If the ‘Pack baseball team’s opening series was any indication of how the season might play out, then the Wolfpack surely would contend for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference title this year.

 But this season has been anything but a dream come true for Loyola. 

After sweeping the season opening three-game series against Tougaloo by a total score of 42-7, the baseball team appeared poised to improve significantly from last season’s 18-33 record.

The team lost Brian Mason, A ‘08, and Josh Bourges, A ‘08, who hit for averages of .417 and .430 and combined for 111 RBIs; however, they welcomed 12 talented freshmen and David McChesney, marketing senior, who all were expected to contribute.

But in Cassard’s second year as head coach, Loyola has struggled to find ways to win baseball games, amassing a 9-27 overall record a little over halfway into the season.

Since that opening sweep, the Wolfpack suffered 19 consecutive losses including a win-less month in February.

The offensive production has experienced a decline, partly because of the loss of McChesney to injury Feb. 23 against Louisiana College, and defensively, the errors, mistakes and poor pitches continued to pile on top of each other.

Throughout the span, their opponents outscored the baseball team 209 to 77.

“It was everything. We couldn’t hit and make timely at bats so we left runners in scoring position and defensively we were making a lot of errors,” said Bobby Alvarez, mass communication senior.

“We had a bad month in February and I guess you can say we were consistently inconsistent throughout that stretch,” he said.

Fundamentally they weren’t sound; the baseball team wasn’t able to throw quality pitches, make routine plays or get the timely base hit with runners in scoring position that could have changed the outcome of the games.

“Coach Gee preached to us from day one that we were going to win with pitching and defense. If we made a bunch of errors and didn’t pitch well, then we weren’t going to be successful,” Alvarez said.

According to head baseball coach Gerald “Gee” Cassard and Alvarez, this season is not necessarily a rebuilding year, however, nearly half the team consists of freshmen this year.

With 14 freshmen and two first year players, it’s difficult to win ball games consistently when four or five true-freshmen players are assuming roles in the starting lineup, while adjusting to the college game.

Some of the lack of consistency can be attributed to the volume of freshmen earning substantial playing time.

“We have had as many as 12 true-freshmen play the majority of the innings,” Cassard said.

 “They are getting a good number of at-bats so we are behind in experience because we are in a league with guys that are older, more mature, and who have been around more years,” he said.

The coaching staff can teach each player the fundamentals and the mechanics of the game, however, one thing they can never teach is experience.

“Consistency, maturity, experience, they all go hand in hand,” Cassard said.

“(The freshmen) are trying to get more comfortable and in certain game situations they just react instead of thinking about making the play or where they are supposed to be or what pitch they are going to get,” he said.

Just when the baseball team turned down a dead-end road, the team found a sense of direction picking up wins against the University of Mobile, Blackburn College, Tougaloo College and Louisiana State University at Alexandria.

Cassard believes the baseball team is playing with more conviction since defeating Mobile.

“We are starting to play really well and with more urgency, expecting to win more baseball games, making plays and stepping up to help the next guy who may not have gotten that hit,” Cassard said.

“We have guys now who are making plays to win games and that is something we haven’t had because early on we were still trying to figure out what was going on,” he said.

According to Alvarez, the win against the University of Mobile was a turning point in the season.

“From there we defeated Blackburn and two against Tougaloo College,” Alvarez said.

“We aren’t making as many mistakes as we did in February and we are doing a lot better fundamentally.

Coach (Brett) Simpson told us that there is a difference between a good player and playing good so right now we are trying to play good baseball,” he said.

The freshmen are experiencing significant amounts of playing time; with three more years ahead of them, the future looks promising.

Craig Malveaux can be reached at [email protected].