The Florida A&M baseball team is wrapping up a historic season that could end with the Rattlers’ winning their second consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) title.
The Rattlers (24-17, 14-4 MEAC), who faced national power Miami (Fla.) in a three-game series last weekend, need just one more win in their six remaining league games to tie the school record for conference wins in a season. They have the best record in the MEAC after getting off to the best start in conference play in school history (12-3) and are assured of their first winning campaign since 2003.
“It’s been fun,’’ said Florida A&M Head Coach Jamey Shouppe, a long-time pitching coach at Florida State who has breathed life into the Florida A&M program after taking the helm just three years ago.
Shouppe stops short of saying he expected the Rattlers to be so successful so quickly, but neither is he surprised by the progress the team has made.
“It’s like anything else,’’ he said. You have goals, but you don’t sit back and think about what could happen. You surround yourself with good people. You hire good assistant coaches to work with you, and then you work hard every day.’’
The Rattlers were coming off back-to-back seven-win seasons that saw them lose more than 45 games when Shouppe took over. They surprisingly finished 26-26 in Shouppe’s first season to tie Bethune-Cookman for first place in the MEAC Southern Division with 14 conference wins, the best in program history at the time, with Shouppe being named MEAC Coach of the Year. Last season, Florida A&M won its first MEAC title since 1994 and made its inaugural NCAA Regional appearance after winning a school record 15 conference games.
“FAMU was the perfect job for me,’’ Shouppe said, reflecting on where the program is and where it was when took over. There were not a whole lot of expectations when I got here.’’
The Rattlers split their last six conference games following their hot start. Shouppe says it is just part of the ebb and flow of the baseball season. FAMU finished each of the previous two seasons on hot streaks. They closed out 2014 with a five-game wining streak and won five of their last six games last season.
“We’ve played good baseball up until now, but we’re not firing on all cylinders,’’ Shouppe said. “We’re not playing up to our potential. But that’s baseball. Hopefully, we’ll play well down the stretch.’’
Shouppe expects the Rattlers to recapture their knack for playing complementary baseball with the return to the rotation of left-hander JoJo Durden, Florida A&M’s No. 1 pitcher, and right-hander Sawyer Betts. Both have been injured.
“Everything usually circles around pitching,’’ he said. “Once you get your pitchers throwing well and where they need to be, usually the hitting comes around better and the hitting comes around better.’’
The Rattlers have swung the bat well all season. They were also 13th in batting average (.319), 21st in hits (387), 26th in walks (177) and 27th in slugging percentage (.465).
Dylan Dillard is the Rattlers’ leading hitter with a .363 average, third-best in the MEAC, and he leads the conference in RBI with 46. Five other Rattlers, Alec Wong (.362), Ben Ellzey (.353), Cameron Johnson (.345), Brian Davis (.341) and Jack Miles Jr. (.330) are hitting .330 or better.
“We’ve done some good things offensively,’’ Shouppe said. “We’re a good offensive club. But again, it goes back to complementary baseball.’’
Florida A&M has a magic number of four -- meaning any combination of four victories for them and losses by second-place Bethune-Cookman – to grab the No. 1 seed in Southern Division.
“For anybody the goal is to gain that No.1-seed,’’ Shouppe said. “That No.1-seed is so important because you have the first day of the tournament off, so you’re playing fresh the second day and the team you’re playing has already played a game. That’s crucial. If you’re the No. 1 seed you can win the tournament in three consecutive games like we did last year.’’
The 2016 MEAC Baseball Championship is May 19-22 at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, Md.