Jaksa leads baseball into Gray & White W.S.
Chris McCarty
“I think the players are doing fine. I think of it more as a transition than a change,” Jaksa said. “It’s not like I am a foreign entity. I think they are pretty comfortable.”
The transition will be on display for the next eight days during the Chippewas annual intrasquad Gray and White World Series.
The eight-game competition will feature a nine-inning game every day starting at 3 p.m. today.
“Our goal is to finalize in some mind of who you think are going to be your top eight-to-nine pitchers after fall ball,” Jaksa said. “Of course, there is always a chance to move them at a later date. We also want to solidify depth in our infield.”
Jaksa said his coaching style and Folske’s are about the same, so the team won’t have much transition.
He will be coaching both teams during the competition that are chosen by the seniors. The starting pitchers for today’s game are seniors Dan Horvath (Gray) and Jeff Garner (White). Game two starters will be junior T.J. Johnson and senior Joey Fahndrich.
Sunday’s starters are juniors Jeff Opalewski against Ryan Cremeans.
The team has been going through fall drills that will wrap-up with the conclusion of fall ball, but for the freshmen it’s a chance to play an entire game.
“They have been hitting live pitching all along. We generally have about 20 to 21 games during the fall, whether it’s four innings, six innings or eight innings,” Jaksa said.
“We have been implementing the system we will work with during the spring. This is going to be like a real game situation. We will have a few umpires and be in full uniform.”
Notes: Jaksa said that the graduate assistant job is open; the assistant coaches will remain in their positions through the year because of NCAA rules.
