Quick Thoughts on 2011 Baseball Season

It was another losing season for Coach Prado and there is no big change in sight.

The baseball season came to an end last night even with the Bulls beating Pitt and improving their record to 25-29 (13-14). The Bulls missed the Big East tournament for the first time under Coach Prado and now have consecutive losing seasons for the first time in 30 years. It was a painful season to watch and so many painful games to witness first hand. [keep reading]

The season got off to a rough start in Florida, being swept by the Gators, but hope still lingered for the team. The same team that had hopes for winning or getting a seed in the NCAA tournament, but that was not to happen and the season spiraled later on.

The pitching took a major hit when Barbosa was lost for the entire season with Tommy John surgery. He was to a be a key member of the pitching staff and give them a one two punch with Fonantez. Fontanez struggled to a 5-6 record. Matt Reed went 5-4 and Kyle Eastham went 4-5 as the Bulls were inconsistent all season on the mound. There were games in which Fonatnez and company looked unstoppable and other games when a pee-wee team could beat them. The bullpen was up and down, but Kevin Quackenbush was unstoppable in relief and had a huge season.

The offense was just unproductive. With just one hitter over .300 (Koscso at .340), the offense never was threatening, powerful, or could put together a few solid games together. There was no power, only Brazeal and Mende had 5 home runs, showing no power threat and allowing pitchers to attack the Bulls lineup that looked more like a group of lead off and utility players instead of a powerful team.

The team lost to some rather pathetic teams like FGCU, Elon, Evansville. They also swept teams like St. John's and beat teams like Stetson, making it so hard to figure out this team and causing the fans to get upset and call for change.

Prado is coming back and he will have to improve his recruiting, bring in players who can hit for power and bring in more pitching, instead of throwing outfielders to the mound. Now we sit and wonder what went wrong this year, but the season is over and now the long wait till next time begins.

I will have player bios for 10 of the most outstanding players coming later next month, so be sure to look for that.