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Porreco goes to bat over team's performance
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by William Moore/moorwill@mscd.edu Metro shortstop Dakota Nahm tags out Colorado Christian’s Bud Wilborn on a steal attempt during a regular season game in May at Auraria Field.

The saying goes, “You win some, you lose some.” And sometimes you lose again.

This was the case for the 2006 Metro baseball squad, as they finished with a fairly even season record of 26-25. In the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference they maintained a respectable 19-13 record.

Four times throughout the season the Metro squad had three or more consecutive wins. One winning streak included a seven-game stretch at the beginning of April when Metro outscored its opponents 47-21. Unfortunately, the losing streaks matched the winning ones. The hardest one Metro endured was a six-game skid to start the season.

The 2006 Metro roster included only three active veteran seniors and a lot of new faces, including five freshmen and 13 junior college transfers.

“With all the new guys that came into the new program this year, it was an adjustment period, as you saw at the beginning of the season,” Metro head coach Vince Porreco said. “It was about getting to know the system and getting to know each other and knowing how well we can play.”

It wasn’t the team’s record that defined its season, it was the “team” play that inspired the young players to excel along with the big boys of the RMAC.

“They really stayed together throughout the whole year,” Porreco said. “Sometimes you go into slumps and they stuck together and pulled themselves out of it.”

Metro came down the stretch with a 9-4 record and placed fourth in the RMAC. With the addition of Colorado Christian University to the RMAC, the conference expanded its playoffs to six teams instead of four, allowing the Roadrunners to slide into the tournament.

Seeded fourth in the tournament, Metro faced No. 3-seed CSU-Pueblo and lost 4-2 in the first game. Their next opponent was top-seeded Mesa State Mavericks, who obliterated the Roadrunners in a four-game sweep in March. This game was no different as the Mavericks, who went on to win the RMAC tournament, beat Metro 7-3.

Porreco thought Metro was one of the best teams going into the tournament, but felt they needed to play perfect-finish baseball and did not do so.

Looking back on the season, the pitching staff was key for the team as they finished third in the RMAC in ERAs.

“Our pitching staff did just an outstanding job,” Porreco said. “They gave us a chance to win every ballgame.”

The staff, composed of senior Ryan Bright, juniors Braden Ham and Mike Bilek, and sophomore Josh Eckert, combined for 19 complete games and five shutouts. Ham was named second team All-RMAC and led the team with eight wins while Eckert had six.

The young Metro hitters often struggled at the plate and were unreliable in clutch situations. Eight of the team’s losses came by two runs or less, and in 11 losses the team scored three runs or less.

Senior Mike Hoefs led the team in batting average, at-bats, RBIs and total bases. Porreco said his presence will be missed, citing that opposing pitchers changed their game plan around Hoefs.
There is optimism in the hitting category, as sophomore Jake Palmer, who was awarded first team All-RMAC, will return after blasting a team-leading 13 home runs. Also returning is second team All-RMAC sophomore catcher Reece Gorman, who led the team with 23 steals and 44 runs scored.

Porreco is optimistic about the team’s chances of turning adjustments into wins.

“Now you work on something where you just fill in the pieces,” Porreco said. “Last year we had had a whole bunch of pieces to fill in and so we are really excited about the guys coming in next year.”

In other words, in 2007 Metro is looking to change the cliché into, “You win some, you win some more. And then you win again.”