There are no easy games in the Mountain West

Hey Rebel Fans,

Last weekend was tough for us. We hate losing in general and dropping a series to our rivals really stinks. Not a good feeling for sure, but we get another shot at them later this year and we will be ready for them.

UNR is a good team, especially offensively, but they are beatable. A couple pitches here and there were the difference in the series. And if we swing the bats a little bit better we have a chance to win that series. All three games were dogfights, and we just came up on the wrong side of two of them. To compete the way we did, when our offense is so down at the moment, was nice to see.

If you look at our stats, obviously we are underachieving offensively right now as a team. That will pick up this season. Everyone goes through slumps, it just seems like a bunch of us are in a slump at the same time. With that thought, maybe we will all get hot at the same time.

Our lone victory over the weekend was 1-0 over UNR and our starting pitcher Kenny Oakley was stellar. He had a plan of how he wanted to pitch those guys coming into the game and he just stuck with it all 130 pitches.

They didn’t make any adjustments on Oakley and he got just better as the game went on. The hardest pitch he threw in the game was in the ninth inning. He was phenomenal and located his spots perfectly. All I can say is that he pitched his butt off.

This weekend we are back in action at Air Force, and man is that a tough place to play. We are going to have to play really well. As a team we are 3-6 in Colorado Springs, Colo. in my college career. It is not easy.

We respect their team for everything they do away from the field. They are the toughest dang kids in the country in my opinion. Everyone says baseball is a game, but for us, as student-athletes, we take it pretty seriously. For the Air Force cadets, baseball is their time off. That’s what they do to relax and that is the easiest part of their day.

They play the game like we all did when we were young. That makes them a tough team to play. They are out there to enjoy themselves and that rubs off. Both teams and coaching staffs get along really well too. We have taken the tour of their campus a few times and a couple years ago we took an MMA class with them and that was cool.

Earlier this week I found out I was named to the Johnny Bench Award Watch List. The award recognizes the top catcher in Division I baseball and it is a huge honor just to be on that list. The last few years my defensive numbers haven’t been up to par, but last offseason I worked my tail off trying to get better defensively. I knew that is what I needed to do to get to the next level. Hopefully my offense starts picking up soon too.

We look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday when we play Grand Canyon at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. I can’t think of a better way to spend St. Patrick’s Day! I hear there might even be some specials at the concession stand.

Thanks for reading. We will chat soon!

-Erik VanMeetren