The University of Tampa baseball team has suffered more losses at this point in the season than they have in the last three years. Head coach Joe Urso was not discouraged by the statistic.
“As far as our win-loss record, we’re way ahead of where I thought we’d be,” Urso said. “Over the past two years, you know, when people look back on many years from now to win 50 plus games, it’s unheard of.”
The Spartans currently stand at a 26-5-1, winning only six of nine games in the Sunshine State Conference. Last season, the team dropped four games in conference play total.
The tougher in-state matchups have battered Tampa and account for three of the team’s five losses, but Urso doesn’t feel the challenging games will carry a large effect into the post season.
“A lot of the [SSC] teams that were at the bottom have stepped up and are a lot better now,” said Urso. “Each weekend it’s even tougher and tougher. I can see this year the winning team in our conference having seven [or] eight losses.”
Nova Southeastern delivered the most recent conference loss last weekend, snapping an 11 game win streak Tampa had built. NSU cruised past the Spartans in the opening game of the three game series, but Tampa battled back to reclaim the final two.
“We’ve been through a few different types of win streaks. I don’t think it was difficult at all to bounce back,” Urso said. “I think we made a little bit of a change defensively. We moved Nolan Brannon from third base to catcher [against NSU]. The biggest adjustment was the pitching staff. They started executing their pitches.”
A three game series against Lynn University (24-10, 8-2 SSC) this weekend will be critical. The Fighting Knights’ high-powered offense has rocketed them to the top the conference standing and into an 18th ranked position nationally.
“When you look at the possibility of winning the conference, which is our first goal, we have to go in there and at least get two out of three to stay in the mix to have a chance to bring that title home,” said Urso. “When you win the conference it gives you a chance to host the regional tournament which is how you get to the College World Series so it’s the biggest event of the year for us.”
While the statistics are not as impressive as last year, the season has not been one of disgrace. Last week’s win over Florida International University tallied a third win over a Division I opponent in two years.
Also, while the offense has been inconsistent at best, the bullpen has been a solid power in nearly every game.
“We’ve been compared to some of the better schools with the success we’ve had. For them to go out on the Division I level and compete individually was nice. And to leave with a win makes you really feel good about where you’re at as a player and as a team,” said Urso about the win before commenting on the last month and a half of the season. “Our hitting has been very inconsistent. We need to have a lot more clutch hitting with two outs and runners in scoring position things like that that we’re not getting enough of right now to be a great team. When we start doing that, I think we’ll be fine because our pitching has been excellent.”