Been there, done that.
It might as well be the slogan for The University of Memphisbaseball team.
Just one day away from the start of their 2004 season the Tigersbiggest asset could be experience.
The roster boasts 11 seniors and 10 juniors.
"We've got some older players this year and that's what we werelacking the past couple of years," said head coach Dave Anderson."We've had all of our players come back and lost one senior (fromlast season). We took it on the chin the past couple of yearsplaying our younger players."
The past two seasons Memphis has posted records of 20-31 and21-33.
Senior outfielder Josh Payne has seen the affects that startingso many young players can have, but said this year's more seasonedsquad could open some eyes.
"The experience is going to help us out a lot," Payne said. "Ithink we're going to surprise a lot of people this year. We've justgot to be ready to play. Talent-wise, this team is unbelievable.We've just got to bring it together."
Payne drove in a school-record eiht runs in a single game lastseason in a game against UT-Martin.
Memphis opens their schedule with the Coca-Cola ClassicTournament in Houston, Tex. The Tigers will play three games duringtheir trip to Lone Star state. They take the field againstCal-State Northridge tomorrow, Arizona State Saturday and round outthe weekend with Lamar.
Arizona State (6-1) is ranked No. 7 in the USA Today Top 25 andis coming off of a 2003 campaign that led them to the SuperRegionals.
Lamar (4-2) received seven votes in the latest poll and CSUN(4-6) is hoping to snap a recent four-game losing skid.
If experience isn't the answer for Memphis this season, maybeconfidence is.
Senior pitcher Jarrett Grube is a part of what Anderson called,"one of the better pitching staffs since I've been here."
Grube said he expects Memphis to make it to the Conference USATournament this season -- something the team hasn't done since theymade the biggest turnaround in Division I three years ago.
"We'll qualify for the Conference Tournament this year," Grubesaid. "We expect to win all our conference games pretty much. Thisis the best pitching staff I've ever played on."
Grube led Memphis with 66 strikeouts last season. He won hislast four starts and allowed just two runs in his last 27.2 inningspitched.
Stephen Gostkowski, Brandon Rowan, junior college transfer DerekHankins and Ole Miss transfer Nick Bradshaw all expect to competefor spots in the weekend rotation.
Anderson is used to the preseason talk and excitement, but saidMemphis has much to improve on.
"I think there's nowhere to go but up," Anderson said. "We justhaven't played very well against the teams we should (play wellagainst)."
He said that would be the biggest key to another turnaround thisseason.
