The second day of Florida action pitted your Fighting Diplomats against the Owls of Westfield ( Ma) State. The Owls were the Mass State School Conference champs ( Worcester State, Salem State, Fitchburg State etc) the past two years and featured a team of look- a- likes. It seemed they were all the same dimensions around 5’10” 175 pounds. And had dark hair. It was as if we played a team of brothers but there were 30 of them about the same age. I was tempted to ask an Owl player if they were all brothers or if they just shopped together. To make matters more complicated, the Fighting Diplomats were featuring their dark blue top while pants ensemble and the Owls featured the exact same look. You gotta love D-3 baseball.
The day started poorly for our Fighting Diplomats as we gave up a quick 5 run lead on some early sloppy play. Undaunted the Diplomats battled back to within 2 runs when senior Catcher John Dutton came to the plate with two on and two out in the 7th. There are three good catchers competing for the job—and there are reasons to like each of them for the job. As preface to this at bat, John homered in his starting debut against Elizabethtown. Now John had a chance to show something in the clutch . And show he did- with a blast to the deepest part of center field off the top of the fence 400 feet away. As John skipped into second base Coach Taylor sent out a pinch runner to try and grab the lead on a single.
The baseball gods were engaged now peering intently at the action with the score tied and the lead runner at second with one out. Baseball games are decided in moments like this. As our runner took his lead, a bloop single headed out over the shortstops head. But out runner did not read it as a single and held second before advancing to third after it dropped in. Your faithful correspondent looked up at the heavens and hoped the gods did not notice the baserunning mistake. But hoping for the baseball Gods to pass on a mental error at a crucial point in the game is not a good survival strategy. The next pitch-a grounder to shortstop.. step on the bag for one and over to first- inning over. The Gods gave it exactly one pitch before they administered their cruel justice. Sort of like a jury that comes back with a verdict after 12 seconds. The baseball mavens who only look at stats will have missed a crucial element. A good player would have scored and made a difference in the game. But there is no stat in the box score nor even in a mention in the game summary to illumniate this key moment. this is remarkbale for the game of baseball--a key impact on the outcome does not register in the statistics or get mentioned in a game summary yet it made all the difference in the game.
A well pitched inning in relief seemed to appease the baseball gods as the Fighting Diplomats began the bottom of eighth inning with a runner on first and third and one out. A faked safety squeeze however resulted in the runner on first picked off and now we cowered in anticipation of the gods wrath. It did not take long .. in the top of the 9th, as the bases soon loaded with Owls. A pitching change with the sacks jammed and the clean up hitter due up gave us some pause and yet a source of hope. But our hopes were dashed as the first pitch was rocketed out of the park for a grand slam . After the granny, we got a couple runners on in the bottom of the 9th but not enough and we found our selves with our first loss in Florida. In retrospect, we had a chance but we also gave up 5 in the first and did not get a run across in the 8th to take the lead. The baseball gods are really about playing the game right. They believe deeply in merit and their punishments are hopefully enough of a lesson to keep improving. But the baseball gods are not the warmest members of the species and are very unforgiving.
Between games of the double header with the Owls. I wandered to the adjacent field to see a team labeled the Gators take on Messiah from Pa. Curious I asked a Gator fan who the Gators were and was surprised to learn they were the Allegheny (Pa) Alligators. I must have missed a key Animal Plant show as I was completely unaware of the Pennsylvania Alligators. However, the Gator fan assured me there are no alligators in Pa but the trustees seemed to like alligators and went with Alligators because they liked the alliteration. Alliteration? What 's next? The Pittsburgh Pilleated Woodpeckers?? As for Messiah I was rooting to hear they were the Apostles or even more bold " the Sinners" but alas they are the Messiah Falcons. It seemed this was my week for aviary themes as the Diplomats were up next against the Gulls of Endicott.
The games proceeded as we worked our way through the week at about a .500 clip. Most of the good moments were the at bats as the lads came to hit. Oddly, we seemed to be hitting batters at a prolific clip. One of our top pitchers had an unusual line score of 18K's no walks and 9 HBP. and there were quite of few near misses ( or rather "near hits" I never figured out why planes have near misses! aren't they supposed to miss?). On one at bat, our guy hit the batter only to have the ump call the pitch a ball arguing the effort to evade was insufficient. Given this break our guy with the next pitch fired one which found its way into the middle of the hiiters back --sometimes you need to make sure.
As a team we hit a staggering 30 hitters which I imagined must be some sort of record. So I checked the tourney records in Winter Haven, Fla and found that in 1913 a team of Titanic survivors were playing and hit 56 batters. It seems they had a catcher who called a lot of "sinkers" and this made the pitchers nervous and jittery. The pithcers lost control and hit numerous batters with errant pitches and soon had to be ushered off the field muttering to themselves. The papers reported the survivors opted for the cruise ship vacation the next year.
As we neared the end of the week the Fighting Diplomats hosted the Washington and Jefferson Presidents. Now the aplty named "Presidents" ranks with some of the top names and conjured up last years possibilities ( Adrian College "the Yo's" and Chapman College, in California --"the Mark David's"). When you have the Diplomats playing the Presidents you don't expect to get players tossed out of the game.
The catching battle brought out the best in each candidate. Russell Tischler, a sophomore had a game with 6 RBI's and his first HR. "Blue" Wells, the colorful and popular freshman who comes to us from a delightful family of Cubs fans , has made his case to be to be considered a top choice with his hitting and defense. The good news is all three of them can play well and will be big contributors.
After 10 games and a double header, the lads decided to take in a D1 game and we all watched Ohio Sate play Indiana. Indiana features a catcher named Josh Phegley who you will hear about again-in the big leagues. What a cannon for an arm and he bats like Jeff Bagwell ( complete with
the squatting stance) . We all noticed him and discovered later he is the top rated catcher in the country. What a relief. After seeing him I didn't want to think there were hundreds out there that were that good. The Ohio Sate pitcher had pretty good zip (90 + and he struck out 14 ) but the game is same just faster at the next level.
On the final day the lads played Rhodes College from Memphis. Tennessee. Everyone wants to know --did they go by the "Rhodes Scholars"?? Nahh another wasted opportunity as the Rhodes "Lynx" played a long sloppy 17-13 game with our boys and eventually one exhausted team had to win.
After this trip and a .500 record , one ponders the expectations of the Diplomats chances this year but as Yogi warned "Predictions are tough, especially when they are about the future". Yogi also offered "The future ain't what it used to be" and that is the case for our Fighting Diplomats and for Shea as his knee injury is serious and has kept him out of play.
But the games play on and the conference play starts now. Let us root for the players to be at their best and have the baseball gods smile at our play.
-Your faithful Correspondent
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