Boys of Winter?
Dukes preparing to defend regular season CAA title
By Tim Chapman, staff writer
Posted on February 5, 2007

In the sub-freezing temperatures of late January, the JMU baseball players began practice last week.

The snow and freezing rain were the last things on the team’s mind, though, as they took batting practice Thursday at Long Field/Mauck Stadium.

Coach Spanky McFarland and his staff began formulating this year’s lineup that has to replace the loss of three Major League Baseball draftees in Michael Cowgill (Minnesota Twins), Greg Nesbit (Seattle Mariners), and Ryan Reid (Tampa Bay Devil Rays).

“We lost some good players, but we had the opportunity [last season] to play a lot of guys because we scored so many runs,” McFarland said.

Madison will look to junior center fielder Kellen Kulbacki to continue providing the offense that earned him the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year award, as well as National Co-Player of the Year by the Collegiate Baseball News.  Kulbacki led all of Division I in 2006 with 24 home runs, while batting .464 and driving in 75 runs to win the CAA triple crown.

“Last year I had a very successful season and I know there’s high expectations for the team and myself,” Kulbacki said. “I’m just going to try to use the outside energy as momentum on the field.”

The Dukes are still tweaking the batting order and are looking for the best combination to surround Kulbacki. They no longer have Cowgill, who finished second nationally with 23 home runs and is JMU’s all-time home run leader with 41, or last year’s third-team All-American first baseman, Nate Schill.

“We still have some guys back and they’re at the stage where a lot of them need to look to step up,” McFarland said.

On the mound, Madison also looks to fill voids left by Nesbit and Reid. McFarland, whose book “Coaching Pitchers” has sold 40,000 copies, will need his expertise to help a young staff mature quickly. Redshirt sophomore Kurt Houck, an Atlanta Braves draftee out of high school, leads the weekend rotation. Freshman Kyle Hoffman is also expected to be in the three-game rotation for the Friday-through-Sunday CAA series.

University of Virginia transfer Allie Swanson will add depth to a bullpen that struggled last season. The redshirt senior, who has been jokingly nicknamed “Grandpa” by his teammates, also brings the “big-program” experience of playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“It’s tough to say,” Swanson said of what exactly his role on the team will be. “I’m just going to go out there and try to get guys out and help the team win in whatever role I’m given.”

After the losses to graduation and an exit in the semifinals of the CAA tournament last season, the Dukes are slated to finish fifth, according to the league’s preseason coaches’ poll.

“We definitely have higher expectations than finishing fifth,” Kulbacki said. “It’s almost a good thing, because we can use it as fuel for our fire.”

Last season, JMU finished first in the CAA with 36-19 record overall, including a 22-8 conference record. The Dukes open their season Feb. 17 with a doubleheader at home against Fordham.