Ask Gary Powers to pinpoint what went wrong during the 2011 Nevada Wolf Pack baseball season and he immediately goes back to late February and early March.
"It was devastating and demoralizing," the Wolf Pack head coach said this week.
The 0-9 start was the Pack's worst opening to a season since the 1989 team also went 0-9.
"It was how we were losing," Powers said. "We were out of most of those games by the third inning."
The Pack was outscored 42-6 in the first three innings of those first nine nightmarish games. To make matters worse, they were also outscored 44-19 over the final six innings of those first nine disasters.
What went wrong? Name it. The pitchers didn't pitch, the hitters didn't hit and the fielders didn't field.
The Pack didn't just lose those first nine games. They had their fragile confidence shaken to the core.
The Wolf Pack never had a lead at any point in those first nine games. Not 1-0 in the top of the first, not 2-1 after two innings. Nothing. That is unheard of in baseball. The Tampa Bay Rays., for example, set the major league record this year of not getting a lead to start the season in their first 61 innings.
The Pack's frustration was just getting warmed up after 61 innings. The Wolf Pack didn't have a lead over its first 84 innings this year. It wasn't until Michael Turay singled in Joe Kohan in the fourth inning of Game 10, giving the Pack a 1-0 lead over UC Davis on March 8, that the Pack could take a deep breath for the first time this year and experience a lead.
By then, however, the season was officially in a free fall.
"It was tough, especially for an inexperienced team like we had," Powers said. "It destroyed our confidence. And it also put added pressure on the few experienced players we had because they felt they had to do more. So they struggled and the rest of the team fed off that."
The Wolf Pack went into the 2011 season with a Big Three in both pitching and hitting.
Well, two of the Big Three on the mound -- Brock Stassi and Jeremy Cole -- were not physically ready to open the season. And the one healthy arm among the Big Three -- Tom Jameson -- couldn't get anybody out over his first three starts (21.86 earned run average).
The Big Three at the plate also stumbled out of the starting gate this year. Brian Barnett, Nick Melino and Stassi, three of the top hitters in the Western Athletic Conference in 2010, were a combined 20-for-94 (.213) over those first nine games with just eight RBI. Stassi hit .364, Melino hit .388 and Barnett hit .348 in 2010.
"Those three guys were trying to do more than they were capable of doing," Powers said. "They felt the pressure more than anybody and felt they had to carry the team."
It was simply too much for a young team -- or a Big Three -- to overcome.
"It just put doubt in their minds," Powers said. "That's hard to overcome. It takes time."
It also left Powers with a decision to make. How should he handle it? The normally fiery Powers took a different approach with his team looking at a 0-9 record.
"I went easy on them," Powers said. "I was concerned about their youth and psyche to the point where I didn't hold them as accountable as I normally would.
"I was worried about how this young team would take it. We had a lot of guys who had not played at this level before and they were struggling with their confidence. I thought if I was hard on them, I might lose them. Looking back I was probably too easy on them."
Actually, it turns out, Powers did absolutely the right thing. The Pack played over .500 (24-22) after that horrendous 0-9 start, a commendable achievement for a team that could have cashed in the season in the first week of March.
"I'm proud of how this team finished, especially considering how we started out," Powers said. "Nobody quit on this team. After that 0-9 start I just told them, "Forgot those first nine games. We can't do anything about those games now. All that matters is what happens from this point forward."
The Wolf Pack listened to Powers and finished in a tie for third place in the WAC at 12-12.
"We were the most inexperienced team in the league," Powers said.
The Pack lost center fielder Westley Moss, first baseman Shaun Kort, shortstop Kevin Rodland, closer Tyler Graham, utility man Nick Leid, second baseman Cullen Mahoney, starting pitcher Chris Garcia, reliever Jesse Rasner, outfielder Ronnie Mitchell and spot starter Beau Witsoe off the 2010 team.
That is a lot of experience, production and leadership to lose in one off-season.
"We didn't have many guys that had significant playing time from the year before," Powers said. "We only had a few guys with significant experience."
The Wolf Pack fell from 36-22-1 in 2010 to 24-31 in 2011. And you can spread the blame throughout the entire roster.
The 2010 team averaged 7.7 runs a game while the 2011 team averaged just 5.3.
