By David Mann
The 2002 Louisville Cardinal baseball team is preparing for their upcoming season. Many of last year’s younger players have matured and are prepared to be full time starters, among those matured players, outfielder Mark Jurich.
As a freshman last season Jurich started in 41 of 52 of his games, played in right field and as a DH. He tied for the lead in home runs, hitting it out of the park on seven occasions, and lead the team in slugging percentage. By season’s end last year he had batted a .274 with 25 RBI and 14 extra base hits. He was named Louisville slugger honorable mention, freshman all-American and named to the C-USA all freshman team. After last year’s tremendous play this Jurich says that there is some pressure on him this year “There is a little more [pressure] I think so but, you got to go out and play and perform.”
“I love baseball,” Jurich said “It just comes natural.” Mark Jurich is the son of U of L’s athletic director Tom Jurich and one of only four players from the Louisville area. In High school Mark played both football and baseball but decided to stick with baseball as a college student. When asked if his father had any influence on his decision he responded, “He just told me to do what I love and told me to play what I do best at.” Mark admits however that his father has been a main influence in sports in general, “He just always encouraged me to do what I enjoy and he was always there to support me, my whole family has always been there to support me.”
Last year’s team went 32-29 and hopes to improve this season. According to Jurich, the team’s strength lies in their defense. “Our defense is really good this year,” said Jurich, “that’s probably our strong point.”
The season begins for Mark and his teammates on Friday February 22nd.
