Photo by Mary York. Freshman Luke Ramirez slides into 3rd base, narrowly missing being tagged out by a Mesa defender who had to jump over Ramirez to catch the ball. Jags won the game, 10-7.
Several weeks into rocky conference play, it is clear that high hopes will not be enough to carry Southwestern College’s baseball team through the season.
Their 3-3 record is shaky at best and is blotted with embarrassing losses like their 15-2 defeat at Grossmont College or their 6-0 loss on home turf to San Diego City College.
All their wins have been high-scoring, with nine, 10 and 11 runs per game, but the margin of victory has been close, like their match against San Diego Mesa College on Saturday, March 12. The 10-7 win was nearly a shutout until the seventh inning when Mesa batted in five runs. It seemed like an eerie replay of their game at Imperial Valley at the start of the conference season and perhaps an indication that the young Jaguars cannot keep on top of their leads.
Jaguar freshman outfielder Nicholas Alcoser said complacency seems to be their biggest enemy.
“I think we got too comfortable with that lead, that we could just sail by with that lead and they ended up coming back,” he said. “And that’s our mistake, we can’t let them come back. We can’t show mercy. We need to keep our foot on the pedal. We need to learn to finish.”
Head Coach Jay Martel said they have a good club this year, and they could have a really good season if they can figure out how to sure up inconsistencies, he said.
“Basically, we just can’t get all phases of the game going together,” said Martel. “We hit one day and we don’t pitch. One day we pitch and we don’t hit.”
Defense remains the Jag’s biggest obstacle. So far, no one has claimed the mound as their own. Every game, four or five hurlers will try to take control of the defense, but few last more than just a couple innings.
“We’re struggling with the walks right now,” said Martel. “We’re walking way too many people. We’re not letting our defense do the work and we’re putting a lot of pressure on our defense to get ourselves out of it.”
Jag pitcher’s are currently averaging giving up a run 50 percent of innings.
Offense, however, is doing brilliantly, with heavy hitters like Alcoser, sophomore Cody Simmons and freshmen Luke Ramirez and Angel Estrada raking in runs.
Alcoser said once the club gets its footing on the mound, the batting lineup can take them the rest of the way home.
“If we play as a team and get our pitchers throwing strikes than we are definitely contenders in playoffs,” he said, “because there’s no doubt we can hit.”
Sophomore Ray Peterson, who is just returning from an injury that had him out for several games, said the team is ready for a change in their luck.
“We’re all just waiting,” he said. “We’re waiting to break loose.”