In my talks with LSU-Shreveport baseball head coach Brad Neffendorf, he has made it clear that he does not like to lose midweek games. Of course, he does not like to lose any game, but losing on a Tuesday stings just a bit more.
On April 7, the Pilots lost 7-1 to the Texas Wesleyan Rams. The same Texas Wesleyan the Pilots defeated 20-2 on the road just a few weeks ago. One thing the Rams did well in this game was two out offense. Neffendorf went into how LSUS was able to retire the leadoff man in most innings, but the Rams kept punching and drained the momentum on the LSUS side. “There wasn’t a lot of fight. Wasn’t a lot of grit”.
The Pilots did have opportunities to score, including two bases loaded opportunities late in the game. When looking at the box score, you will see Shreveport did not muster much with these opportunities. There were two instances where LSUS had a chance to score while the Rams were up 4-0 and ended up grounding into an inning-ending double play. There are not many things in baseball more draining than rally-killing double plays as an offense.
Neffendorf never explicitly said it, but it was implied that LSUS was going through the motions. Texas Wesleyan used three pitchers in this latter matchup that they used the first time the two played. These three pitchers were all shelled by the Pilots offense. All three pitchers combined for six scoreless innings against Shreveport. To put it simply, Neffendorf says the biggest difference was that the Rams executed better. There were no hard throwers with great stuff, just the right pitches made at the right time. Now, Texas Wesleyan is ranked in the NAIA polls. They have a very similar record to the Pilots and have lost one game on the road all season. This was a big test that the Pilots failed, and this magnifies the importance of taking down a high-powered offense in Texas A&M-Texarkana this weekend.
“We’re supposed to be built off toughness and grit and style of play and tempo and in your face and never give in, you know, continue to throw punches”. Even last season, LSUS had games where they had to fight late and make sure they got the last “punch” in. Neffendorf thinks the Pilots have done good over the years of making sure they landed that last punch and keeping the opponent from getting back into games at the end. “Lately, five out of the last nine games, we’ve let a team throw the last punch, and that’s just what we have to work through”.
The last thing Neffendorf talked about regarding this game was his ability to accept losses in this game, but not the kind where it seems the team was ready to get the game over with the moment things started going awry. Neffendorf related it to real life because of course you will face adversity in real life. Overall, the response to adversity, or lack thereof, is what stings the most.
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