Feb. 3, 2011

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - With Opening Day less than three weeks away, the Navy baseball team officially began practice for the 2011 season earlier this week. The Mids return 14 letterwinners from a team that won 30 games last season.

"I think typically the most positive thing you can say about the first week of practice is that everybody is back healthy after having some time off," said Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "There is also that positive energy that everyone has after being away from the game for a period of time.

"I like the way we came back as far as our physical conditioning. You never want conditioning to be an issue and I feel we're in great shape."

While players were able to work out on their own over the offseason, each team practice now leading up to the first game on Feb. 18 is critical. Having not practiced together since the fall, the emphasis has focused largely on the key fundamentals.

"Defense and base running are certainly the focus early on," said Kostacopoulos. "Those aspects have to be put into place when you begin the season. We've got to be able to handle the ball and run the bases if we are going to be consistent over a long period of time.

"If you look at teams that advance in the postseason and have very good seasons, they all play good defense and run the bases well."

The Mids return several key starters and reserves from last season's squad, but the balance of the 2011 team is made up largely of younger players with a total of 25 freshmen or sophomores on the roster.

The excitement of the team's newcomers combined with the desire of the veterans has set the tone for the Mids thus far.

"Enthusiasm is shared by everyone right now," said Kostacopoulos. "We want to do some good things this year and those guys are all motivated. Obviously, not being the playoffs last year is a motivating factor. Whenever you come off a season where you didn't accomplish want you wanted to as a team, you're going to come back motivated and enthusiastic, and I think that is where we're at right now.

"We've got to reestablish ourselves in the conference and get back to the postseason."

Navy opens the season on Friday, Feb. 18 when it begins a three-game series at Presbyterian.