Scots' exit not on anyone's radar
First in and (stunningly) first out.Who would have expected that would be the fate suffered by The College of Wooster baseball team in the NCAA Mideast Regional in Marietta last week?
All the numbers put up by the Scots, ranked No. 4 in the nation, en route to their 13th North Coast Athletic Conference title this year would be undone by a number outside their control – 18. That was the number of days between games for the Scots.
Wooster was sent home when dropped its opener to Penn State-Behrend 10-8 in 10 innings last Wednesday and was blanked by Marietta 6-0 the next day. Heidelberg earned a berth in the Division III World Series, defeating Marietta 6-2 in the title game. If there is any consolation for Pettorini and Pettorini alone, there will be a piece of the Scots in Appleton, Wis., as former Scot catcher and Smithville native Matt Palm is coaching the Berg and has led them to their first 40-win season and first appearance among the nation's final eight teams.
However, the 29th-year Scot coach made clear his feelings on his team's early exit, especially after finishing runner-up in the nation a year ago: "I've been better."
Time heals virtually everything, and one thing that will help is that the NCAC tournament will be a week later next year. That will cut the wait time by at least a third – provided the Scots win their 14th crown with a team that will be absent 10 seniors. Pettorini knows, even if his team doesn't, that postseason success isn't guaranteed, even with a script Wooster emblazed across the team's uniform top.
0x51cc6350"It's unfortunate and, again, I don't want to make any excuses, but we sure didn't play the way we're capable or play the way we played in the conference tournament," said Pettorini, whose team finished 34-9. "It's not like all of a sudden we became bad players. Truthfully, we played better the second day than the first, but it sure would have been nice to have played a little bit better.
0x46fb29400x5168e2a0"It's definitely tough … disappointing. We prepared for a lot longer run than we had. The kids were all thinking that, but that's the kids, too. We went to the World Series last year, so in their minds we're going to go one game further. This just shows how hard it is and what an accomplishment it is.
0x516420b00x475dc100"That's human nature, especially when you are that young," he added. "We lost nine games and they believe we should have won all nine. They're convinced we're better than every team, but some days you don't get it done and some days the other guys are pretty good."
0x375f5220A return to the top will be complicated by the graduation of 10 players who factored into every area of this Scots' team, whether it be pitching, hitting, defense or those ever subjective areas of leadership and other intangibles.
"It will be a challenge," said Pettorini. "I'm not over this year yet, but at the same time, I can't wait to get started preparing for next year. We have a huge freshman class – 21 or 22 kids have gotten in already. That's what college baseball is all about, having good guys step in – I just hope we have some good ones."
Wooster's success the past two seasons has, in some ways, worked against it.
0x3d1e2410"A lot of kids we talked to liked our program, but they also looked and said, Wow, all those guys in front of me are sophomores and juniors. I might sit the bench for awhile. This year we played three seniors in the outfield, so if you play outfield, this might seem to be a good place to go – I've got an opportunity to play." They may. To play at the level the Scots envision, though, is the question that must be answered.