UT Arlington hopes to earn another NCAA baseball berth

By John Henry

Special to the Star-Telegram

UT Arlington baseball coach Darin Thomas paused briefly for a pensive moment while making a mental inventory of his team's makeup in the way a cattleman might do with his stock.

There are certainly holes to fill, he said.

A coach just doesn't click his heels three times and, poof, his top pitchers and his best run producer lost off a conference champion and NCAA regional qualifier in 2012 are replaced by all-conference performers.

But there is his returning speedy, left-handed hitting shortstop, whom the coach tagged with the ultimate compliment.

"Ryan Walker is a baseball player," Thomas said about the Arlington Martin product. "It sure is a lot easier to think about your position guys as a whole when your shortstop and one of the top hitters from the Southland Conference is coming back."

The Mavericks will open their 2013 season with a three-game series against Louisiana Tech, beginning at 6:30 tonight at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington.

John Beck (3-1, 4.30 ERA in 2012) will take the mound for UTA tonight against Louisiana Tech's Phil Maton (8-5, 2.93).

The Mavericks begin their first and only season in the Western Athletic Conference with visions of a successful run through a competitive league and a second consecutive bid to the NCAAs and an extended run there.

Their best hopes begin with Walker, UTA's preseason all-conference selection who hit .360 with 31 RBIs and 90 base hits -- tops in the SLC -- in 2012.

UTA's 2012 season ended with a 36-25 record and losses to Dallas Baptist, now a conference foe, and Baylor in the Waco Regional.

"It was a good year, but not one of us is content," said Walker, a junior who enters his second full season at short after spending his freshman season between the outfield and second base, though he led the team in RBIs. "We felt like we should have done more last year. So absolutely [expectations are] higher this year.

"We all feel great. We've been putting in a ton of hours. I'm ready to go and we're all ready to go."

The Mavericks are picked sixth in the 10-team league in a poll of coaches.

Dallas Baptist, a perennial power, was selected first, followed by Texas State, New Mexico, Sacramento State and Cal State Bakersfield. Louisiana Tech, UT San Antonio, San Jose State and Seattle were seven through 10.

UTA was picked eighth a season ago, but won the conference.

The WAC season will culminate with the top eight teams meeting at the conference tournament May 22-26 at QuickTrip Park in Grand Prairie.

Walker will in all likelihood be UTA's next draft pick in the major league's amateur draft in June.

His return for a senior season is doubtful, depending on how 2013 goes.

"I don't think about it much," Walker said. "All that takes care of itself. Right now, all I care about is getting farther than we did last year."

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