By River Gracey |Sports writerThe Augusta University baseball team tryouts are right around the corner, and it is interesting to see how the team will do after last year’s disappointing last place finish.The Jaguars' tryouts begin Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 2:30 p.m. on the Jaguar baseball field next to Christenberry Fieldhouse..After finishing 18-31 overall last season, the Jaguars decided to hire new assistant coach Micah Blount to the team to bring in some new energy. Coach Chris Howell thinks his leadership can provide a much-needed boost due to his experience within college athletics.“He brings some energy, he brings some preparation, there’s some passion," Howell said. "He played at the junior college level and played at the D2 level so he understands what these guys are going through. He just brings some newness and we are excited to have him on board.”Howell however was quick to note that in order to have their biggest improvement overall, the team was going to be a need to play better in close ball games.“Well I thought we swung really well last year," Howell said. "We got to pitch, we got to pitch better. We had a lot of close ball games that we got to pitch better in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings so we can close out ball games. There are 27 outs and that is important for us. We gotta get these guys some experience and confidence for when conference rolls around.”The Jaguars are hopeful to find new faces that can bring a winning energy and attitude to the team by hosting open try outs next week. Howell believes that even those fresh players could make a difference on the team’s performance.“Anybody who can help us win," Howell said. "Our Friday night starter last year was a walk on tryout named Aaron Chick. He was a walk-on guy just like these coming in next week, so just something that can give us some newness and give us something down the road. You never know.” Contact River Gracey at rgracey@augusta.edu.