WILMINGTON, North Carolina - With the season set to begin in a month's time, we'll begin our preview of the 2011 Seahawks by taking a look at the outfield, one of the areas where UNCW returns experience.

The Seahawks return four players who made at least 17 starts in the outfield. Leading those returning players are senior Alex Hill, junior Thomas Pope and junior Andrew Cain.

"We return experience in both the regular and post season in the outfield," said UNCW Head Coach Mark Scalf, who enters his 20th season at the program's lead. "Defensively they can cover ground and we'll look to Hill and Cain to produce runs while Pope looks to set the table."

Hill, the leading returning home run hitter for the Seahawks with 12 career homers, hit .274 as a junior and finished with seven home runs and 23 runs batted in. Throughout his career, Hill has shown his ability at the plate by evidence of an 18-game stretch last season where he had three hitting streaks of five or more games. Earlier in the season, Hill fashioned a five-game hitting streak where he hit .450.

Pope finished strong for the Seahawks as a sophomore, earning All-CAA tournament honors after leading the Seahawks into the tournament final for the second consecutive season. Pope led the Seahawks with a .421 average in the tournament and scored five times.

Cain, meanwhile, saw his season cut short after just 20 games because of an injury. In those 20 games, though, Cain showed that he can be a contributor and anchor a lineup. He hit .317 and scored 15 runs while compiling a .451 slugging percentage.

Red-shirt sophomore Dakota Piver showed flashes of promise in 2010 and became a reliable defensive replacement in the later part of the season. Piver is a strong, athletic outfielder who made strides at the plate during the fall.

In our next installment, slated for Jan. 24, we'll take a look at the Seahawk infield.