By Igor Mello
Sports Editor
It was pure excitement.
The Broward baseball team jumped for joy in the locker room when they first learned that they were ranked first in the state, edging out rival Miami-Dade College.
“We’re finally being viewed as one of the top programs in Florida” said sophomore pitcher Joe Mata.
They held their spot strong in the poll for three weeks before MDC recently flip-flopped their spots, leaving Broward at a close second.
But the players aren’t concerned about that, they believe that the only standings that matter are the conference standings.
The Seahawks (12-4, 26-10 overall) are now tied with MDC (12-4, 32-7 overall) for first with four games to go. Broward is ranked thirteenth in the nation, while Dade, ranked fifth, has a little more respect from the national polls.
Both teams have identical records, identical amount of games left and against identical opponents.
Something’s got to give.
If they come out ahead of MDC at the end of the season, they will be awarded a first round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament which starts from April 27 and ends on April 30.
“It’s played out as I exactly expected,” said Seahawks skipper Bob Deutschman, who feels that his team is right there in the thick of things at the final stretch of the season.
Out of those four games remaining, the Seahawks will slug it out with MDC two more times, one at home then one away.
A first round bye could be critical in one of the toughest conferences in the nation. The Southern Conference is one of the few conferences in the state, let alone the country that has two out of the three nationally-ranked squads in the state.
Although they kept the last two games against MDC close, the boys in blue have only managed to outlast Dade once out of their six meetings.
“Up until this last series it was a bit mental with us,” said Deutschman.
He does admit that being swept by MDC in their first couple of series may have been mental, but says that his team has now overcome that.
“They’re good, but we’ve got Dade twice into our style of play which is low scoring,” said Deutschman, who later on uses a basketball term. “We cannot run with them, we have to play a very slow, methodical type of game which is what we did [recently].”
If they manage to keep their games close, they should be in good shape. The Seahawks are 7-2 in games decided by one run.
Despite gaining interest from the national polls, some players still feel like there are still doubters out there.
“We work hard because we don’t have the big name players like everyone else has and we come to the field everyday to get better because we know we have something to prove to everybody else because people still doubt us,” said Third Baseman Patrick Donahue, who is batting .344 with 16 Runs batted in.
Even though both teams are in a tight-lock race, the Seahawks shouldn’t overlook Brevard CC., who they face in their last two games of the season.
Brevard (5-10, 10-22 overall), is one of the weaker teams in the Southern Conference. Brevard gave the Seahawks a hard time last time they met, scoring 17 runs on Broward as they split both meetings.
“We just got to keep playing our style of game. Keep the game close and let someone get that big hit,” said Mata, who is 2-0 with a 1.87 ERA. “That seems to be the winning formula for us this season.”
Sports Editor
It was pure excitement.
The Broward baseball team jumped for joy in the locker room when they first learned that they were ranked first in the state, edging out rival Miami-Dade College.
“We’re finally being viewed as one of the top programs in Florida” said sophomore pitcher Joe Mata.
They held their spot strong in the poll for three weeks before MDC recently flip-flopped their spots, leaving Broward at a close second.
But the players aren’t concerned about that, they believe that the only standings that matter are the conference standings.
The Seahawks (12-4, 26-10 overall) are now tied with MDC (12-4, 32-7 overall) for first with four games to go. Broward is ranked thirteenth in the nation, while Dade, ranked fifth, has a little more respect from the national polls.
Both teams have identical records, identical amount of games left and against identical opponents.
Something’s got to give.
If they come out ahead of MDC at the end of the season, they will be awarded a first round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament which starts from April 27 and ends on April 30.
“It’s played out as I exactly expected,” said Seahawks skipper Bob Deutschman, who feels that his team is right there in the thick of things at the final stretch of the season.
Out of those four games remaining, the Seahawks will slug it out with MDC two more times, one at home then one away.
A first round bye could be critical in one of the toughest conferences in the nation. The Southern Conference is one of the few conferences in the state, let alone the country that has two out of the three nationally-ranked squads in the state.
Although they kept the last two games against MDC close, the boys in blue have only managed to outlast Dade once out of their six meetings.
“Up until this last series it was a bit mental with us,” said Deutschman.
He does admit that being swept by MDC in their first couple of series may have been mental, but says that his team has now overcome that.
“They’re good, but we’ve got Dade twice into our style of play which is low scoring,” said Deutschman, who later on uses a basketball term. “We cannot run with them, we have to play a very slow, methodical type of game which is what we did [recently].”
If they manage to keep their games close, they should be in good shape. The Seahawks are 7-2 in games decided by one run.
Despite gaining interest from the national polls, some players still feel like there are still doubters out there.
“We work hard because we don’t have the big name players like everyone else has and we come to the field everyday to get better because we know we have something to prove to everybody else because people still doubt us,” said Third Baseman Patrick Donahue, who is batting .344 with 16 Runs batted in.
Even though both teams are in a tight-lock race, the Seahawks shouldn’t overlook Brevard CC., who they face in their last two games of the season.
Brevard (5-10, 10-22 overall), is one of the weaker teams in the Southern Conference. Brevard gave the Seahawks a hard time last time they met, scoring 17 runs on Broward as they split both meetings.
“We just got to keep playing our style of game. Keep the game close and let someone get that big hit,” said Mata, who is 2-0 with a 1.87 ERA. “That seems to be the winning formula for us this season.”
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