The Pointer baseball team, which started the season with a 4-0 mark, has fallen on hard times following that perfect start.
Since then, the team has won just once in a 13-game streak, going 1-11-1 since Feb. 25. Head coach Jeff Solis and his staff are searching for ways to return the team to its winning ways. Ironically, the team is just 2-7 in home games at David Wells Field.
The current woes are new to Solis whose teams have posted a cumulative record of 50-21-2 over his first three years. A look at team statistics tells much of the story.
Hitting: Junior outfielder Jordan Otjen leads the Pointers with a .453 batting average while the team’s average is .231. Removing Otjen’s numbers lowers the team average 59 points to a paltry .172. The team has scored in just 20 of 91 innings during the recent streak, totaling 30 runs and leaving 110 runners on base.
“We’re having trouble at the plate, not executing,” Solis said. “When the team needs a run or two, hitters have not been successful in scoring runners. With a runner at third and one out, we should score and get the job done. The run can score by putting the ball in play or a sacrifice fly. A run here, a run there. In the bottom of the seventh (final) inning if we lose 4-2 or 5-4 those (missing) runs really kill you.”
Fielding: The team has officially committed 55 errors over the season for a .934 overall average. But what is not counted are the many overthrows, bounced throws, dropped balls, and mental errors that have cost the team runs and even games.
“In the past, we’ve told the players ‘We have to do the little things well,'” Solis said. ‘”Field the ball, throw it to the first baseman and hit him in the chest.’ It’s that simple and we’re clearly not doing that now.”
Pitching support: The team’s 11 pitchers have walked 58 batters and hit 19 others in 108.1 innings to put 77 runners on base. Of the 80 runs surrendered by the Pointers, only 60 were earned (staff ERA is 3.88) and many runners have advanced or scored as a result of fielding and throwing mistakes.
“Our pitching has been really good,” Solis observed. “The issue is not giving them run support or playing great defense.”
In Western League play, teams play a three-game series against each other and the Pointers have already played both St. Augustine (No. 4 in CIF) and Cathedral Catholic (No. 15 in CIF). The Saints defeated the Pointers twice with one extra-inning game called a tie after 10 innings for darkness. The Pointers’ lone victory since Feb. 25 was a 4-1 home victory over the Dons on April 6.
“The Western League is one of the better leagues in Southern California,” Solis said of his team, which is ranked 29th of 104 teams in the San Diego CIF section and 19th of 20 in Div. I.
The road ahead will be rocky even if the Pointers are able to raise their level of play. Stamina will be a key factor for the rest of the season with 10 games coming over a three-week period that began on April 19.
This week the team traveled to Orange County for the Boras Tournament, which had them playing Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, a severe test of both team depth and pitching.
The Pointers then close the regular season with two Monday-Wednesday-Friday series. First is Scripps Ranch (currently 8-10) the week of April 25 followed by Madison (currently 12-6) the week of May 9.
“With the exception of Eastlake (an 11-0 loss) we’ve been in every game,” Solis noted. “Things haven’t gone our way but we need to keep on fighting. We want to be playing our best baseball when the (CIF) playoffs start and that’s what we’re focused on now.”
Play-in games are on May 16 with the double-elimination CIF tournament running May 17-28.
