From the Dugout with Cody Gougler

To get an inside look at the 2012 Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team, ILB has asked senior OF Cody Gougler to write a weekly journal giving the Lion Nation a behind the scenes look at one of the top programs in the Southland Conference. To read all of Cody's journals you can click on his picture on the left menu.

Here is journal #1 for the 2012 season.

What’s up Lion Nation! I hope everyone is as excited as I am for opening day next Friday at The Pat! There’s been so much going on in the past few weeks and we have been getting a lot of quality work in.

This past weekend we had the second annual Alumni Game and it was such an awesome turnout. I truly believe that there aren’t many other schools in the country that have the tradition and family that we do. If you haven’t had a chance to come out and watch us practice or intrasquad yet, you haven’t seen all the changes in our team and Alumni Field.

There’s a ton of new faces this year and with 20 plus new guys on the team it’s going to take some time putting faces with names. I’ve got all the confidence in the world that we’ve reloaded this season and have the talent to make another serious run at the Southland title. We’ve also torn down our left field fence and are currently finishing our brand new bullpen behind the scoreboard. The new pen will be such an exciting addition to The Pat. We will also be adding a couple of new uniforms this year. If you haven’t seen the picture of our “solid gold” unis yet, you can check them out by Clicking Here.  We’ve also added a unique touch to our uniform collection this year, but we’re going to keep those a surprise until opening weekend!

I hope everyone has gotten their season tickets and are fired up for some great baseball games. We’ve got some talented teams coming to Hammond starting the first weekend with Indiana State. I would personally like to challenge all the fans to bring noisemakers such as cowbells, rock bottles, clappers etc. The tradition at The Pat has continued to grow every year and we truly feed off of your enthusiasm. I’m looking forward to keeping you updated throughout the season on what’s going on behind the scenes with the 2012 Lions baseball team. I will be uploading videos from road trips, team meetings, player interviews and more! I also suggest that you follow @Lions_Baseball on twitter. @Lions_Baseball is your source for SLU Baseball news and updates. Once again, I can’t wait for next weekend at The Pat and am so pumped to hear a roll call in the top of the first! Let’s make this another memorable season and don’t forget to #LionUp!