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Nevada says goodbye to '08 baseball season
By Chris Patch
Herald-Tribune
Nevada baseball's years in the Southwest Conference are over.
The Tigers' 6-2 loss to Carthage, Monday night in the first round of the District 12 Tournament closed the door on an era of Southwest play and an 8-10, 3-6 2008 season, as the conference will dissolve next year. Looking back at a season that didn't end the way the team would have liked, head coach Jared Brown still found many positives to take away.
"I thought it was a great year," Brown said. "What a great bunch of guys. They just played as a team, worked hard all year long. They wanted their record to be better but we learned a lot during the season, what type of players and sportsmen we are."
The way the season ended would likely frustrate any baseball team. Nevada had back-to-back games against Carthage because it played Carthage in the first-round of District.
The Tigers lost the first game to Carthage 7-5 without its seniors who provided much of the hitting and had reason to feel good about their chances in district with a full contingency of players. Their hopes didn't come to fruition as the Tigers fell 6-2 to Carthage and the curtains fell on 2008.
"We were disappointed with the way we went out, sophomore right-fielder Tyler Dobson said. "We wanted to win the games we thought we could and didn't do that in the end."
The goal of winning district was a recurring theme before the season kicked off. 2008 was a season where Nevada thought it had the tools to beat any team, but couldn't put the pieces together in the right order to win down the stretch.
"You know, I felt like we competed every day," Brown said. "Sometimes it just doesn't work for you. One day it might be hitting, the next day it might be errors. You have to put the whole package together.
"Everybody starts district with a clean slate. You never know who could win it, It takes a little luck."
When Nevada won it was usually a result of outscoring their opponents. The Tigers won more than a few double-digit scoring games. Low scoring games spelled doom for Nevada more often than not.
Brown said he put an emphasis on hitting this year because it was an obvious weakness in 2007. It paid off, with many players upping their average and Nevada developing a reputation as a high-scoring team.
Junior second-baseman Ben Fisher was one exception to that rule. He felt his fielding was a step ahead of his hitting all season until late, when he didn't get much help from his friends.
"I think I had one of my better defensive years," he said. "Offensively, I struggled. My hits were scattered throughout games. I went 4-for-5 in the last two but all around I struggled offensively throughout the year."
A lack of consistency, combined with some bad luck haunted Nevada throughout the season. The Tigers left the Bill O'Dell Tournament in early April on a three-game winning streak only to have its next three games rained out. Nevada was never able to get back on a winning streak again.
"I felt like we had it clicking in the Bill O'Dell tournament," Brown said. "Other teams said 'we can't beat these guys, they're killing the ball right now'. That week of rain outs hurt us."
The postseason silver lining was the selection of six Tigers to all-conference teams. Four of Nevada's five seniors received conference recognition, with the sobering caveat that next year they will be gone. That doesn't mean Brown isn't expecting good things in 2009.
"Our seniors were leaders," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do in the future. The underclassmen, I'm looking forward to them next year."
Records and statistics aside, Brown said win or lose he thinks his team's character was on display every game of the season, something no reasonable coach couldn't accept as success.
"We came out and competed, Brown said. "We played hard all the time."