Third baseman Codie Simmons reaches to tag out a player during a game at San Diego City College on Thursday, April 15, 2016. City’s runner was called safe. The Jags won 8-3.
In the world of baseball, you are either on or you are off. The Southwestern College Jaguars have been off.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, the Jags had gone 2-7 in their last nine games.
Head Coach Jay Martel said the club could use a winning streak.
“I think baseball is such a confidence game,” he said. “Usually in baseball you go through a little bit of a streak where everything kind of goes your way. You pitch well and you play defense and you swing well. Nothing’s really gone our way. We haven’t hit a hot streak and we only have eight games left.”
It was with considerable trepidation that the Jags dove into last week with four back-to-back games, three in a series against San Diego City College and one a make-up game against Mt. San Jacinto Community College.
The consecutive games provided a unique challenge to the team, said Martel.
“It’s tough on everybody because when you have to play four games in four straight days, it takes a toll on your pitching staff,” he said. “It also takes a toll on the players. They’ve got to get up, they’ve got to go to school, they’ve got to play a game, they’ve got to home to study and then they’ve got to get back up and do it again.”
Weighted with star-powered sluggers like Codie Simmons, who is second in conference standings with a .398 batting average, Steven Sherwood and freshmen Angel Estrada, Luke Ramirez and Nick Alcoser, the Jags have a killer offense. The Murderer Row has a combined 173 hits between them this season with 89 RBI’s and two home runs.
Pitching is the problem.
From the beginning, Martel lamented the club’s sparse and inexperienced pitching staff.
“Our pitching is not real strong at this point,” he said during preseason. “I think we’ve got to pitch with confidence. We’ve got to have a little fight. Defensively we’re very strong, we’ve got good team speed, but compared to what we’ve had in the past at SWC, I think our pitching is a little below average.”
In their first game of the meet against SDCC’s Knights on Tuesday, April 12, the Jags suffered a frustrating 2-1 loss.
It was Wednesday’s make-up game against Mt. San Jacinto that turned the tide for the struggling Jaguars.
In the first two innings, SWC’s offense erupted, putting up 10 runs and never looking back. They would go on to score 9 more runs in a decisive 19-7 victory.
Perhaps the bigger victory was the pitching performance. Freshman Oscar Rodriguez threw a two-hitter. It was not until after he was relieved that the Eagles were able to sneak in a few runs.
Rodriguez, who said that game was his first collegiate start, gave credit to his teammates for backing him up.
“We got the job done today,” he said. “I was kind of nervous in the first inning, but we scored some runs and that pumped me up.”
Spurred on by the stellar start from their freshman hurler, the Jags looked to build off their victory.
“We want to end strong,” said Rodriguez. “And the only way we are going to do that is do play just like today, scoring runs and throwing strikes.”
Their third game on Thursday resulted in a 6-3 win against the Knights and brought the Jags’ record up to 9-8, above .500 for the first time in weeks. Friday’s 8-3 win at San Diego City College punctuated their comeback week with playoffs back in reach.
Martel said he was happy to see that the long week turn out so successfully.
“Anytime you win it feels good,” he said. “The kids have a little different attitude this week. Seems like they have a little bit of hunger. We swung the bat really well, played really good defense, and actually our pitching has been better so it seems like the more we’re throwing strikes.”
If they can make it to playoffs, said Martel, they can make it all the way.
“This is huge now,” he said. “It puts us right back into the playoff spot. We’re looking to get into second. If we can take second than we have a chance to get into the playoffs. If we can get into the playoffs, anything can happen. I think this club offensively and defensively can match with anybody. If our pitching keeps improving, you never know.”
Sophomore outfielder Eduardo Perez, who hit a homer and two RBI’s during the Friday game, said the winning streak was exactly what the team needs to face off with Palomar this week.
“Definitely, our confidence is getting better,” he said. “Those games are going to be very competitive, especially given how our good we’re doing so far, and Palomar is obviously good. It’s going to be just like last game, probably super close and maybe extra innings.”
Freshman pitcher Andrew Lopez agreed.
“We’re doing good right now and our momentum is heading straight there,” he said. “We’re having fun, so we’ll just see how it goes.”
Lopez won Friday’s game, pitching six innings.
“I knew I was going to get a win before the game,” he said. “We had the momentum. We’re in a hot streak today and I know we’re going to stay there and we’re going to make playoffs.”
The Jags play Palomar on Tuesday, April 19 and Saturday, April 23 at home. They hit the road on Thursday, April 21 for their away game against the Comets.
