University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma Baseball Begins Fall Practice :: Sooners welcome 20 newcomers to the 2002 squad; opening-week recap.

Oklahoma Baseball Begins Fall Practice :: Sooners welcome 20 newcomers to the 2002 squad; opening-week recap. Oklahoma Baseball Begins Fall Practice

Sooners welcome 20 newcomers to the 2002 squad; opening-week recap.




Senior Rocky Cherry and the Oklahoma baseball team began fall practice this week.

Sept. 14, 2001

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma baseball team started offseason practice this week to begin preparation for the 2002 season. The squad officially reported on Tuesday.

The Sooners will have a new look this season with 20 newcomers added to the team.

"Were excited about these new student-athletes and how they're going to impact our program," said Oklahoma Head Coach Larry Cochell. "However, it's only the first week of fall practice, so it's difficult to evaluate anything yet."

Meanwhile, Oklahoma returns 11 letterwinners from the 2001 team but lose 14. Of the losses, two were drafted in last spring's Major League Baseball Draft (Jason Bartlett and Chris Haggard) and Greg Dobbs, a 2000 second-team All-American selcection, signed a free agent contract. Senior Rocky Cherry was also drafted but decided to return to school.

"We, as a coaching staff, do a lot of teaching in the first week of practice," said Cochell. "A lot of work is on fundamentals and one of the players' priorities is to learn our system. As for this year, I like the makeup and ethusiasm of the squad. It's been a great week."