By Joel Flom
Arizona Daily Wildcat
January 16, 1997

UA takes field with a new look

Jerry Kindall, the head coach of the Wildcats for the past 23 years, stepped down over the summer after Arizona placed last in the Pacific 10 Southern Division for the third season in a row. The reigns were handed to former associate head coach and hitting and outfielders coach Jerry Stitt, who has been at UA for 19 years.

Stitt feels that with a positive new outlook the Wildcats can turn things around from a year ago.

"They are much more aggressive, much more focused and much more determined to prove that they can be winners," Stitt said. "The hardest thing about sports is, when you are down, proving that you can win."

The first significant challenge Stitt will face as the new head coach is dealing with the void from the 11 letter winners that the Wildcats have lost from last year. Brian Becker, a first baseman and one of the better hitters in the lineup, left school a year early and is now in the farm system with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. John Powers, a steady .300 hitter and the vocal leader of the team, and Ben White, one of the more reliable pitchers for the Wildcats, were lost to graduation. Powers is currently in the San Diego Padres system.

Not all is lost for the Wildcats though. Senior Jeff Gjerde is a third-team preseason All-American as selected by Collegiate Baseball . Gjerde is projected to be the everyday first baseman and clean-up hitter. Last year Gjerde finished third in the Six-Pac in triples (six), fourth in RBI (65), seventh in hits (82) and ninth in batting (.364).

So far, Gjerde likes what he sees with the new faces and system and feels that it will pay off for the Wildcats.

"We have different things that we work on, and it has been going really, really well," he said.

Gjerde is joined by Kenny Corley as being the only real home run threats for the Wildcats. Corley belted 11 last year, and led the Six-Pac in slugging percentage (.678). His home run total was good enough to place him sixth in the league. Corley is projected to be the everyday designated hitter and bat ahead of Gjerde in the number three position.

One of the first moves Stitt made as head coach was to hire Bill Kinneberg as the new pitching coach. This is somewhat of a homecoming for Kinneberg, who played for the Wildcats from 1978-79.

Kinneberg will have his work cut out for him.

The Wildcats were last in pitching last year in the conference with a cumulative ERA of 7.40. The projected ace of the staff will be sophomore Darrell Hussman. Last year he was third on the team in starts and gave up just 12 walks in 32 innings. Senior Tyler Haddix and sophomores Rob Shabansky and Scott Wood will also see some time on the mound.

The Wildcats, who were voted to place last again in the Six-Pac by the coaches pre-season poll, will begin play against Hawaii-Hilo in at Hawaii on Jan. 24-26. The squad will return to Tucson and begin a homestand against New Mexico on the 31st.