De ja vue?

As the much anticipated 2010 Trinity Baseball season approaches, it's easy to tie the team's situation and expectations with those of the 2008 Trinity Tigers. In 2008, the offseason was full of hard work, long practices, and heavy competition for spots in the starting lineup caused mainly by a talented group of freshman. The 2008 team's motivation fed off their dissatisfaction of the results the previous year in which they finished with a "below .500" record. During the 2008 season, they were lead by strong, experienced pitching and instant success from their younger players. Every game, it seemed like 3 to 4 freshman were not just in the starting lineup, but were in the top half of the batting order. They finished the season 35-16 and were just one game away from advancing to the DIII College World Series. This year, everything seems a little too familiar. The Tigers just came off a disappointing season a year ago where they finished 24-22 and missed the playoffs. Also, they brought in a freshman class with a lot of players that have the potential to have an immediate impact. It's hard to speculate what Trinity's starting line up will be before a single game has even be played, however, it looks as if the Tigers starting middle infielders will both be freshman (John Hall and Kevin Clements). It also appears that they will also rely on freshman Tyler Rockefella out of the bullpen. Who knows what kind of season the Trinity Tigers will have, the only thing I'm sure of is that it seems a little like de ja vue to me.