Hard hits echoed off of the empty bleachers of Yager Stadium Tuesday, but the football team was nowhere to be seen.

After an eight-month hiatus, baseball is back in Oxford. Miami University Head Coach Dan Simonds had his boys of summer braving winter winds with the backstop in the north endzone and the baseballs cracking into the metal rows of the grandstands.

Simonds spent his offseason working talented freshmen into an already solid lineup that was picked to finish second in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) by the coaches. After endless repetition and offseason training, the 34-man squad is ready to take on the Marshall University Thundering Herd at 1 p.m. Friday in Charleston, S.C.

"It's one game," Simonds said. "It's just one game, but we are ready. I don't care what the team is at this point right now. We're ready to play a different color jersey. It's the early part of the season, but we want to win every game we play. We're ready for them and I'm sure they are ready for us and we'll see what happens."

Getting ready has meant replacing a star and incorporating a plethora of young talent into the RedHawk lineup.

In June 2010, the 'Hawks lineup took a blow when junior outfielder Adam Eaton was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Eaton led the RedHawks in 11 offensive categories, including his 0.368 average, 81 hits, 55 RBI and 0.709 slugging percentage. No. 4 also tagged 13 long balls. Senior Kyle Weldon represents one of the RedHawks' best returning offensive threats.

"The only pressure we are going to have is the pressure we put on ourselves," Weldon said. "Right now we aren't really worried about it. We have enough guys that can step up and fill in. It's not really a concern."

What may be a concern for the eight returning position starters is the warmth of their seats. According to Simonds, some of the new blood is talented enough to find its way into the lineup one way or another.

"We've had to go with what we had in the last couple years and throwing freshmen into the fire," Simonds said. "We don't have to do that. We want to develop these guys, but they are going to get some playing time. They are going to push some of these guys. They are going to be giving guys breaks or pushing guys."

Outfielder Bryce Redeker and left-handed pitcher Shawn Marquardt are juniors who should step into the fire early, while freshmen Dan Walsh, Andrew Willis, Seth Varner, Alex Brown and Jordan Shusteric won't be shy about finding their way onto a skilled lineup card.

"I think the strengths are probably going to be certainly our defense," Simonds said. "We return one of the best defensive teams in the MAC and one of the best in the Midwest."

A season ago, that defense committed a conference-low 54 errors for a conference-high 0.974 fielding percentage. With nearly the entire infield returning, Simonds sees that strength keeping the team a solid MAC contender.

An arsenal of arms chimes in with six potential starters opposed to the norm of four or five in past seasons, Simonds said.

Sophomore Mac Thoreson led the team with five wins last season. Senior southpaw Tyler Melling is the returning workhorse, with a team-high 90 innings pitched last season. Senior Sam Dawes returns with a 4.36 earned run average, while sophomore Brooks Fiala and junior Matt Rosinski also offer live arms.

The coaches picked the Kent State University Golden Flashes to take the MAC in overwhelming fashion, with the Red and White taking just one first-place vote. In the 2010 season, the 28-28 RedHawks went 2-2 against the Golden Flashes.

"It's one of those things where you have to go out and play every series," Weldon said. "One game at a time. Last year, we let a few series slip away from us and this year we just want to play it one at a time."

Game one starts Friday, kicking off the College of Charleston Invitational. The RedHawks play the tournament host Saturday before wrapping up the weekend with the University of Kentucky Wildcats Sunday.

"We've got a mixture of some good things," Simonds said. "I'm not saying we've got a ton of superstars. We don't, but we've got a bunch of good baseball players that really want to go out and get something done."