This past weekend the UMB baseball Beacons set out on the road to Maine in hopes of coming back with a four victories and a solidified spot in the little east playoff picture, instead, the Beacons returned 1-3 and with many doubts.
The baseball team got good pitching, solid defense, and while they did not light up the scoreboards they hit the ball well and still came home with just one victory. This might lead one to question what is missing from this current Beacons squad. This team has always fought hard when trailing and has battled its way in to a few come from behind victories so it can not be said that the team lacks heart.
It is appropriate, however, to question the team’s desire to win games and their desire to put teams away when they have them down. The games played this past weekend were a perfect example of this lack of killer instinct. Twice this weekend the Beacons had the lead for much of the game and allowed their opponent to climb back in to the game and in the instance of the last game, a non-conference game against St. Joseph’s of Maine, the Beacons fell 4-3.
The same lack of focus contributed to the drama in the first game of the weekend against conference foe Plymouth State. The Beacons led for much of the game behind another solid 9 inning pitching performance from Mike DiLalla. Those 9 innings were not enough to secure DiLalla’s second conference win because the Panthers put together one big inning and sent the game in to extra frames.
The Beacons did manage to pull out a victory for Dave O’Sullivan for his first conference win of the season but perhaps the need for him to pitch in this game took something out of him for his start the next day against Southern Maine. In game two against the Panthers the Beacons were not as solid and although Marco Acosta continues to pitch well he was unable to secure his first conference win of the season and the Beacons fell 8-2.
Day two of the road trip had the Beacons playing one of the top teams in the conference, the University of Southern Maine Huskies. Early on the Beacons looked strong and had a couple of chances to take the lead but instead ended up playing from behind and although starter Dave O’Sullivan pitched quite well it is hard to ignore the fact that he had pitched the day before and perhaps that took something out of him.
The Beacons now fall to 2-5 in the Little East Conference and are hoping that the warmer weather will bring with it more intensity and more victories.