Our head coach has a saying about winning. “When you win, everything is better; food tastes better, your girlfriend looks better, practices are easier…” And so on and so on. He’s right. After a rough patch where we had to fight hard for any win, and the losses seemed to pile up (even falling a game behind .500 at one point and being swept on the road against a conference foe), we have won six of our last seven, including two conference series, and two big wins over in-state rivals; the University of South Florida, and 19^th-ranked University of Central Florida. Winning of any kind is enormous, but actually playing a vital role in your team’s success make the victories that much sweeter.

The two in-state wins had a little extra to celebrate because on Tuesday night I got to watch my brother, Tucker (also a pitcher here at UNF) beat Central Florida at their place, Orlando, which also happens to be our hometown, in front of a number of family and friends as well as ex-high school and summer league teammates on UCF’s roster. The following night we played an extra-inning tilt against my former team, USF, in which I made my first relief appearance of the year and picked up the win. The win against UCF also made us 3-1 this year against nationally-ranked opponents, and as a budding program, those wins really help build a reputation.

I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but you couldn’t imagine how happy my parents were after watching both their boys get wins on back-to-back nights in college together.

Our team was quickly brought back down to Earth following those two games this past weekend in Johnson City, Tenn., where East Tennessee State beat us on Friday night in the series opener. We had yet to win a series against ETSU since joining the A-Sun conference and Coach Rhodes “succinctly” reminded us of that fact that night in the post-game meeting. However, what has been a reoccurring trait of this team throughout the first half of the season – resiliency, and it showed through on Saturday, where we swept the doubleheader and in turn took the series 2-1. I also happened to pick up my first save as an Osprey in the second game.

All this brings me back to the first point I made earlier, about how everything is better when you win. We stopped at a “questionable” all-you-can-eat establishment on the way back that night, and while some of the guys complained about the food, it tasted like filet mignon and lobster tail to me.

Ty Pryor