-That was every bit as enjoyable as last night was frustrating. The walk off win against Arkansas was my favorite win of the year. Today was a close second, I think. I didn’t walk out of the stadium as fired up, but today was extremely satisfying. Just a really good game that I enjoyed thoroughly.
-It felt like two different games today. The first one, when all those 0s went up and the ball just wasn’t carrying. The second was when the ball started jumping. When Slate Alford hit that HR, I really thought it we were going to win 2-0.
-That was a gritty game both ways. A&M answered us when we went up 2-0 and also when we went up 4-2. Last weekend I wrote that at the end of the A&M series, we’d probably debate about whether they showed up pissed off and playing out of their mind, or if they just rolled over. After Thursday, I thought I was wrong and they just didn’t have much fight to them. But they played hard the last two days and didn’t roll over today.
-Leighton Finley has been a lot like last year. Just kept getting better. He was really good today. Only mistake was that two-out walk and then the HR allowed to Bear Harrison. Finley is a guy I trust and when we get into June, I want him getting the baseball when the series or season is on the line.
-How about Nolan McCarthy baiting that throw over to 3b that allows the IF hit?
-How about Ryan Black with the big hit off the lefty? That guy had a very good weekend. He definitely isn’t over swinging now.
-I couldn’t believe that we put Christian Adams into the 3 hole today. Safe to say analytics (or whatever drove that decision) was better informed than I was.
-I liked what Zaborowski did today too. Looked like he shortened up and was more than happy to take his base hit. I wasn’t feeling great after his first K. I thought he showed a lot of maturity today.
-On Henry Hunter’s HR, I was just concerned it was going to hook foul. Knew it was plenty deep enough off the bat. I’m tired of the negativity around him. He’s a good player. He’s not going to hit .300, but he’s got some pop and is a very good defensive catcher. We aren’t 18-12 without Henry Hunter. He’s a “heart and soul” type guy and I’m going go out on a limb and predict that he has a big moment in June
-I really didn’t understand why we went to Radtke when Kolten Smith was available. I just assumed that Kolten wasn’t going to pitch this weekend. I hated the outcome for Radtke today too, who has been very good this year.
-Won this series without McLouglin or Jordan Stephens throwing a pitch.
-Guy made the comment at the end of the game that Jace Laviolette today kinda mirrored A&M’s season. They were preseason #1, he was (and is) one of the top players in the country. But he had a pretty bad game today at the plate… I think it was 3-0 on his last AB in the 9th before we came back to K him. It’s a good parallel, I think.
-Lastly, 18-12. 18-12. I think there some undue negativity at times this year. Pitching was bad against Kentucky. I hated those sweeps happening in Austin and Nashville. Last weekend was just weird and I really think we win a conventional series. All that happened. But an awful lot of good was happening too. We finished one game better than last year. It didn’t always seem like that was going to be the case.
This team can win a national championship. I’m not saying we will, but we can. We are better than last year, and beyond that, I think we are better suited for June than last year.
Great way to cap off a great regular season.
-It felt like two different games today. The first one, when all those 0s went up and the ball just wasn’t carrying. The second was when the ball started jumping. When Slate Alford hit that HR, I really thought it we were going to win 2-0.
-That was a gritty game both ways. A&M answered us when we went up 2-0 and also when we went up 4-2. Last weekend I wrote that at the end of the A&M series, we’d probably debate about whether they showed up pissed off and playing out of their mind, or if they just rolled over. After Thursday, I thought I was wrong and they just didn’t have much fight to them. But they played hard the last two days and didn’t roll over today.
-Leighton Finley has been a lot like last year. Just kept getting better. He was really good today. Only mistake was that two-out walk and then the HR allowed to Bear Harrison. Finley is a guy I trust and when we get into June, I want him getting the baseball when the series or season is on the line.
-How about Nolan McCarthy baiting that throw over to 3b that allows the IF hit?
-How about Ryan Black with the big hit off the lefty? That guy had a very good weekend. He definitely isn’t over swinging now.
-I couldn’t believe that we put Christian Adams into the 3 hole today. Safe to say analytics (or whatever drove that decision) was better informed than I was.
-I liked what Zaborowski did today too. Looked like he shortened up and was more than happy to take his base hit. I wasn’t feeling great after his first K. I thought he showed a lot of maturity today.
-On Henry Hunter’s HR, I was just concerned it was going to hook foul. Knew it was plenty deep enough off the bat. I’m tired of the negativity around him. He’s a good player. He’s not going to hit .300, but he’s got some pop and is a very good defensive catcher. We aren’t 18-12 without Henry Hunter. He’s a “heart and soul” type guy and I’m going go out on a limb and predict that he has a big moment in June
-I really didn’t understand why we went to Radtke when Kolten Smith was available. I just assumed that Kolten wasn’t going to pitch this weekend. I hated the outcome for Radtke today too, who has been very good this year.
-Won this series without McLouglin or Jordan Stephens throwing a pitch.
-Guy made the comment at the end of the game that Jace Laviolette today kinda mirrored A&M’s season. They were preseason #1, he was (and is) one of the top players in the country. But he had a pretty bad game today at the plate… I think it was 3-0 on his last AB in the 9th before we came back to K him. It’s a good parallel, I think.
-Lastly, 18-12. 18-12. I think there some undue negativity at times this year. Pitching was bad against Kentucky. I hated those sweeps happening in Austin and Nashville. Last weekend was just weird and I really think we win a conventional series. All that happened. But an awful lot of good was happening too. We finished one game better than last year. It didn’t always seem like that was going to be the case.
This team can win a national championship. I’m not saying we will, but we can. We are better than last year, and beyond that, I think we are better suited for June than last year.
Great way to cap off a great regular season.
