Huntingdon baseball counting on experienced leadership in 2013

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The 2013 baseball season is going to have a different feel to it for the Huntingdon Hawks.

With 15 seniors and quality experience at every position returning from a 30-12 team, the Hawks would normally be thinking about a run at a conference championship. But there won't be a conference championship this season.

A year after winning the final Great South Athletic Conference baseball title and a year before joining the USA South Athletic Conference, the Hawks are competing as an Independent this season.

While Huntingdon's conference affiliation may have changed, the Hawks' main goals remain the same. Head coach D.J. Conville expects his team to play hard, compete and be a better team at the end of the season than at the start.

"We have a strong senior class and we hope that translates to a solid year," Conville said. "These seniors, and our other returning players, they know what our expectations are. They know how we like to play the game.

"The thing we have to remember is, experience doesn't always equal wins. Expectations are one thing, but achieving them is another. That's something we've tried to stress in the preseason. We have experience and we should be battle-tested and ready to compete. But we have to go out and be ready to play, physically and mentally."

The Hawks open the season on the road this weekend in the Millsaps College Invitational. Huntingdon plays the University of the Ozarks on Friday at 1 p.m., Rhodes on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Millsaps on Sunday at 3 p.m. Huntingdon's home opener will be Feb. 16 against Oglethorpe at Posey Field.

"I think this weekend will be a very good measuring stick for us," Conville said. "We've never played Ozarks before but from everything I understand they are a pretty solid team. Rhodes and Millsaps, we're all familiar with each other and they're going to be good tests.

"It's going to be interesting to see how we match up and it's going to require some of these new pitchers to go out and perform at a high level early. It's going to be like that all season. There really isn't a break in the schedule this year."

The Hawks have what Conville believes will be one of the toughest schedules in Division III this season. The schedule includes three teams ranked in the Top-15 of the D3baseball.com preseason poll (third-ranked and two-time defending national champion Marietta, sixth-ranked Birmingham-Southern and 13th-ranked Adrian) and four other teams (Rhodes, Millsaps, Emory and 2010 national champion Illinois Wesleyan) receiving votes in the poll. Huntingdon is also receiving votes in the preseason poll.

"The schedule is extremely tough. I anticipate our strength of schedule will be among the Top-10 in the country, if not the Top-5," Conville said. "We play the last three national champions, three teams that are ranked in the preseason, plus several teams that were in regional play last year or the year before. There are a lot of traditional powers on this schedule.

"It's going to be a good challenge for us. This being our transition year between conferences, this is a good year to play a schedule like that. Whatever we accomplish this year, it's all going to be about our performance and how we execute."