Chris Coduto/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore pitchers Matt Baugh, left, David Coulon and Eric Berger relax in the backyard of their South Tucson house while shooting up an old grill with pellet guns. After living in the dorm their freshman year, the trio say they much prefer living in a house.

Wildcat pitchers fire away from their back porch

Each week, the Wildcat will look at the other side of being an Arizona athlete: being an everyday student. Check in every Tuesday to see what your favorite performers on the field are up to off it.

These boys are gunslingers - literally.

Sitting on four chairs outside their South Tucson home, four pitchers on the Arizona baseball team are armed with BB guns.

It's a hot Sunday afternoon, the sun is sparkling and a backyard is filled with small rocks. A target stands about 20 feet away as the players prepare to shoot, their guns loaded.

About twice a day for about five minutes, sophomores Eric Berger, David Coulon, Mike Koons and Matt Baugh come out and relax, spend time together and fire away.

The southpaw Berger got into collecting guns and knives from an early age, partly because his father is in the Air Force.

Instead of staring down a batter, the pitchers are staring down a fake bird, putting fear into the target.

The shots' velocities are faster than any of their fastballs. This is a place to get away and do something unrelated to baseball, a place to bond and be college kids.

"It's just hanging out with the boys," Coulon said.

So who is the best shot? It depends on the gun, they all said.

It's not Koons, though. After shooting from a hand gun for a while, Koons takes the rifle. He can't shoot because he's from Colorado, the other three Californians joke.

The best gun they own is named Willy Beamon.

"Just because it's beamin'," Coulon said.

After sitting for about 10 minutes, they decide to go inside and make some breakfast. Just a regular summer day.

Players' perspective On metal bats in college baseball:

Coulon: "Metal bats bring a lot more offense to the game; that's what people like to see, so that's why college uses aluminum bats. And also for money costs, because we would break a lot more wooden bats than metal ones."

On the College World Series being after school ends:

Berger: "I think it's great, because we start earlier than a lot of schools, so we get out a few weeks before everybody. We can put all our focus towards baseball and not have to worry about homework and tests."

Koons: "When you don't have to worry about school, tests and finals, it makes baseball a lot easier."

On the biggest misconception about athletes:

Koons: "(That) athletes don't work as hard in general in class is the biggest misconception. I think a lot of kids think that we get a free ride in our academic career, which is a joke, because we work twice as hard as regular students do. We have more responsibilities, and it's a lot harder for us to keep our academics up."

On the toughest part of being a student-athlete:

Baugh: "Time management, because we have so many things going on during the day and we have workouts going on at 6:15 in the morning. You have class, (and) then you have practice and study hall during the day. It's hard trying to figure out what you have to do and not forget stuff. You just have to have a planner and make sure you do everything right."

On having their own house:

Berger: "You're ready to get out of the dorms after a while. It's nice to have your own space and have a kitchen and a place to keep food. We eat a lot, so the dorms weren't really a great idea because we would just eat out all the time. It's nice to have a place where we can eat and do our own thing, to chill and relax."

On being drafted:

Coulon: "For any baseball player, you want to get drafted, but I really liked Arizona and I love all of these guys. They really like the school and we're ready to win a national championship."

On the constant talk about steroids in baseball:

Coulon: "After a while, it gets old to talk about it every day."

Koons: "Especially because they're always just on baseball and not every other sport."

Baugh: "(Sports) like football and basketball. I don't know why it's always baseball."

On getting a noise ordinance freshman year for playing Wiffle ball:

Koons: "We were in the courtyard at (Pueblo de la) Cienega, and the (resident assistants) cracked down. Now, there's no more Wiffle ball in the courtyard."