Steven Cutter

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about our turnaround. I wrote about a group that started 2–9, got tested in every possible way, and refused to fold. I meant every word of that then, and I still do now. This team fought its way to a 35–24 finish, hosted a regional playoff series at home, and gave itself a real chance to keep playing. We won game one, lost game two by two runs, and found ourselves in a winner-take-all game three in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run on base, the winning...

When we started this season 2–9, there were a lot of outside opinions, a lot of noise, and a lot of people ready to define this team before they were fully built. What people did not see was what was happening underneath the surface. They saw the record. We saw the growth. That start tested every part of this program. We traveled through Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida with a young team, inexperienced arms, injuries, weather issues, field flooding, constant bus rides, hotel rooms,...

We are 2–8, which is the worst start we have had since I took over this program, and it is also the most competitive we have ever been against this level of opponent to open a season. Both can be true. We opened the year against elite competition with no soft landing and no easing into it, going through Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and now Florida for eight more, putting miles on a bus, living in hotel beds, dealing with quick turnarounds, running out a young lineup and inexperienced arms,...