COLUMN: Joe Hawk

     As punishment for accidentally having used an ineligible player this season, UNLV baseball coach Rod Soesbe was sent to his room Saturday night. Well, sort of.
      Soesbe took his turn sitting out one of the Rebels' three season-ending games this weekend against Western Athletic Conference foe New Mexico by watching the teams play from his second-floor, corner office in the Lied Athletic Complex. The view was diametrically opposite of his regular seat in the third-base dugout of Wilson Stadium -- but what he saw was agonizingly familiar: a blown early lead, a blown mid-game lead, the tying runs stranded on base late and ...
      A loss. This time, 8-6 to the Lobos.
      It surely would be enough to drive even the most patient coach mad, right? Yes, but Soesbe has kept control of his faculties.
      Or has he?
      You have to wonder after the first-year head coach takes full responsibility for the Rebels' disappointing 24-30 season record and 10-18 conference mark. But then, that's Soesbe, the ever-loyal assistant to former UNLV coach Fred Dallimore for 12 seasons who's equally loyal to his players now that he's calling the shots.
      "I'm the type of guy where I don't put it off on the kids," Soesbe said during pre-game batting practice. "I look at it as these are the things I need to do a better job with, so that we'll be better and so that this won't happen again next year. ...
      "It's what I ... we have to do as coaches to make each one of these kids better."
      It's no secret that process for Soesbe and assistants Jim Pace and Kurt Mattson must start with the pitching staff, which entered Saturday's game with a 7.45 earned-run average overall and a staggering 9.41 mark in WAC play. Not only have opponents hit .352 against Rebel pitching this spring, league opponents have batted an amazing .390.
      Soesbe shook his head as he volunteered that his pitchers -- all right-handers and, thus, facing predominantly left-handed hitting lineups -- have surrendered an average of 2.4 earned runners per inning.
      "When I figured that out, it blew me away," he said.
      But in the same breath, Soesbe added that eight of his 13 pitchers are underclassmen, and it isn't be fair to expect too much too soon. He pointed to former Rebel standouts Mike Bauder, Tom LaRosa and Nate Yeskie who struggled early in their college careers but went on to distinguish themselves and earn minor-league contracts last season.
      "I really believe there's some talent out there, but it's our job to build on it," he said.
      Injuries also played a significant role in UNLV's worst season since the 1974 team finished 19-34. Seven key players have sat out at various times, forcing Soesbe to use "use more different lineups that I can even count."
      For instance, because shortstop Curt Anthony recently tore an ankle ligament, regular first baseman Kevin Eberwein was moved to short and regular second baseman Sean Campbell, who missed half the season with a shoulder injury, has filled in for Eberwein at first. Eberwein, meanwhile, is battling tendinitis of the wrist, which has affected his batting.
      But not all of UNLV's woes are visible to the naked eye.
      The Rebels have lacked the mental toughness that characterized so many past UNLV teams, and that, more than anything, is something Soesbe feels responsible for.
      "It's been more than a few years since I was a head coach," said Soesbe, whose last head-coaching post was in junior college in 1984. "For the last 12 years, I was the guy who was in that middle role between Freddie and the players. When Freddie would chew them out, I was the guy who would pat them on the butt and tell them the reason he did it was because he cared about them and he wanted them to get better.
      "Now it's my turn to be a little tougher, a little more demanding -- and I don't think I was this season."
      Still, losses and all, Soesbe could find at least one positive in the checkered season.
      "It was a good learning experience, but it was a helluva way to get a learning experience," he said. "I know it'll make me stronger. I think it'll make us all stronger."
     
      Joe Hawk's column is published Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached by phone at 383-0353, by fax at 383-4676 or by e-mail at Joe_Hawk@lvrj.com.