Conference dominating Diamond Hornets eye SWAC Tournament
NEW ORLEANS, La. (bamastatesports.com) – There’s always a worry about maintaining the proper mindset after storming through the conference schedule unbeaten, but Alabama State University baseball coach Mervyl Melendez has experience in that department.
The Hornets became the first team in Southwestern Athletic Conference history to go through the 24-game schedule unbeaten since the format was unveiled in 2006, so the Hornets are in uncharted waters as they prepare for Wednesday’sSWAC Tournament opener against Southern at 6 p.m.
Melendez, on the other hand, is not. His 2006, 2010 and 2011 teams at Bethune-Cookman were unbeaten in conference play as well.
“I think the common denominator has been staying in the moment, and playing one game at a time,” Melendez said. “I think, often times, when you look at the entire season, you can overlook the ‘non-important’ games. People don’t realize that what’s important is the game in front of you. People say, ‘Oh, you’re supposed to beat that team.’ But what if you don’t? You know how demoralizing that would be if you don’t beat a team you’re supposed to beat? It messes up your season, not because you lose, but because you lose to a team that, record-wise, ‘you’re supposed to beat,’ so you don’t get the confidence you’re supposed to get.”
On the other hand, by winning all 24 league games, the Hornets are a confident bunch heading into Wednesday’s first-round game at Wesley Barrow Stadium in New Orleans in the final game of the opening day.
“I think that comes a lot from the people in the dugout,” said center fielder Carlos Ocasio, the SWAC Player of the Year and Hitter of the Year. “We try to stay positive the whole game, but a lot of starters feed off of the dugout. If we have a rough inning and we go in the dugout and everybody’s down, that’s the one thing you don’t want to come to the dugout and see. We’re pretty comfortable with the players that we have in the dugout.”
In 2014, ASU entered the conference tournament as the top divisional seed and the SWAC East Champions lost in the championship game to Jackson State. In 2015, again as the SWAC East champions, ASU edged Prairie View A&M 5-4 in a first-round game before losing to Southern and Jackson State.
This year’s squad, with just two returning starters, isn’t the same championship-caliber team, at least on paper. Thankfully, they don’t play the games on paper.
Melendez said what makes this year’s team special is “attitude. We’re going to do what it takes to win. We have a lot of kids that are very unselfish, selfish only in them wanting to be good, wanting to do well for the team.”
His 2006 team was 15-0 in conference play and beat North Carolina A&T, Delaware State and Maryland-Eastern Shore to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
His 2010 team was 18-0 in conference play and beat Maryland-Eastern Shore and North Carolina A&T twice to win the MEAC and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
His 2011 team also was 18-0 in conference play and beat Florida A&M and Norfolk State twice to win the MEAC and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Three previous times, Melendez has had an unbeaten team in conference play. Three previous times, his team won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Hornets can make it 4-for-4 and earn their first-ever SWAC title and NCAA Tournament berth with four wins in the conference tournament.
“The bottom line is to concentrate on winning one game at a time,” Melendez said. “There’s no consolation prize, there’s no second-place finish you should feel good about. You go out there with the idea that every game is extremely important, that you have to stay in the moment and stay within yourself every single inning, every single out. Once you understand that and understand what’s at stake — that if you don’t get that done, things aren’t going to work out your way – I think your concentration level gets a little higher.”
Three-time SWAC Pitcher of the Year Joseph Camacho said he believes this year’s team has the proper mindset.
“The teams before, we’ve had the talent, we’ve had the numbers and things like that, but this year we’ve really come together,” he said. “The thing we haven’t done before was getting it done when it matters. In big key situations, big key hits, pitching, just coming in when you’re supposed to, and doing your job and not being as selfish. A guy can go 0-for in half the game and come up in a key situation and all of us are behind him, having confidence that he’ll get the job done and that’s how it has been so far this season.
Sometimes you look at us practice and you think they might not do it. At the end of the day, when it’s time to play and time to do what we’re supposed to, you’re going to see us get in there and do what we need to.”
