Gone are Lee Cruz, Orlando Rosales and Billy Wimberly and nearly half of Tampa’s home run production from the previous season. Gone are three starters who accounted for 40 percent of the team’s RBIs.
The loss of Cruz, Rosales and Wimberly was supposed to change the way Tampa played the game this year. The Spartans were supposed to be a team based on speed, bunting, moving runners and manufacturing runs.
Apparently UT did not get the memo.
Tampa did not manufacture runs in this weekend’s series against Georgia College and State University but rather out slugged the Bobcats, taking two out of three games from the second ranked team in the nation.
Who could have seen it coming? In a match-up between the top two ranked teams in Division II baseball, it was supposed to be a low scoring, clean series, as the hitters were getting used to live game pitching for the first time this season.
Instead Tampa and GCSU combined for 59 runs, 14 errors and 20 different pitchers in three games.
Who would have expected a Tampa team, who has their shortstop batting in the cleanup position, to have more home runs than stolen bases in their first four games of the season?
And while the baseball season spans over four months, this weekend’s series answered many questions. The Spartans proved they can hit with the top teams in the nation by outscoring the Bobcats 35-24.
UT showed they can come back from large deficits, erasing a seven run GCSU lead in the first game of the series before going on to win 16-8. In the final game of the series, UT battled back from eight runs down before falling 12-10.
Third baseman Craig Corrado proved he can hit for power after hitting just four home runs in 54 games last season. Corrado hit three home runs in the series, including a clutch two-run home run in the first game of the series.
Nolan Brannon (.444, 2 RBI) showed promise as a solid backup for catcher Chris Rosenbaum and newcomers Junior Mejia and Paul Cruz played well in their first series with the team.
UT also proved just how important pitching and defense are.
Despite their offensive prowess, Tampa never seemed like a dominant team, mainly because of their defensive struggles and their inability to put away Bobcat hitters. There was never a point where GCSU was out of any game in the series. Even when the Spartans were ahead eight runs in the first game, there was always the feeling that GCSU could explode at any time.
The Spartans had enough success at the plate to win two out of three games, but they looked as bad defensively as they looked great offensively.
One of the only bright spots on the mound was Scott Chapman.
After giving up a home run on the first pitch he threw, Chapman bounced back to throw five and 1/3 innings of four-hit ball, giving up two earned runs in long relief. Johnny Williams was successful in his start, but he only threw four innings in Saturday night’s game.
Anthony Perez struggled in his first appearance with the team, Justin Valdes gave up three runs in 2/3 of an inning and Scott Leffler couldn’t find the strike zone in his relief appearance.
Hitting may win games early in the season, but the Spartans have to improve defensively. This weekend’s series against 28th-ranked Catawba will be a good indicator as to how UT responds to the five-error-game they had in the series finale against GCSU.