Getting back to the basics on the diamond

Hey Rebel Fans,

We are coming off a pretty tough weekend. Obviously you never want to go 0-and-3 against any team, but that was the case against Fresno State last week. But that’s the game and sometimes those baseball gods aren’t on your side.

As a team I didn’t think we played as poorly as our record reflected. It stinks losing all three games and nobody wants to do that, but I thought we came out and played well overall. It was tough to come back from a seven-run deficit on Friday night, but we were able to battle to get within reach. They had three home runs in that game on three pitches that missed their spot. If you eliminate those three pitches, it’s a completely different game. As it turned out, the game didn’t go in our favor, but hopefully there will be a lot more times this season where the games do go in our favor.

On Saturday, D.J. Myers was awesome. He has been stellar in all three games he has pitched this year. He gave up one hit, threw one bad pitch and it just happened to be to the Bulldogs’ best hitter, who turned on it and hit it over the wall. That kind of stuff happens. Clayton Kershaw has given up his fare share of home runs, too. Unfortunately that one pitch cost us the game. Our offense has to show up more than we did last weekend and I think we will this weekend against Reno.

Last week I think we got a little negative toward the end of the Fresno series, and it was tough not to. We kind of let it get the best of us. Some of the seniors and leaders on the team met with the coaches and we just sat down and talked. We said, “All of us have gotten kind of negative and down and we just need to get back to that positive mentality.” We are out here to have fun and play a game. This week in practice has really reflected that.

I’m not happy that we lost, but we are over the losses. What I’m pleased with is how we have practiced this week. Everyone is flying around and getting back to that gap-to-gap approach. Nobody is swinging out of their shoes and as a team we are settling back down and getting back to the basics. I think we have done really well with that.

This weekend is big for us, as we host Nevada, Reno. Even if we weren’t playing our in-state rival it would be big. It is a conference series after losing our first three Mountain West games. They aren’t the end-all, be-all games, but they are pretty dang important. We need to come out and play better than we played at Fresno.

I think we will be ready to go on Friday night and Myers is going have another opportunity. He has shown up to every game he’s pitched mentally prepared to shove and he has done so. He takes care of himself, gets in, gets his work done and gets out. I think he is ready to go and handle everything that goes with pitching on Friday night. The kid throws strikes like nobody’s business.

We are really looking forward to seeing you at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. Our fans are awesome and there are teams that don’t want to play us at home because we play so well here. A lot of that is because that our fans show up and support us. You guys have been great, so thanks for that.

On Friday they are having a travel blanket giveaway for the first 250 fans, so show up and get your blanket! Also don’t forget to wear Rebel Red on Saturday and Sunday to get half-off your tickets. A lot of the fun we have out there on the field is because of you in the stands. The more people out there, the better fore everyone – except the opponent!

Thanks again for everything and we will see you at the yard!

-Erik VanMeetren