In loss, Gray shows off his strength

The junior is platooning at first base.

By Sam Wilson

Published April 8, 2008

Junior infielder Steve Gray had shown his teammates he had power.

“If you watch batting practice, you can just see the way he swings, he’s got a really good bat,” sophomore pitcher Kyle Gibson said.

Along with his batting practice prowess, Gray also hit 10 home runs last season while playing for Scottsdale Community College in Arizona. Despite all of that, until Sunday he had not hit a home run in a Tiger uniform during a game.

Gray came into Sunday’s game hitting .231 on the season. He had started 17 of the team’s 28 games up to that point, playing in three others. But he had never quite been able to hit a ball over the fence. But Gray connected for two solo homers in the team’s 8-6 loss to Oklahoma State on Sunday.

“I don’t really know how to explain it,” Gray said. “I’ve been struggling a lot lately, I had to make some mechanical adjustments with coach Pratte, I’ve been working really hard on that. It seemed to pay off today.”

When Gray met with assistant coach Evan Pratte to discuss his slump, one thing was clear to them: he needed to shorten his stride, along with some other issues.

“I changed up my stance a little bit, and tried to be a little looser with my hands,” Gray said. “I’m not trying to force anything to happen.”

Coach Tim Jamieson said continued hitting prowess could lead to Gray seeing more playing time, as senior Dan Pietroburgo has also been getting starts at first base.

“(His performance) was big,” Jamieson said. “We’re going to need him to contribute offensively. We’re going to have to make some moves in our lineup, because we’re not getting it done in parts of our lineup.”

That being said, Jamieson said that one two-homer day doesn’t mean Gray will get more starts.

“Steve’s been struggling too, he’ll be the first one to tell you that,” Jamieson said. “It’s not like we’re not playing him because he’s hitting the cover off the ball. He had a great day today. He needs to be consistent. And hopefully he can be.”

Despite high marks in various national polls, the team had a hard start to the season, dropping two out of three to both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. Gibson said a performance like Gray’s is sometimes necessary to get the team out of such a slump.

“It was only a matter of time before he was going to get that going,” Gibson said. “But, really good to see him do that, because just a spark like that in a down time is what we needed today.”

Next up is a midweek trip to Missouri State on Wednesday night followed by a home series against Texas on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“I’m not sure what it is right now, or what the streak is that we’re on,” Gibson said. “We’ve got some great leadership on the team. They’re going to bring us through it. But, I think the key is that we stay as a team and not get separated.”