The team has yet to coalesce in the way that their statistics would indicate that it should.
By GREG AUMAN
Published May 2, 2004
WESLEY CHAPEL - Front-runners, longshots, dark horses.
The only differences between this week's Class 4A, District 10 tournament and, say, the Kentucky Derby, are that the hats are a little simpler here, and the concession stands at Hudson likely won't offer mint juleps.
Beyond that, it's a six-team field made for excitement and uncertainty, from Tuesday's first-round games out of the gate to the down-the-stretch-they-come madness of Friday night's championship game.
For now, the high-stakes parallels will end with fourth-seeded Wesley Chapel, a team searching for its first win in any district tournament, and an intriguing challenger that coach Steve Mumaw will ride with hope and optimism.
"The first few years of the program, we battled and battled but just didn't have the talent to do anything," Mumaw said. "Now, we finally have the talent to compete, but we just haven't come together as a team."
Wesley Chapel (8-15) has shown potential, upsetting top seed Tarpon Springs last week and losing in 10 innings in the first meeting with the Spongers.
The opening-round game Tuesday is against a Gulf team it beat by 12-0 and 11-1, giving the Wildcats a 3-1 record against the two teams that stand between them and a playoff berth.
By record, the Wildcats are a shade behind last year's 9-16 team, but there's a new confidence, especially at the plate. Four starters - shortstop Kris Quinones, pitcher Kevin Holmes and outfielders Anthony Rawson and Pat Cushman - are batting .360 or better, and six players have 10 or more RBIs.
"Offensively, we've had a very good year," said Mumaw, who saw Holmes (20), Cushman (19) and Danny Ciaccio (18) break the school's single-season RBI record of 17. "We've had five or six guys who have swung the bat real consistently."
Pitching, anticipated as the Wildcats' strength, hasn't been as consistent. Wesley Chapel enters with a 5.18 team ERA, but Mumaw likes what he sees in his pitchers, especially Holmes (2-3, 3.50), who will start against Gulf.
"We have to go with Kevin Holmes, because he's been our leader out there," said Mumaw, who has three wins each from starters Ken Statham and Jimmy Hancock. "When he's on the mound, the whole team has confidence. We're a different team with him out there."
The Wildcats finished their regular season with a 15-4 win against 5A-5 top seed River Ridge as Rawson broke out with two home runs and six RBIs. Some of their best games have come against their toughest opponents, as in a 13-11 win against another county power, Land O'Lakes, in March. For Mumaw, getting his program to the next step is a matter of getting the right team to suit up on Tuesday.
"We either play really well or really bad," he said. "There's not a whole lot of in between with this team. But we feel like we're playing pretty good baseball right now."
The one thing he hasn't seen enough of is that gear that kicks in for some teams when the scoreboard and emotions are aligned just right.
"We haven't trusted each other enough in close games, and I think that's led us to some close losses," he said. "We need to fight in those games, to fight to get back in games we're not in. They know all these games are going to be close, and the intensity, it picks up for everyone. We have to win one game, and then we can go from there."
