Rebuilt Southern baseball team building toward season opener

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Southern baseball coach Roger Cador has low expectations for his rebuilt team during the early days of preseason practice.

“The first week, we’re going to see if we can get on the field without getting lost,” Cador said only half-kiddingly as the Jaguars prepared for their first practice Friday. “Once we do that, we hope that they can remember the fundamentals we taught them in the fall.”

With 22 newcomers among 33 players, it’s understandable that there would be a steep leaning curve, at least initially.

But Cador thinks the group has a good balance between experience and youth. Four of the top newcomers have college experience, and the pitching staff features seven veterans among its 12 members.

Troy Lewis, a transfer from Delgado Community College, brings that experience as a shortstop and closer. Other newcomers with college experience are two more junior-college transfers — outfielder Dondrayas Harris from Gulf Coast Community College and left-hander Jarrod Jarreau from BRCC — and first baseman/catcher John Pope, a sophomore who sat out last season as a transfer from North Carolina A&T.

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