Sometimes a loss is just a loss - nothing more, nothing less.
Following the No. 2 Gators' (2-1) 1-0 loss to Baylor on Sunday, UF coach Tim Walton said he doesn't want to let the defeat - only the team's second loss at home since April 27, 2007 - affect the way he coaches his players at the plate throughout the rest of the season. That starts with UF's game today at Jacksonville (1-4) at 5 p.m.
"There wasn't any difference (in the way we played) between the wins and the losses. We just weren't able to get any hits or get anything going," Walton said. "We're not going to change anything. You saw what we can do on Saturday in front of 1,572 people. We can really hit."
The Gators proved they have the talent to win games with their hitting Saturday by scoring 8 runs and knocking three balls out of the park, but talent alone isn't always enough to come out on top in a close game against a dominant pitcher.
"We're going to have to learn how to win games like that," Walton said. "The difference between this year and last year is that we found a way to win those kind of games last year, but arguably, in our five losses, it was exactly like that."
In their 70-5 2008 season, the Gators' losses were by a combined 5 runs. One key difference, however, was that UF's first loss last season came after 19 straight wins. The Gators fell 2-1 after 10 innings at Long Beach State on Feb. 27.
After an impressive offensive performance Saturday, UF came up empty at the plate in Game 3 against Baylor. Centerfielder Kim Waleszonia attributed the lack of offensive production to the Gators' failure to make the necessary changes after their first at-bats.
"We just didn't make the adjustments we needed to make," Waleszonia said after Sunday's game. "By the third round, we should have been taking better hacks and not doing the same things we did Friday night or in our first at-bats today. We just didn't make the adjustments fast enough - or at all."
Walton noted the team's need for improvement at shortstop, where sophomore Megan Bush started all three games over the weekend but made a critical error in the fifth inning of Game 3. Baylor capitalized on Bush's mistake and an uncharacteristic error by pitcher Stacey Nelson to score the only run of the game.
Senior Le-Net Franklin, who only took the field during the weekend's games as a pinch runner, will see more time in the field as the season progresses, Walton added.
