further information, contact USA baseball director of operations Andrew Carden at 251.460.6876.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Baseball Opening Night Friday
South Alabama Baseball Opens the 2012 Season Friday at 6:30 PM vs. College of Charleston!
The South Alabama Baseball Team will host the College of Charleston in a weekend series at Stanky Field. The weekend series will begin Friday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, February 18 at 2 p.m.; and Sunday, February 19 at 1 p.m. Saturday is $1 Hot Dog Day…purchase $1 hot dogs from 1-2 p.m. Sunday is “Family Day”…You can purchase (4) tickets, (4) hot dogs, (4) Pepsis and (2) Jaguar T-shirts for only $30. Come out and support Head Coach Mark Calvi and the Jaguars. Season tickets are on sale now starting at only $50 per seat, and when you purchase the family deal…one adult season ticket you get one child’s season ticket for free. The 2012 schedule includes home games versus Alabama, Auburn, Southern Miss and the Sun Belt Conference. Call 461-1USA to secure your seats today.
You may purchase your tickets in advance at the Mitchell Center ticket office M-F 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. or at the ticket sales windows as you enter Stanky Field. Ticket prices are as follows: Box Seats $10, Chair Back Seats $8; General Admission: Adults $5; Seniors $4; Children 2-12 $4 and Children under 2 are free. Group tickets for 15 people or more starting at $3 per ticket.
For more information please call 461-1USA or visit for a full season schedule and further information www.usajaguars.com.
Mark Calvi From South Carolina Named Head Coach In Waiting
South Alabama formally announced the hiring of Mark Calvi as the ‘coach-in-waiting’ to replace Coach Steve Kittrell at the end of the 2011 season. Coach Kittrell announced his intentions to retire back in June.
Calvi was the pitching coach for the University of South Carolina, who just won the College World Series. He was named associate head coach and ‘head coach in waiting’ on Thursday and will be formally introduced on Friday at 1pm at a press conference at the Mitchell Center. Calvi will be only the fifth head coach in the South Alabama baseball program.
Athletic Director Joel Erdmann received interest from several qualified candidate, but chose Mark in the end. Erdmann stated the following about Calvi, “Obviously, we’re very excited about hiring Mark. He brings not only a wealth of coaching experience to the table, but a demeanor and various intangibles that are going to make him a great member of this family. A facet of the game that we looked deeply at was pitching, and his background in that area — as well as in recruiting, and his familiarity with the Sun Belt Conference, the southeast region and the nation — is very impressive. Mark has been with two very, very good programs, and he has demonstrated loyalty and longevity to those schools. And the key is that he has had success — success that includes conference championship levels and Regionals, while rising to Super Regionals and Omaha on the way to a national championship.”
Calvi has spent the previous six seasons at South Carolina and helped the Gamecocks to rank amon the SEC and NCAA leaders in pitching. He also spent 11 years at Sun Belt Conference foe Florida International. He has worked with 35, an impressive number, of pitchers that have either been drafted or signed with Major League teams.
This past season where the Gamecocks won the National Championship, his staff ranked in the top 10 nationally in ERA (3.75 7th in nation), strikeouts (8.9, 6th) and hits allowed (7.48 3rd) per 9 innings. While in the College World Series they posted a 2.15 ERA. The Gamecocks also finished the season with a sub 4.00 ERA and reached the NCAA Regional each of his six seasons in Columbia, SC.
While at Florida International, they advanced to the NCAA Regional seven times and the 2001 Super Regional. In 1995, the Golden Panther staff led the country with an ERA of 2.40. Add in their 16 shutouts which ties them with the 6th highest total in NCAA history.
Calvi is 41 and a native of Marco Island, FL.
Welcome to the Jaguar Nation Coach Calvi. You have big shoes to fill but we think you are the man to do it.