The goal is simple for Appalachian State University first-year head baseball coach Chris Pollard.

"We want to get better everyday." The ability to get better everyday is a proven one when it comes to the Mountaineers, as the squad entered the final weekend of the 2004 campaign with just eight victories but managed to take two-of-three games from archrival and eventual Southern Conference Tournament finalist Western Carolina. The return of 11 letterwinners from last year's squad, including five position starters and five pitchers, should also make the goal an attainable one. But Pollard's confidence to reach his goal lies far outside the numbers. "To me, there is no question that this team can surprise a lot of people simply because they play hard everyday," Pollard said. "If you play hard and exhibit a willingness to learn each time you take the field, you're going to get better everyday. So our effort and our goal go hand-in-hand." While numbers may not be part of Pollard's goal for his first ASU squad, there are certainly measurable keys to ensure Appalachian's progression throughout the 2005 season. "Our biggest key is to cut walks we allow in half from last season," Pollard said. "We preach aggression within the strike zone, which means that we want our pitchers to challenge hitters to put the ball in play. While that philosophy may mean that we give up more base hits, we are willing to trade that for fewer walks." Pollard is entrusting his philosophy to a mix of returnees and newcomers on the mound. Leading the ASU veterans is junior Scott Clark. A right-handed junior from Durham, N.C., Clark will likely man the front of the Mountaineers' weekend rotation and earn the Opening Day nod at North Carolina A&T on Feb. 9. A season ago, Clark paced the Mountaineers with five victories and 76 strikeouts. "Scott has experience, a 'plus' curveball and has developed a good change-up as a third pitch in the offseason," Pollard said. "He has a bulldog mentality on the mound and we expect him to be a leader on our staff." Another returnee that should see extensive time as a starter is sophomore Jonathan Reeder. The righty appeared in eight games, making three starts, for the Mountaineers a season ago before his season was cut short due to injury in early April. "Jonathan progressed immensely over the fall," Pollard said. "He moved from rehab workouts at the beginning of the fall to as solid of a pitcher as anyone on our squad at the end." Seniors Taylor Craig and Steve Martin and sophomores Brian Caudill and Brian Peede are expected to help anchor the Appalachian bullpen while also drawing an occasional starting assignment. Leading the corps of newcomers on the mound are a pair of left-hander transfers, Chad Antley and Josh Fish. Antley, a transfer from Rockingham Community College in Wentworth, N.C., struck out 38 while allowing just 25 walks a season ago at Rockingham. The southpaw has what Pollard describes as "some of the best stuff on the team" and has continued to improve throughout the offseason by making some minor adjustments to his delivery after the fall season. Fish put together a 5-1 record and a sub-4.00 ERA in helping lead Coastal Carolina to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in his two seasons with the Chanticleers. Pollard expects Fish to be someone who will fill a variety of roles for the Mountaineers in '05, including as both a mid-week and weekend starter, a situational lefty out of the bullpen and a closer. Also expected to see time on the mound for the Mountaineers are Cody Wilkins, a senior transfer from national-power Notre Dame, sophomore transfer Joe Overby and freshmen Jordan Ivey, Adam Mills and Matt Roldan. Appalachian's pitching corps can be comforted by the fact that a solid group of experienced infielders returns this season to anchor the ASU defense. However, while there are three returning starters around the horn in senior Brad Peisel, junior Joey Robinson and sophomore Jimmy Mathias, the Mountaineer infield will still have a decidedly different look from a season ago as Robinson moves from third base to second base and Mathias makes the short journey from second to first. Junior-college transfers Luis Arce and Steven Proctor are expected to man the hot corner, with junior Brooks Haislip also in the mix. "I feel that we have the potential to have a very solid defensive infield," Pollard said. "Jimmy Mathias is a big, athletic target at first base, while Joey Robinson and Brad Peisel make up a tremendous double-play combination. In fact, Robinson has some of the best hands that I have ever coached in turning the double play at second base." The Mountaineers don't have as much experience in the outfield, as junior-college transfer Julian Brown, walk-on freshman T.J. Spivey and junior Kevin Butler, who saw time predominantly at catcher and first base a season ago, are expected to man the spots from left to right. Sophomore Chris Baker will also see action in centerfield, while sophomore Travis Hunnicutt and freshman Sam Asis are in the mix as well. Offensively, Pollard hopes the Mountaineers have the same mentality at the plate that he would like to see from his pitchers on the mound: aggressiveness. Returnees accounted for just 30 percent of Appalachian's home runs and 45 percent of the squad's RBI a season ago, so an aggressive style both at the plate and on the base paths is essential to ASU's ability to score runs in '05. "We aren't going to hit the ball out of the park a lot," Pollard said, "but I think we make up for that by being a team that is good at hitting from gap to gap and getting a lot of singles and doubles. We don't have blazing speed, but we do have a lot of solid base runners that will allow us to do things like hit-and-run and bunt to help us scratch and claw for runs. In addition to the position players, sophomore Vance Witman will likely see significant time in the lineup at designated hitter. As always, Appalachian faces a tough schedule that includes contests against some of the nation's most recognized programs out of conference, including 2004 NCAA Tournament participants Florida State, North Carolina and George Mason, and one of the most treacherous league slates in the country in Southern Conference play, which features three-game series against College of Charleston and The Citadel, both of which advanced to postseason play a season ago. In all, 11 of the Mountaineers' 55 games come against 2004 NCAA Tournament qualifiers. Making the slate even more difficult is the fact that the SoCon is fast becoming one of the upper-echelon Division I baseball conferences in the nation. "The league is better now than it was when I left it eight years ago," Pollard, a 1996 Davidson alum, said. "As a whole, college baseball is better over that same time frame, but the SoCon has remained ahead of the trend and risen through the D-I ranks." Despite the challenges that lie ahead, the goal remains the same: to get better everyday. And before Appalachian ever plays a game in 2005, that goal and much, much more seem to be in sight for the Mountaineers. "This team has sunk its teeth into what we're trying to implement as a coaching staff and gives good effort every time it steps on the field, which made a big difference in our improvement throughout the fall," Pollard said. "There have been bumps in the road along the way and there may be throughout the spring as well, but the effort is there to continue the momentum throughout season and get better everyday."