Danny Hall began his 13th season as Georgia Tech's head baseball coach with his team occupying a familiar position — ranked in the preseason top five by Baseball America magazine.

The No. 4-ranked Yellow Jackets returned eight starting fielders and eight pitchers from last year's Atlantic Coast Conference championship team.

"Our pitching staff may be the deepest it has ever been," Hall said. "The majority of our starters and bullpen are back."

The Yellow Jacket pitching staff is almost evenly split with eight right-handers and seven lefties.

"All of our juniors are back and they solidify our pitching," Hall said. "Blake Wood was our number one starter last year and he will fill that role again and Matt Wieters will be our closer."

Four starters, including two preseason All-Americans, return to the infield. Third baseman Wes Hodges and catcher/pitcher Wieters were named to Baseball America's preseason All-America team. Hodges, a junior, led Tech hitting with a .397 average and 106 hits in 2005 while Wieters, last year's ACC Rookie of the Year, earned second team honors. The catcher/pitcher hit .366 with 10 home runs and led Tech with six saves and a 2.85 ERA last season.

"Shortstop is our biggest hole to fill," Hall said. "We lost our All-American Tyler Greene to the draft. Two guys are vying for the starting job and I don't think I'll be able to make a decision before the season. Mike Trappani will play second base. He graduated last year, but has one year of eligibility left. He was an All-ACC selection last year and co-captain. Whit Robbins, a junior from Calhoun, Georgia, will start at first."

The outfield — left fielder Steven Blackwood, center fielder Danny Paine and right fielder Jack Kendall — returned intact.

The Yellow Jackets opened the season on Feb. 11 against Georgia Southern. Hall said the Jackets' goal is a trip to Omaha and the College World Series.

"To get to the World Series, you have to pitch well, be very consistent and be a little bit lucky," Hall said. "We take a lot of pride in the fact that we have consistently gotten to a playoff position. That's the test of a good program but we've got to do a better job of closing the deal."

A national search is was conducted to find a successor to Georgia Tech athletics director Dave Braine, who announced his retirement in January.

"Dave Braine leaves Georgia Tech with a long list of accomplishments and his leadership will be missed," said President Wayne Clough, who hired Braine in 1997. "He leaves big shoes to be filled."

Braine's resignation, announced during a Jan. 11 press conference, came after almost nine years as head of Tech sports, a run highlighted by a trip to the NCAA men's basketball championship game, bowl games in nine consecutive football seasons and the school's best performance in the annual national all sports rankings.

Braine said he was sidelined by health problems.

"I lost more than 28 pounds in a six-week period last summer," Braine said. "I thought I had cancer and I was scared to death. My doctor told me I didn't have cancer, but I had Crohn's disease, an incurable gastrointestinal illness that usually affects people between the ages of 15 and 35. He said the stress of my job was impeding my ability to fight the disease."

In recent months Braine shouldered criticism over Tech's first-ever NCAA probation, a five-year contract extension for football coach Chan Gailey and a court-ordered reinstatement of a football player indicted on a charge of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

"I took 10 days off this fall and felt very good," Braine said. "But as soon as I got back to Atlanta, my stomach started doing flip-flops again."

Braine's contract with Tech was to have run through 2007.

Braine said he informed Clough in December that he would not be able to fulfill the last year of his contract.

"I never thought I would see this day," he said. "As a kid, my favorite class was recess. I'm 62 years old and I've been playing games — in one way or another — all my life, so I can't complain.

"I've had a good life, but there comes a time when it's time to go and my mind and my body have told me, 'Hey, it's time to go.'"