Stassi, Melino and Barnett combined for 34 homers, 148 RBI and 93 extra base hits in 2010. In 2011, they had 11 home runs, 65 extra base hits and 89 RBI. Barnett had 18 homers, 41 extra base hits and 71 RBI himself in 2011 and fell to 5 homers, 28 RBI, 18 extra base hits in 2011.
The Pack as a team hit just 27 homers this year. Andy Dominique had a school-record 30 by himself in 1997. Don Price had 27 by himself in 1999.
But a drop-off in offense was expected in 2011. Offense was down considerably throughout college baseball as the NCAA instituted new regulations on its metal bats, making them less lively and more pitcher friendly.
And the numbers showed it.
The WAC's seven teams, for example, showed a marked decrease in runs scored (3,013 down to 2,378), home runs (472-208) extra base hits (1,427-1,026) and batting average (.311-.288) from 2010 to 2011.
The Pack was no different, falling in runs (452-289), average (.308-.275), extra base hits (245-145) and homers (71-27) from last year to this year.
College baseball changed dramatically in 2011. And the Wolf Pack, a program that used to bash its opponents over the head with its bats, simply got devoured by the changes.
The difference between the Pack and the rest of the WAC was on the mound. Every team in the WAC except the Wolf Pack and New Mexico State had a lower ERA this year as compared to 2010.
Some of the improvements on the mound among WAC teams were eye opening. Fresno State went from a 6.05 ERA in 2010 to 2.84 this year. San Jose State was at 6.34 in 2010 and dropped to 4.49 this year. Louisiana Tech was at 7.33 in 2010 and turned in a solid 4.73 ERA this year. Hawaii fell from 5.05 in 2010 to 4.21 in 2011. Even last-place Sacramento State lowered its team ERA more than a full run, from 6.45 to 5.23.
The Pack, though, saw an increase in ERA from 2010 (5.21) to 2011 (5.38). New Mexico State is the only other team that saw an increase in ERA (a slight bump from 7.46 to 7.48).
"We just never got any consistency on the mound," Powers said. "By the end of the year we were at the point where we could be competitive on the mound. But we never got to the point where we were consistent."
Stassi, the WAC Pitcher of the Year in 2010, battled a sore shoulder and never found his rhythm, going 2-2 with a 7.79 ERA in eight starts after going 7-4 with a 3.43 ERA in 2010.
The Big Three (Stassi, Cole and Jameson) were 17-8 in 2010 and were 12-13 in 2011. That five-game difference turns a disappointing 24-31 year into a promising 29-26 season.
There were, however, some pleasant surprises.
Freshman Braden Shipley stepped in for Rodland at shortstop at hit .287 with 19 RBI. "He made himself into a very solid hitter," Powers said. "He got a lot of big hits for us."
Backup outfielder Waylen Sing Chow came out of nowhere to become the Pack's leadoff hitter out of necessity. Sing Chow, a senior, hit .297 with 15 RBI and 17 walks this year after hitting .196 with 11 RBI over his first three seasons.
"He was one of our best players by the end of the year," Powers said.
Carlos Escobar took over as the unquestioned No. 1 catcher and improved his average from .221 in 2010 to .289 this year. Matt Gardner established himself as the closer with a sparkling 1.71 ERA and six saves. And senior Mark Joukoff (3-6, 5.10) and junior Troy Marks (2-6, 4.21) stepped up big time to help fill the void in the starting rotation in their first year in Division I.
Joe Kohan was solid at second base (.283, 34 RBI) and third baseman Garrett Yrigoyen had an up and down year in the field (20 errors) and at the plate but he got the most out of a .257 average with 33 RBI.
"A lot of those guys (not named Barnett, Stassi and Melino) won a lot of games for us this year with their bat," Powers said. "They carried us at time when our big guys were struggling."
Powers said the entire season was a gigantic learning experience for every member of the Wolf Pack, from the players to the coaching staff. Powers' three assistants -- Pat Flury, Buddy Gouldsmith and Chris Pfatenhauer -- had just one season's worth of experience combined on Powers' staff before this year.
"We had three bad weeks," said Powers, referring to the 0-9 start. "That's it. After that we were very competitive. But we had to scratch and fight uphill all season long. That takes a lot out of a team. It was never easy."
