Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Diamond Diary by Kevin Cooney
4/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 25, 2002
MOAN OVER MIAMI!
It's day's like this that are really hard to take.
It's not so much that we lost to Miami last night, as much as how we lost. There was a complete breakdown of all the things we utilized so well all season. I told our kids after the game, that we won 27 straight as a team and now we've lost two straight as a team. Finger pointing and blaming would serve no purpose. Each of us contributed in some way to our defeat. If we start at the top, it was my fault the steal of home worked for UM. I should have gone to the mound and been clearer about my instructions on what they might do, and how we should defend it. Beaten by a play that we practiced on Friday and take pride in executing. Pride cometh before a fall.
The nation thinks Miami is not any good this year. That makes this loss worse. I have news for you. Don't bury them. They may not be a typical Miami team, but they can play.
Our strategy looked great, as Chris Pillsbury completely dominated their hitters through six innings, and less than the sixty five pitches that had been set as his limit. We had a four run lead thanks to Jeff Fiorentino's three run shot that wrapped high around the foul pole. LJ added an opposite field home run, and some heads up baserunning by Somarriba gave us another.
But we had a chance to blow the game open a few times and didn't, as we stranded runners at first and third with no outs, and killed a rally with some poor baserunning.
Our bullpen has been so good, we felt that any lead going into the seventh would be our ticket. It was not to be last night as the seventh turned into a five run nightmare. The final three runs scored on an error, a passed ball, and a steal of home.
The moon wasn't full last night, but it was close!
Today is like a real bad hangover. KC
