While the Apalachee High School baseball team had been struggling with close games recently, Monday’s game at Clarke Central probably was tougher to handle than most for coach Mike Cavey.
The Diamond Wildcats were blanked 15-0 in four innings and were unable to register a hit. The team has not scored a run in the last 15 innings.
"We can’t hit, we aren’t playing solid defense, and our pitching got lit up like the 4th of July yesterday,” Cavey said. “We are just not playing well. It was a miserable game. Monday was a debacle.”
Prior to Monday, the tough, close losses continued to pile up for AHS.
The Wildcats dropped a 4-3 decision to Rockdale County at home last week in yet another contest AHS held a lead in. For Cavey, it is a troubling trend that his team can’t seem to shake.
“I really am at a loss for words with this team,” the Wildcat coach said. “ We started out great the first two weeks of the season, and now we are not a very good team. Everyone seems to have slumped at the same time.”
Ironically, the one strength for the team has been the area where Cavey had question marks going into the 2010 season.
“Our defense is up and down, and our baserunning has been erratic,” he said. “The only good consistent thing has been our pitching. That’s the one area I was worried most about heading into this season, but they have really stepped it up and have kept us in ball games. However, our hitting has been atrocious. I don’t have our team average with runners in scoring position, but it can’t be more than .150.”
After the first two weeks of the season, things have seemed to slide downhill overall for the team and Cavey is at a loss at to why.
“We can’t seem to make a play defensively when it’s a crucial situation or seem to get a crucial hit when needed,” he said. “The first two weeks we were able to do that, but ever since the Winder-Barrow game (which AHS won 8-6), we have played very flat and our guys have played with little to no emotion. I have never been around a group that has done this. I love my guys to death, but it is very disappointing to watch such great talent play with such little heart.”
After the first two weeks of the season, things have seemed to slide downhill overall for the team and Cavey is at a loss at to why.
“We can’t seem to make a play defensively when it’s a crucial situation or seem to get a crucial hit when needed,” he said. “The first two weeks we were able to do that, but ever since the Winder-Barrow game (which AHS won 8-6), we have played very flat and our guys have played with little to no emotion. I have never been around a group that has done this. I love my guys to death, but it is very disappointing to watch such great talent play with such little heart.”
