MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: RockHounds letting solid play take care of playoff drive
Before this thirty day period, Slight League Baseball introduced the return of the playoffs.
Postseason plans were place on hold after the 2021 year acquired off to a late start off due to the fact of the coronavirus pandemic that canceled the 2020 marketing campaign.
MiLB is seeking to hold a ideal-of-5 collection for Double-A, Significant-A and Minimal-A stage groups to compete in starting off Sept. 21.
The leading two groups in just about every league will compete in postseason play.
Adhering to their household collection in opposition to the Corpus Christi Hooks final week, the Midland RockHounds sit in second put in the Double-A Central League’s South Division, 7 games powering the Frisco RoughRiders.
Even with the late addition of postseason play into the combine, Midland supervisor Bobby Crosby said his team’s method continues to be the similar as it did when the year commenced in May perhaps.
He is familiar with his players play the match the appropriate way and he would like to see them be a lot more dependable in having positive success.
At several situations during the year, the RockHounds have embarked on prolonged winning streaks only to get rid of that momentum soon after.
Their most modern winning streak went for 8 straight games before the Hooks snapped it in the collection opener.
“I did not anticipate to have as lots of ups and downs as we have experienced,” Crosby said. “We’ve experienced some genuinely great operates exactly where I believe we experienced 7 in a row, then we also experienced one particular exactly where we experienced 8 in a row.
“We’ve also experienced some tough stretches way too, so I’d like to see us a little a lot more dependable in that respect.”
The supervisor does not want to seem way too far forward in the 2021 marketing campaign, as he would like to see his group make advancements working day by working day before concentrating on postseason play.
RockHounds outfielder Mickey McDonald said it felt great to have a aim to compete for as the frequent year reaches its latter half.
McDonald has offered some critical times for the Midland franchise when it has absent on positive stretches, like hitting a match-winning single in a amazing comeback in opposition to the Amarillo Sod Poodles on July eighteen.
The RockHounds were down 10- in the last match of their household collection in opposition to Amarillo, right up until the bottom of the eighth inning when they brought in 10 swift scores to tie it up late.
With two outs in the bottom of the 10th, McDonald hit an RBI single to centerfield to score outfielder Devin Foyle and sealing an eleven-10 win.
The victory gave the group momentum to seek one thing even bigger as the marketing campaign winds down.
“It kind of place us in a great spot to create on the momentum we acquired likely appropriate now,” McDonald said.
The outfielder additional that his squad has found superior success when every person has a group-first mentality on their turns at bat.
For the duration of the RockHounds’ negative stretches, it appeared like every person was seeking for unique times, McDonald said.
Crosby named the team’s generate one particular of its most significant strengths this year, describing the clubhouse as the tightest he has ever been all over.
He thinks each individual player on the roster supports just about every other unconditionally.
“If they hold doing that, they should stop the year on a very major high be aware,” Crosby said. “As prolonged as they hold having superior, which is all I genuinely care about.”
Soon after their household collection in opposition to the Hooks, the RockHounds will shell out two months on the highway to play the Tulsa Drillers and the Wichita Wind Surge.
The team’s frequent year is scheduled to be done on Sept. 19 with a last household match in opposition to Tulsa at Momentum Lender Ballpark.
>>Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
