Feb. 16, 2010
By Brian Ormiston
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - With almost 30 media members present, the UCF baseball team held its annual media day Tuesday under sunny skies in Orlando. Along with head coach Terry Rooney, several players got a chance to speak about the upcoming season, as well as Opening Day which is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Savannah State.
After media batting practice, Rooney did announce his projected starting lineup on Opening Day, highlighted by starting pitcher Owen Dew. A junior college transfer from Tallahassee, Dew was a 33rd round draft pick by the Angels last summer. Here is the rest of the potential starters:
SP: Jr. RHP Owen Dew
C: So. Beau Taylor
1B: Jr. Jonathan Griffin
2B: Fr. Austin Johnston
SS: Fr. Darnell Sweeney
3B: Jr. Derek Luciano
LF: Sr. Chris Duffy
CF: Fr. Ronnie Richardson
RF: Sr. Shane Brown
DH: TBA
For more details on the roster, check out the upcoming game notes which will be made available online Wednesday.
Dew talked a little Tuesday about his role as the Opening Day starter.
"It was definitely a goal of mine," said the righty. "I've always wanted to pitch at a major Division I university, and to have a chance to do it especially at a school like this which is an up-an-coming program, it means a great deal to me."
Rooney also spent a lot of time answering questions during the event Tuesday.
"We're certainly excited about Friday night," said the second-year leader of the Knights. "The guys have been working extremely hard to put ourselves in this position. I'm so excited about this group. We've got 21 new players as everyone knows. It was a unanimous top-10 recruiting class in the entire country. But we've got 14 returning players who now know the expectation of this program.
"It's going to take a couple things to get to (the top tier of Conference USA). First of all C-USA is one of the top five leagues in the country. Everywhere I go I say that. That's part of my job is educating the entire Orlando community of what this baseball program can be. When I say that we can compete for a national championship, then I mean we can compete for a national championship. The reason is this. Part of it is how college baseball works. You have a couple good arms, you get hot during a few weekends, the next thing you know you have the opportunity to get there. But the other side is how good this conference is. Every single weekend is a battle and it's a great place to start.
"When you talk about competing at the highest level of college baseball, another part is improving our facility. That's the next step in the evolution of our program. So we need to keep improving that, and that will continue to attract great players and continue to show the commitment that we have."
Season tickets for the 2010 campaign are currently on sale. To purchase tickets, call 407-823-1000 or visit UCFAthletics.com. And for the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com and become a follow of the Knights on Twitter and Facebook.