South Carolina is a bad matchup for us right out of the gate. They’re so much better pitching wise than anything we’ve seen so far… they’re probably going to be one of the better staffs in the conference this year. And then after game one, you could see that beating coming in the second game. Say we’d held the lead in the 9th in the first one or walked off in the bottom half, I don’t think there is any chance we get run-ruled in the second game. But that’s obviously speculation.
I will say this… I’m listening to game one on the radio today (we’d decided to do some yard/ house work today, which was going to mean only going Friday and Sunday this weekend)… after Murillo doubles the first thing I said was “please don’t bunt him…” then my daughter asked why I’m talking to the radio… anyway, why do you do that? Why give up an out there? A liner into the OF probably scores Murillo from 2b. A ground ball out to the right side moves him over, but at least you’re not giving away an out. Instead we wasted two strikes with LaPlante trying to make him bunt, and then he has to get defensive with two strikes. It’s just bad strategy in my opinion, and I think the analytics agree with that.
The other issue was how we pitched the 9th. It blows my mind that we have gotten a month into the season and don’t have a closer. This is why you should play some decent competition in those first four weekends. We’ve won one tight game all year long, Wofford on Tuesday, and Dalton Rhadens closed that one. Today we ran a true freshman out there in the biggest game of the year and asked him to do something he’s never done before. Don’t put that kid in that situation. If you want him to be your closer, then pitch him in the 9th against Wofford. Or schedule some teams that can give us a game. Of course, we didn’t sweep any of our non-conference series, and maybe that should have been more of a red flag than we thought.
We don’t have to schedule a murderer’s row like we did in 2011, but I think back to that season… we opened up at defending (and eventual) national champ South Carolina. Went out there and beat them on Friday night. Alex Wood started that game and Tyler Maloof closed it. Neither guy started that year in that role, but slotted into it as the schedule revealed what we had. We don’t schedule that way anymore and I think it hurts us.
Just win tomorrow. This isn’t as bad as it feels right now.
I will say this… I’m listening to game one on the radio today (we’d decided to do some yard/ house work today, which was going to mean only going Friday and Sunday this weekend)… after Murillo doubles the first thing I said was “please don’t bunt him…” then my daughter asked why I’m talking to the radio… anyway, why do you do that? Why give up an out there? A liner into the OF probably scores Murillo from 2b. A ground ball out to the right side moves him over, but at least you’re not giving away an out. Instead we wasted two strikes with LaPlante trying to make him bunt, and then he has to get defensive with two strikes. It’s just bad strategy in my opinion, and I think the analytics agree with that.
The other issue was how we pitched the 9th. It blows my mind that we have gotten a month into the season and don’t have a closer. This is why you should play some decent competition in those first four weekends. We’ve won one tight game all year long, Wofford on Tuesday, and Dalton Rhadens closed that one. Today we ran a true freshman out there in the biggest game of the year and asked him to do something he’s never done before. Don’t put that kid in that situation. If you want him to be your closer, then pitch him in the 9th against Wofford. Or schedule some teams that can give us a game. Of course, we didn’t sweep any of our non-conference series, and maybe that should have been more of a red flag than we thought.
We don’t have to schedule a murderer’s row like we did in 2011, but I think back to that season… we opened up at defending (and eventual) national champ South Carolina. Went out there and beat them on Friday night. Alex Wood started that game and Tyler Maloof closed it. Neither guy started that year in that role, but slotted into it as the schedule revealed what we had. We don’t schedule that way anymore and I think it hurts us.
Just win tomorrow. This isn’t as bad as it feels right now.
