Baseball season to open Friday

Opening weekend has arrived for the Memphis Tigers as the baseball team welcomes in the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cougars for a three-game series.

The Cougars begin play in the Ohio Valley Conference this year and were picked to finish fifth out of the league's 10 teams. Last year, the Cougars finished with a respectable 28-24 record. This season they return their top power hitter Devin Caldwell (6 HR, 53 RBI) and pitcher Travis Felax (5-2, 2.62 ERA).

Although the Cougars hail from a smaller conference, Memphis head coach Daron Schoenrock and his Tiger squad have no plans to start the season off on a sour note.

"We have three things we want to do in this opening series," Schoenrock said. "First, we want to play with passion, which is never normally a problem here. We also want to make the routine plays and be economical on the mound."

After a 30-27 finish last season, Conference USA coaches picked the Tigers to finish seventh in the league. Entering this weekend, the Tigers focus is not on the preseason rankings.

"We never look much into what other people think," senior third baseman Jacob Wilson said. "Rankings like that are based off us losing key players. We are just looking to see who is going to fill the spots."

The Cougars batted for a team average of .284 in the 2011 campaign. After losing much of the main rotation, the Tigers plan to use the series to evaluate where they are on the mound.

"I feel we are game ready," Schoenrock said. "Pitching will be a key ingredient to our success in the series and this season."

Reminiscing on last season's sweep in the opening series over Evansville, the Tigers look to start the 2012 campaign off on a similar note. The Cougars appear overmatched on paper, but could stay in the series if Memphis' pitching is suspect. Much of the Tigers' success in the series and over the season hangs on the return of junior starting pitchers Dan Langfield and Clayton Gant, who combined for 26 starts last season.

"This weekend is going to show if we are where we need to be as a team and what we need to work on as the season progresses," Wilson said. "All the hard work we put in this spring and fall is going to show."

Game one of the series is set for 5 p.m. Friday at FedEx Park.