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Time to pick it up for Tigers
3/19/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Players had started to leave practice Wednesday afternoon when Fort Hays State University sophomore outfielder Corey Gaudet walked over to the batting cage. Gaudet, who wore a white bandage that covered his broken nose, hit balls off the tee by himself.
The Tigers' leading hitter with a .488 average, Gaudet has been unable to play or practice in the last two series for Fort Hays, a stretch where the Tigers have posted a 1-7 record. Head coach Rick Sabath said Gaudet will miss two to four more weeks, a crucial stretch for Fort Hays (13-13).
"To get to Kansas City and to get to the conference tournament, we need to start playing good baseball right now," Sabath said. "We can't wait any longer, 13-13, 30 games left. There is plenty of time for us to accomplish that, but it needs to start now. We need to have a greater sense of urgency about our buisness."
Fort Hays will need to play better without Gaudet, the team's leadoff catalyst. Fort Hays is 9-0 when Gaudet leads off, 12-0 when he starts a game. When Gaudet is not in the lineup, the Tigers are 1-13. Since Gaudet hurt his nose three weeks ago sliding into a base against Truman State (Mo.) University, the Tigers offense has struggled.
"The last three weekends, we have not swung the bats to our capabilities and guys are pressing, doing it a little bit too much," Sabath said. "It's contagious. You are going to have parts in the season where it goes one way or the other. You just don't like it where everyone is struggling at the same time."
Fort Hays will look to turn its season around without Gaudet in a four-game road series against unranked Missouri Southern State University (13-10, 6-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association).
The Tigers are 5-7 in conference play and are 0-10 on the road. However, Fort Hays is 13-3 against unranked squads.
"We can't afford to go out and lose another series, especially to a team that we should beat," senior ace left-hander Eric Gilliland said. "Not taking anything away from Southern, because they have played really well this year, they brought in a lot of new guys and they are a quality opponent, but if we want to be where we want to be at the end of the year, these are games that we need to win. Going on from here, we really need to start putting together some good series."
Last year, Fort Hays entered the series against Missouri Southern under .500 and struggling offensively. The Tigers, though, scored 20 runs in a seven-inning game, turned around the offense and started to win. Fort Hays enjoyed a 15-6 run that included three road wins in four games against ranked University of Central Missouri.
"Last year, we were in a worse position than we are right now," senior catcher AJ Levanduski said. "Things just started clicking, our offense got back into the groove, hopefully this happens this weekend."
Fort Hays, though, has not produced offensive numbers like last season. In 2008, the Tigers' offense, the team's cornerstone for the turnaround, averaged 8.02 runs per game.
This year, a senior-laden team has tallied 7.34 runs a night, including 4.63 since Gaudet was injured. Without Gaudet, the Tigers have used juniors Greg Crowe, Brennan Peterson and Justin Groff in left field, three players that have a combined .281 average.
"The main thing that started happening (in 2008) is that we just became a special team offensively," Sabath said. "That is going to be the thing that in my opinion, that is going to make or break the last 30 games. We need to be become a special team offensively that is going to overcome the mistakes."
"I think everybody on this team, whether they are off the bench or in the lineup, is going to hit just as well as we expect here in this program," Levanduski added.
Fort Hays has had several problems offensively. The Tigers have struggled in both one-run games (2-4) and when trailing late (0-13 when trailing after six innings) and haven't put together a big, comeback victory.
"There is always one point in the season where things kind of come together and you gel as a team and that hasn't happened yet," Sabath said. "We need that one win, that come from behind type of win, close game against a good team, something like that is really going to pull everybody together."
Fort Hays has left nearly seven runners on base per game, including 28 in four losses to Emporia State University last weekend. They also struggled with runners in scoring position in a loss to Northwest Missouri State University two weekends ago.
"That is one of the things that hurt us really bad, when we have runners in scoring position and not driving them in with one or two outs," Levanduski said.
Approach-wise, Fort Hays has seen a drop in homers and slugging percentage from 2008. The Tigers have reached double figures just once in the last eight games, their only win.
"Here of late, we have just taken way too many fastballs and just been too passive at the plate," Sabath said. "If we can hit that fastball earlier in the count and be confident when we are doing that, then it will take care of the two-strike approach later on."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |