2016 Alpine Cowboys Season Recap - A Disappointing Season Under Thomas Nelson

The 2016 Alpine Cowboys entered the season with a standard that had been established during the first five years of the Pecos League. Alpine had reached the postseason every year from 2011 through 2015, won the Pecos League Championship in 2012 and returned to the Championship Series in 2014. By that point, simply finishing with a respectable record was not considered a successful season at Kokernot Field. The Cowboys expected to contend for championships.

That made the 2016 season under manager Thomas Nelson a disappointment.

For the first time since the Pecos League began, Alpine failed to reach the postseason. The Cowboys finished 32-34, ending a remarkable run of five consecutive playoff appearances and producing the first losing season of the Pecos League era in Alpine.

The result was particularly frustrating because the Cowboys had enough individual talent to be competitive. Alpine had several productive hitters, plenty of speed and some excellent performances out of the bullpen. What the Cowboys could not find was the consistency that had defined the organization during its first five Pecos League seasons.

Eric Ferguson was the biggest offensive bright spot. Ferguson appeared in 59 games and hit .397, collecting 92 hits in 232 at-bats. He scored 63 runs, hit 18 doubles, a triple and five home runs while driving in 29. Ferguson also stole 35 bases, making him Alpine's most dangerous combination of hitting and speed.

Reagan Rutledge gave the Cowboys another productive outfielder. Rutledge played in 62 games and collected 81 hits in 255 at-bats for a .318 average. He scored 60 runs, hit nine doubles, three triples and four home runs and drove in 41. His 42 stolen bases led the Cowboys and made him one of the biggest threats on the bases.

Ariel Adut also contributed significantly in the outfield. Adut hit .325 with 69 hits, eight doubles, five triples and two home runs. He scored 49 runs, drove in 34 and stole 12 bases. Between Ferguson, Rutledge and Adut, Alpine had an athletic outfield that could create offense in several different ways.

Nate Ferrell provided power from shortstop. Ferrell appeared in 60 games and hit .302 with 62 hits. He finished with seven home runs and 42 RBIs while scoring 41 runs. His ability to drive in runs gave Alpine another important bat in the lineup.

Matt Henriksen continued to be a productive presence for the Cowboys. Henriksen hit .338 in 43 games with 44 hits, six home runs and 38 RBIs. He also drew 22 walks and gave Alpine another experienced middle-of-the-order option.

Seth McLemore became one of the team's leading run producers. McLemore played in 51 games and collected 57 hits, including a team-high 15 doubles and five home runs. He drove in 43 runs, the highest total on the team, while hitting .328.

Phildrick Llewellyn hit .323 in 44 games with 11 doubles, while JJ Graham contributed behind the plate. Jon Denney provided significant power in limited action, hitting 10 home runs in 37 games. The Cowboys had enough offensive pieces to score runs, and there were nights when the lineup looked every bit as dangerous as the Alpine teams that had preceded it.

The pitching staff was much more uneven.

Chris Rogers was outstanding out of the bullpen. Rogers appeared in 20 games and went 4-2 with a 1.66 ERA. In 21.2 innings he allowed only four earned runs, walked four and struck out 21. He also recorded five saves and finished with a 0.95 WHIP. Rogers was one of the most dependable pitchers Thomas Nelson had available throughout the season.

Evan Bickett also had a strong year in relief, going 3-0 with a 2.73 ERA in 23 appearances. He worked 26.1 innings and struck out 20. Adam Ogburn produced nearly identical numbers, going 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA while working 26.1 innings and striking out 22.

Ryan Richardson, who had saved 17 games for Alpine in 2015, returned for 12 appearances and posted a 2.13 ERA. The bullpen therefore had several pitchers capable of protecting leads.

The problems were more pronounced in the starting rotation.

Joey Webb led the Cowboys with five victories, going 5-2 in 11 starts. Webb worked 62.1 innings and struck out 44, but finished with a 5.05 ERA. Kevin Klaess went 4-3 in 11 starts and worked a team-high 65.2 innings, but posted a 6.16 ERA. Jake Heissler made 11 starts and went 1-6 with a 6.10 ERA despite striking out 51 in 56 innings.

Pat Lemmo provided one of the steadier starting performances, posting a 4.00 ERA in nine starts and working 51.2 innings. He walked only 10 and struck out 43. Ely Gallego went 4-2 while making seven starts, but finished with a 5.89 ERA.

The contrast between the bullpen and the rotation became one of the defining characteristics of the season. Rogers, Bickett, Ogburn and Richardson all posted ERAs below 3.00, but Alpine frequently had difficulty getting games to those relievers with a lead.

