In its first two-regular season weekends, the Arizona baseball team clearly demonstrated a lack of consistency.
Despite winning both of their first two series, the Wildcats (5-2) were unable to sweep both North Dakota State and Auburn for the same reason — their bats have disappeared on Saturday evenings.
Last week against Auburn, the Wildcats allowed eight runs and the offense couldn’t keep up, tacking on three meaningless runs at the end of the game.
“I wasn’t real happy with the way we approached the bats on Saturday night,” head coach Andy Lopez said. “I was not happy at all with that, we had a chance to get the sweep and I thought our approaches were really poor.”
The previous Saturday was even worse, as the Wildcats were only able to put one run on the board despite winning on Friday and Sunday.
While hitting is one of the most fickle parts of baseball, Lopez knows that his guys, especially the older players, should be able to keep up on offense.
“We just need to show more consistency, and I think we’re good enough to do that,” Lopez said. “I told them yesterday, if I didn’t think they were good enough to do it, I wouldn’t be on them about it.”
Lopez also said he voiced his frustrations during Monday’s practice, coming off of the tough Saturday evening contest.
“It was a three (cough drop) day yesterday,” Lopez joked about yelling at his team. “One is normal, because I’m usually enthusiastic during practice, two is uh-oh, but three is definitely bothering.”
Junior right fielder Robert Refsnyder leads the Wildcat starters with a .448 batting average through seven games, but knows that he and his team need to keep up their mentality to stay on top in each series.
“It’s mostly just approach,” Refsnyder said. “You don’t just lose hitting in a game from a mechanical standpoint, it’s a more mental approach.”
Refsnyder said start-of-the-season fatigue could be a contributing factor, but it’s certainly not an excuse.
He knows how easy a decent weekend at the plate can turn into a rough one.
“You’re sharp the first two games,” he said. “You’re trying to get things through the middle and put things on the ground. Once the day goes on, you can just start to get worse at-bats.”
Like Lopez, Refsnyder knows he and his teammates have the potential — they just need to execute.
“We need the lineup to rake,” Refsnyder said. “Against Auburn you could see that (for two games). Hitters one to nine, when we are clicking, I don’t think there’s a better team in our conference.”
Left fielder Johnny Field is second on the ball club hitting .435, and knows how to keep up his mentality.
“Hitting is such a mental aspect,” he said. “You have to approach every at bat like it’s on the line, and just be more consistent throughout the entire series.”
