Friday, May. 09, 2008

Mustangs Eliminated

GHS Baseball

By Kevin Lonnquist

Staff Writer

It’s never easy when a baseball coach has to have an end-of-the-year talk with his team. But those talks eventually come.

Grapevine coach Tim McCune had to have his talk with his ballclub last weekend with his ballclub. In a very tight three-game bi-district series with Flower Mound, the Jaguars scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning to win the deciding third game, 8-2. Flower Mound won the first game last Friday, 2-1. Grapevine won the second game, 5-1.

"It was a great three-game series, but we had a great season," McCune said. "We did a lot of good things. But they just made a couple of plays that decided the series."

For the second consecutive season, Flower Mound ended Grapevine’s season in the first weekend of the postseason. The Mustangs finished 18-13.

Key losses: RHP Ethan Davis, OF Bryan Houk, INF Adam Jahner, OF Bradley Padia.

Key returners: C Scott Slusher, INF Drew Boehmer, INF Connor Brockenbush, OF Matt Caffey, OF Carson Wine, LHP Mason Melotakis, RHP Cameron White

Highs: The Mustangs opened hot at 9-3 on the strength of an eight-game winning streak and winning the Midland tournament. Facing elimination from the District 5-5A playoff race, the Mustangs ran off a four-game winning streak to advance to the postseason and finish third in the district race. Grapevine also swept GCISD rival Colleyville Heritage.

Lows: A 0-3 start to the district season placed the Mustangs in a difficult position to make it into the playoffs. They were at 4-6 in district play before the impressive final push.

What went well: The pitching staff remained consistent throughout the season. It furnished a 2.50 earned-run average and had nearly a three strikeouts to walks ratio. What caused struggles: Power was not a big part of the Mustangs offense. The lineup also was a bit of a problem during the early part of the district season. The team hit just .278.

Coach Tim McCune said it: "To win eight of our last 11 games to get into the playoffs showed what this team was capable of doing. I felt pretty pleased with what we were able to do."