by Garrett Helmers
The 2021 baseball season for UAB was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted by postponements and cancellations and a lack of consistency across the board. The Blazers are ready to put last year’s poor campaign in the rearview mirror as they look ahead to a new opportunity in 2022.
After an up- and- down season a year ago, the Blazers hired coach Casey Dunn to replace interim coach Perry Roth.
Dunn, who is Samford’s all-time winningest coach, has plenty of work ahead of him if he hopes to turn around a Blazer baseball program that finished the 2021 season with a record of 18-36 and last place in Conference USA’s West Division.
Dunn said he is trying to transform the way his players and UAB fans view Blazer baseball.
“I think the biggest thing is trying to show some progress and create a different base and different culture than what’s been here. Our guys, they’re working, they’re practicing well and we’ve gotta get better at what we’re doing,” said Dunn.
With a new coach comes new opportunities, and in the case of this year’s team, plenty of new faces. Perhaps the most notable is freshman Henry Hunter, who came in at number six on D1 Baseball’s C-USA impact first-year freshman list.
Dunn said that Hunter is going to be a building block for the UAB baseball program moving into the future.
“Henry Hunter, our catcher, is going to be a big part of building this thing forward. I think he’s one of the young kids that possesses a lot of leadership qualities,” said Dunn. “He takes a lot of responsibility of this being his team.”
Coach Dunn made it clear that this Blazer team’s most glaring need is leadership, whether from new or returning players.
The Blazers do return some talent from their squad a year ago, including shortstop John Marc Mullins, outfielder Caleb Floyd and pitchers Tyler O’Clair and Collin Taylor.
O’Clair — who boasted a 5-4 record and the most strikeouts of the team during the 2021 season — is arguably the team’s most experienced pitcher moving into this year. His five wins and 78 innings pitched also marked team during the 2021 campaign.
O’Clair says he is using the lessons learned from last season to propel both himself and his team into the Casey Dunn.
“[The important thing is] staying together when things get hard and making sure that one bad game doesn’t turn into a bad weekend then turn into a bad week and turn into a bad month,” said O’Clair. “[We have to make sure] that we can turn around each game and look at one inning at a time.”
Mullins proved to be a reliable option at shortstop a season ago, boasting a .238 batting average and starting in all 54 games. After a season as filled with uncertainty as last year’s, consistency will be crucial if they hope to right the ship.
Outfielder Caleb Floyd, who appeared in 29 games last season, has the best batting average (.289) of any returning Blazer. While Floyd largely saw time as a designated hitter during 2021, Dunn says Blazer fans should expect Floyd to play a bigger role on defense as an outfielder.
Like O’Clair, Floyd is ready to start moving the UAB program in the right direction.
“It’s been really exciting because we know what he’s been capable of doing in the past; we know that he’s a winner. We can tell that — the way things are going in practice — that it’s a lot more energetic, and you can really feel the culture changing around here,” said Floyd, speaking on the impact that Coach Dunn has had.
For the first time since the 2020 season was cut short, the public will be able to attend UAB baseball games without COVID-19 restrictions.
The Blazers will open the Casey Dunn era with a three-game home series against the Northwestern Wildcats at Young Memorial Field. Opening day is Friday, Feb. 18. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