The season began in inconsistent fashion, which would ultimately become the story of the entire summer. Alpine lost its opener 11-8 before exploding for a 23-4 victory the following night. The Cowboys then lost 10-4, won 14-4 and 12-2, lost 7-3 and won 7-4.

There was no sustained momentum.

The Cowboys could look dominant one night and struggle the next. They could score more than 20 runs in a victory and then find themselves unable to string together enough wins to move comfortably above .500.

June offered some hope that the season might turn around. After opening the month with a 4-1 loss, Alpine won 7-5, lost 7-5 and then won 12-7. The Cowboys followed with a 17-14 victory before consecutive losses.

Then Alpine put together its best stretch of the season.

Beginning June 10, the Cowboys won seven of nine games. They posted victories of 12-7, 4-1, 2-1, 9-8, 14-10, 14-6 and 15-6. Alpine followed that stretch with another 12-7 victory and later wins of 9-3, 6-5 and 13-12.

For a period in June, it appeared that Thomas Nelson's Cowboys might be finding the consistency necessary to make another playoff run.

Then the season turned again.

Alpine lost four consecutive games from June 23 through June 26. The Cowboys allowed 26 runs in the first loss of that stretch and followed with defeats of 7-4, 7-5 and 3-2. The losing streak erased much of the momentum Alpine had generated earlier in the month.

July became a battle to stay in contention.

Alpine opened the month with a 9-1 victory but then lost three consecutive games. The Cowboys responded with wins of 16-3, 6-0 and 6-5, again appearing ready to make a run.

Instead, another losing stretch followed.

The Cowboys lost consecutive one-run games 7-6 and 3-2 before responding with victories of 12-9 and 11-5. Alpine then lost five straight games, including defeats of 7-4, 7-2, 4-3, 4-2 and 11-5.

That five-game losing streak in the middle of July was devastating to Alpine's postseason hopes. The Cowboys had spent much of the summer hovering around the break-even point, and by the time the season entered its final weeks there was little margin for another extended slump.

Alpine continued fighting. After a 10-4 loss, the Cowboys won 10-2. They later put together four consecutive victories, winning 11-10, 10-9, 11-7 and 10-8. Once again, Alpine showed flashes of the team everyone had expected to see throughout the summer.

But it was too late to completely repair the damage.

The Cowboys dropped three of their final five completed games, including losses of 12-6 and 10-2 to close the season. Alpine finished 32-34.

For most organizations, a season around .500 might have been viewed as respectable.

For the Alpine Cowboys, it represented a major disappointment.

The difference was the standard the franchise had established. Alpine had made the playoffs in 2011. The Cowboys won the Pecos League Championship in 2012. They returned to the playoffs in 2013. They reached the Championship Series in 2014. They made another postseason appearance in 2015.

Then came 2016.

For the first time in Pecos League history, the playoffs went on without the Alpine Cowboys.

The season was not without excellent individual performances. Ferguson's .397 average and 92 hits made him one of the team's standout players. Rutledge stole 42 bases. McLemore drove in 43 runs. Henriksen hit .338. Denney supplied 10 home runs. Rogers posted a 1.66 ERA, Bickett and Ogburn each finished at 2.73, and Richardson posted a 2.13 ERA.

But the individual numbers never developed into enough consistent team success.

That was ultimately the story of Thomas Nelson's 2016 Alpine Cowboys.

There were stretches when Alpine looked capable of competing with anyone. The Cowboys scored 23 runs in a game, won seven of nine during one June stretch and later put together a four-game winning streak during the final weeks of the season. The bullpen contained several excellent arms and the lineup had speed, average and enough power to score runs.

But every promising stretch seemed to be followed by another losing streak.

The Cowboys never established the sustained momentum that had carried previous Alpine teams into the postseason.

The 2016 season therefore represented a clear break from the first five years of the Pecos League era at Kokernot Field. Alpine had gone from being an automatic postseason presence to watching the playoffs from home.

Five consecutive playoff appearances had come to an end.

The 2012 championship was becoming more distant. The 2014 Championship Series appearance had been followed by a playoff loss to Roswell in 2015 and now a losing record in 2016.

For the Alpine Cowboys, 2016 was a reminder that the success of the franchise's first five Pecos League seasons could not be taken for granted. Winning at Kokernot Field required more than individual talent. It required the consistency to survive an entire Pecos League summer and still be playing when the postseason arrived.

Under Thomas Nelson, the 2016 Cowboys never found enough of that consistency.

They finished 32-34, missed the playoffs and endured the first truly disappointing season of Alpine's Pecos League era.

For a franchise that had spent its first five years expecting to play for championships, that made 2016 a season Alpine was ready to put behind it.