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Blue Wahoos 2014 Season Opens Thursday Night

Bob Barrett
/
WUWF News

It's opening day! The Pensacola Blue Wahoos start their third season in Pensacola Thursday evening at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium with a game against the Tennessee Smokies.

WUWF's Bob Barrett was at the stadium earlier this week for Media Day, and spoke to Blue Wahoo's owner Quint Studer and manager Delino DeShields about the upcoming season.

Highlights:

Quint Studer on the Blue Wahoos third season:

“I’m very excited for this year. I think our third year is the one we’ve always been focused on. We knew year one we’d have that honeymoon and year two, and year three really lets me know about the long term sustainability. We’ve got the right formula."

Studer on the relationship between the community and the Blue Wahoos:

“Our focus is completely based on treating our staff great and making sure the fans have great experiences and not taking shortcuts. I think we have a great advantage: Wahooslife. We’re not competing with Division I sports, we’re not competing with cities right next door. We’re extremely fortunate in that we have geography between us and everybody else. When we brought the team here I wanted a major league operation in a minor league stadium. We want the Wahoos to be to Pensacola what the Red Sox are to Boston.”

Manager Delino DeShields on the upcoming season:

“I think we have a good ball club. The pitching is going to be outstanding. The biggest difference between this year and last year is that we’ll be a better offensive club. I feel that you need to adjust to the talent you have. We’ve got a good mix of everything: speed, power. The biggest difference will be offensively.”

DeShields on Wahoos' players moving up:

“It’s kind of tough to predict things like that but I see some guys getting close. There’s a lot of talent on this team. I think the next wave of big-leaguers in Cincinatti are going to come from this group right here.”

Bob Barrett has been a radio broadcaster since the mid 1970s and has worked at stations from northern New York to south Florida and, oddly, has been able to make a living that way. He began work in public radio in 2001. Over the years he has produced nationally syndicated programs such as The Environment Show and The Health Show for Northeast Public Radio's National Productions.