After sweeping a Friday afternoon doubleheader against Brevard Community College, the Santa Fe Community College Saints did not receive a pat on the back and scurry off to begin their weekends.
They ran. Then, they ran some more.
Then their coach talked, as the visiting team's bus drove out of sight.
He talked a little bit more. And they listened.
But SFCC baseball coach Johnny Wiggs hopes they really listened, that they really heard what he had to say and took it to heart.
"I've preached this to them since August," Wiggs said. "We need to have better focus and attention to detail and concentration for complete games. Our guys can focus for three, four innings, and all of a sudden we lose half the team. We've got to be able to stay focused, and what I told them is to appreciate outs, because every out is precious, whether you get one or you're giving one up offensively.
"That's the main thing. This is a really talented group, but we're going to have to do the little things right and have better focus and concentration late in the games if we're going to be a championship-caliber club."
The Saints (4-1) seemed to be focused going into the later innings of Friday's second game. Despite early offensive woes, they won the first game 3-1 on the strength of a solid starting effort from sophomore left-hander Ryan Wolfe (1-0) and a fifth-inning two-run home run from freshman third baseman Trace Venegas.
Then, they carried a 10-6 lead into the seventh, and final, inning of the second game (in a doubleheader, the games are shortened to seven innings each instead of nine).
That was where the concentration slipped.
The Titans' Patrick Reibsame led off the top of the inning with a single before right-hander Jonathan Engstrom recorded two quick outs. But after getting two strikes on the next two batters, Cori Warren plunked both of them, loading the bases. Engstrom was lifted in favor of lefty reliever Warren, who gave up a bases-clearing single to Tony Davis, which brought Brevard within one run.
The Saints had a chance to end the game on that play, as Lopez went too far around first base and was caught in a rundown. Miscommunication between the infielders allowed Lopez to safely get back to first. Then Lopez stole second base, and the Titans' Matt Bona reached on an error by Venegas that allowed the ball to roll into the outfield. Lopez came churning around third on the play, but the throw from right fielder Nathan Hartman nailed the runner at home plate to save the game from going into extra innings.
"We got ourselves into a dogfight late because we gave them too many freebies," Wiggs said. "Hopefully we've learned our lesson. We're 4-1 and that's good on the outside looking in, but I want to play better because I know getting ugly wins is not the way to do it. Yeah, we won two games today, but we will not survive the season or win the conference if we play the way we played today."
Wiggs hopes that his talk with his team after Friday's games will serve as a wake-up call to eliminate the mistakes that are being made because of their lack of focus.
And the running?
"It's a part of the wake-up call," Wiggs said. "Sometimes young people - and I was the same way when I played - sometimes you don't hear the coach as much as you might need to. So if I just sit there and tell them or yell at them, sometimes that little bit of running, they can hear that better than they can hear my voice.
"That's not my favorite thing to do - physically it does no good, but hopefully it's a reminder that we've got to stay focused and concentrate for seven innings or nine innings, whatever the game is."
Of course, there were positives for SFCC on Friday as well. Venegas continued his hot hitting, going 4 for 6 with five RBI on the day, including a bases-clearing triple in his first at-bat of the second game.
"I've just settled in," Venegas said. "I felt better at the plate today and saw the ball really well."
The player they call "Sweet Cheeks," though he declined to reveal why, is leading the team in batting average (.474) and RBI (10). He is also learning a new position, manning the hot corner now after coming to the team as a shortstop. Wiggs said he is impressed with what he's seen from Venegas thus far.
"He's a very strong hitter, and he can hit it out of the ballpark at any time," Wiggs said. "He's a young guy learning, too. He's got a lot running through his head at the same time, but he's going to, hopefully, be one of our best hitters this season."
The Saints split a doubleheader against South Georgia College on Saturday, losing the first game 3-2 but winning the second 8-3.
