The strength of the Dons is their defense especially up the all important middle where they have rifle-armed Mark Johnson behind plate, slick fielding Bill Murray and Monico Corral forming the double play combination, and Kevin Cronin in centerfield. Cronin's phenomenal catch against Reno showed what he can do.Â
Also against Reno, San Francisco received a tremendous boost from their outfield as Kevin Cronin, Rick Doran and Mike Mooney all threw out runners with strong throws.
The biggest question mark is the hitting which broke down against UNR. Bowman believes he has some good hitters in players such as Cronin, Joe Torrise, Al Smoot and Rick Doran, they're just not coming through. Against Wolfpack pitching, the Dons struck out 39 times in 23 innings. many of them looking.
"We are not aggressive enough." laments Bowman. "You don't mind players striking out but you want them to go down swinging. That's why Reno made so few errors. We didn't put the ball in play enough and find out what they can do."
What USP needs is a big RBl man they can depend on. One man they have been looking at to fill this role is catcher Mark johnson, who does not hit for average but is capable of hitting the long ball (USFFoghorn).
