The Aggies baseball team will use a balanced attack of speed and power and a “whatever it takes” attitude into a season that should be its best since coming into Division I baseball. The Aggies are ready for what looks to be a promising year for them. A team with just two seniors and an experienced underclass of juniors and sophomores are looking to shake up the MEAC along with the rest of college baseball. Ending last season with a 15-33 record, expectations of the players are very high. Adonis Smith, a second-year transfer from N.C. State, believes that the team will have a great improvement from last season. “With the work we’ve put in over the fall and beginning of the spring, everyone coming out and working real hard, we have real good intentions of putting up real good numbers this year,” he said. Smith is one of a crew of captains this year that will lead the Aggies. He has shown leadership with good numbers last year and developing a “whatever it takes” attitude, something that Coach Keith Shumate hopes has rubbed off on the other guys. “I hope it’s contagious,” Shumate said of the attitude that Smith has developed. The other captains are Carlos Geathers, Jason Battle and Charles Miller. Miller, a junior pitcher, also thinks that success is just around the corner for the Aggies. “I think we should be at least .500 this year or better,” said Miller. Shumate looks at things more of a “one game at a time” attitude by looking to improve every day. The Aggies were seventh in the nation as a team in stolen bases last season. Along with this speed, a developed pitching staff, and a powerful hitting lineup, the Aggies look to ring some bells when it comes to tournament time. “We have one goal and that is to win a regional, and then go as far as we can. To win in May and show people we can play with East Carolina, UNCG, North Carolina, and the Florida States and be the best we can be at the end of the season,” said Shumate. The Aggies will be tested early, beginning the season at UNC Wilmington on Feb. 3, then heading back to Greensboro for games against UNCG and ACC foe University of Maryland. Shumate has scheduled these tough games early intentionally. “We are looking to jump right into the fire, and see if we are a regional team,” said Shumate. The Aggies are primed for what hopes to be an eye-opening season for them. Home games are played at War Memorial Stadium, which is a couple of blocks from campus on Yanceyville Street. The games are free for students with ID.