The Observer, April 27, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 26
Baseball team continues slump, dropping five of six
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Inconsistencies have plagued the Case baseball team over their last six games, of which they've won only one. Hosting Denison University for a doubleheader April 19, the Spartans played a matinee game at Jacobs Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, and then a second game that evening at Nobby's Ballpark. Errors contributed to the Spartan's loss.
"Playing at the Jake was great, but I don't think we were fazed by it," pitcher J.R. Doolos said. "We didn't play our greatest, that's for sure. I honestly don't know what it was. Committing a lot of errors didn't help. We kept up for the first couple of innings but eventually they pulled away to a 16-8 win. I think everyone in the infield has at least one error."
After dropping the second game to Denison 2-9, the team then traveled to John Carroll University on April 22, this time splitting the doubleheader.
"I pitched the first game and it was bad," said Doolos. "They were a decent team and if we made a mistake in the field they would come back the next man up and get a hit, and we gave them a lot of those chances. At the plate we didn't really get it done and all our runs came in our last inning, which was good in a way because it carried over to the second game. It was a real shoot out, going back and forth, but fortunately we stayed in there and pulled out with a win."
But the Spartans couldn't carry that momentum into their next set of games. Traveling to Euclid, Ohio for a doubleheader against Notre Dame College, the Spartans were unable to muster any runs in the two games.
"I think a lot of us thought Notre Dame was going to be a pushover," Doolos explained, "and we came out to the game a little lazy. We didn't play bad defensively, but we only had three hits the first game and six hits the second game. It came down to hitting and they did and it is our fault we couldn't get it going. It is just that we've been inconsistent lately. When we do score we have only been doing it in bursts. Either we score big in the first and then just try and hold for the rest of the game or we'll just have one big inning and not really be able to get anything going for the rest of the game. Sometimes it's just a lack of concentration; if they score first we get out of our groove." Agreeing with Doolos' sentiment, shortstop Kevin Haley described the team as flat at times.
"It could be a lack of focus and maybe it is due to the long season that's getting close to the end. There have been a few games where we came out kind of flat and we didn't recover. Several of us are still playing hard, but things aren't going our way. We just need to try and stay focused and end the season positively, because no one wants to end the season with a bad taste in their mouth."
The Spartans finish out the season with two doubleheaders this weekend at Washington University and another at Allegheny University on May 2. According to Doolos, the team needs to return to the important thing: fun.
"Lately things have been kind of negative and not as much fun. We need to not panic and relax. We can't reach our goal of 20 wins this season, but if we win out we can get as close as 19. In order to do that we need to get back to what got us this far, have some fun, and win some games."
