Jaguar baseball season has come to an end. The Jags end the season being swept by Arkansas State. Losing the final game 18-11.
End Of The Season Review
The Jaguars who will own a ten game losing streak to end the season, went 0-10 in May.
South Alabama will miss the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time since 1985.
The Jags record fell to 23-31 on the year. That was the lowest win total in a season since the Jaguars went 23-34 in 2012, which was head coach Mark Calvi’s first year.
The Jags Sun Belt record fell to 11-19 on the year. That was the Jaguars worst conference record since 2014, which was Calvi’s third year at the helm.
To be fair, in each of the season’s that followed, Calvi did guide the Jags to a regional birth in 2013, and a Sun Belt Championship game appearance in 2015. With a regional championship game appearance that followed in 2016.
The Jags struggled for the majority of the season. They appeared to turn the corner in April going 12-6 and winning 5 straight series, before the downturn in May.
The Jags had a tough non conference schedule this season. Calvi had hoped it would make the Jaguars battle tested and the team would be able to respond well during conference play. The opposite appeared to have happened.
This team never really gelled. Calvi was having to piece together arms as the staff struggled to stay consistent. The bullpen couldn’t hold a lead or get outs on a consistent basis. The offense was not consistent enough with runners in scoring position and two outs or with the bases loaded.
Defensively
The Jags were not great defensively. JG Bell had 15 errors at shortstop to lead the team by a long shot. Mitchell Heer and Hunter Donaldson finished tied for second most with 6 each.
Pitching
Overall the Jags staff had an ERA of 6.46. Jeremy Lee, who was coming back from an injury, led the Jags in starts, (13). He also led in innings pitched (66), run allowed (52), earned runs (47), walks (37), strikeouts (65). Mitchell Heer, who started the year at third base, did a good job after he was put in the starting rotation. Colson Lawrence was also placed into the bullpen, after starting out in the outfield. He was a bright spot for the pen overall. The rest of the staff had an era above 5.00
Batting
As a team the Jaguars hit .276 with 53 home runs and 353 RBIs. The telling stat is South Alabama left 510 runners on base. Will Turner led the team in batting average (.349), hits (75), doubles (17), triples (4), and RBIs (52). Joseph Sullivan led in home run (13), and walks (45).
Bryan’s Takes
The Coaching Staff has a lot of work to do this offseason. The Sun Belt Conference has improved in all sports overall since they added Southern Miss, Marshall, Old Dominion, and James Madison. The Jaguars will have to go out and match their recruiting and won’t be able to fall behind, if they want to succeed going forward. South Alabama has a rich history in baseball, with 28 regional appearances, 13 Sun Belt regular season championships and 17 Sun Belt Tournament Championships. and most importantly nearly 30 Jaguars that have made it to the majors. With many more drafted. That should be a big draw for big recruits.
Hopefully, Coach Calvi can get it figured out and the Jags can make a deep postseason run next season.
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