Road weary Broncs return home

EDINBURG -- The University of Texas-Pan American is coming off a week of travel that would leave Clark Griswold's head spinning.

The team left for New Mexico later than expected last Thursday after a flight delay, played Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and, after another delay, returned to Edinburg at 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

The Broncs then made class Monday morning before an eight-hour bus ride to Arlington for a doubleheader Tuesday, followed by an eight-hour bus ride back, arriving in Edinburg at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.

And that's not unusual for these Broncs (9-17), who've already played 21 games away from Edinburg Baseball Stadium this season.

"They're tired, but I tell them, ‘You're really playing a pro schedule,'" said UTPA coach Willie Gawlik, whose team opens a three-game home series against New Orleans (17-9) at 6 tonight. "‘You're just like a pro team - you're traveling and playing, and the only difference is you've got academics to add on on top of that.'"

Gawlik says, thanks to an academic liaison that travels with the team, the Broncs have stayed on top of their grades, and all the travel has produced great camaraderie. But he admits road-weariness has cost them at times, especially in the second halves of the four doubleheaders they've played.

Junior Shane Janecka, who's been the Broncs best pitcher all season, says it's been more tired minds than tired legs that have hurt UTPA, which is 6-15 on the road. One bad play, at-bat or pitch has tended to breed more, hurting the team's consistency.

"Maybe a little bit (we've been tired), but I think as a team we're strong and we're in shape physically and we can handle that," Janecka said. "But I think that sometimes the mental aspect of the game is where we fall short."

The mental aspect also suffers through a lack of practice time. The Broncs have just nine real practice days all season, leaving little time to work on things like mechanics or situational defense. And though the team returned home two days ago, Gawlik had to give them Wednesday and Thursday off to recuperate.

"The development thing is a big factor," Gawlik said. "You're having to develop players on the run. It's all game stuff."

The Broncs also hope the time off and rare home stand help them start swinging the sticks again. They're averaging close to six runs per game (5.92) and sport a .284 team batting average, but the offense has cooled off of late.

"We've been scoring a lot, and I think we've kind of got to that point, now, you're talking about tired, and the last week or so we haven't been scoring as much as we had in the past," Gawlik said. "There for a while, we were scoring eight or ten runs a game every time, and it didn't matter who we were playing."

Still, UTPA has six players hitting over .300 and Billy Donaho sitting at .286 with four home runs and 18 RBIs. The biggest problem for the Broncs, outside of the lack of rest, has been pitching, especially at middle relief and closer, a position Gawlik says no one has filled this season.

UTPA has a team ERA of 6.74, and opening-day pitcher Cody Cisper, who will throw in Game 1 today, has a 12.84 ERA and 1-4 record in five starts. Matt Shepherd's return from preseason appendectomy surgery has helped. He has a 0.98 ERA in three starts.

"We've had our ups and downs, that's for sure," said Janecka, who's had the steadiest hand, compiling a 3.55 ERA in staff-leading 33 innings. "We've been going out there and competing, and sometimes things are falling our way but we've just got to work hard, and hopefully it'll start turning around for us."

Game notes: New Orleans is paying back a home-and-home it had to cancel in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the team's season. UTPA went 1-2 in May of 2005 at New Orleans, just three months before the disaster. ... New Orleans has hit 45 home runs and has four players with at least six. ... The Broncs have a .961 fielding percentage, thanks in large part to the infield duo of freshman Andrew Perez and Jose Mendoza, who've combined for just nine errors at shortstop and second base, respectively. ... Abraham Garcia is out for the season after breaking a bone in his right hand March 15 against Buffalo.

Jason McDaniel covers UTPA athletics for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com.