-It wound up being a fairly nondescript game.... But that was fine. It was a bit of a "let down spot" after Florida State on a very cold afternoon in front of a largely empty stadium. The most important thing was to get the W and we did that.... And really, we didn't play a bad game either. I actually think it was a good thing that we won a low scoring affair. Those are the types of games that we'll play in the SEC by and large, and it's good to know that we can win without hitting a HR or without having a "big inning".
-Early on, I thought we were looking at 15-0 type of game. The way the 1st inning went, I thought then that we would be scoring at will. But give PC some credit. They hung in and did a nice job after the 1st.
-After watching their second guy, Wortkoetter, throw a few pitches, I thought that our lefties would wear him out. So did Stricklin I'm guessing, as we starting pinch hitting and sent up 4 straight left handed hitters against him. It's funny though.... A guy who throws 65 can have some success against us. NOBODY on our staff pitches that way. It's just something that our hitters don't see. Wortkoetter wound up being very effective. It reminded me of Furman's starter at Flour Field in Greenville back in 2011.... That guy worked in the 60s and low 70s all night and kept us totally off balance.
-With the depth on our pitching staff, we're going to win a lot of mid week games this season. Ryan Avidano looked terrific.... What a great curveball that guy has.... You figure he's got a good chance to be in the weekend rotation next season.... Today was only his second appearance on the year, which is just crazy if you look at this "stuff".... He and Bo Tucker are extremely polished for freshmen.
-Zack Bowers is really raking right now. On a less humid day, I'm sure his 1st inning hit winds up being a HR. He looks like he's got a ton of confidence at the plate right now and he's turning into a guy who you expect can go deep at any time. I'm not sure he was healthy last year and then everyone figured out how to pitch him pretty quickly into it. It looks like he's made some adjustments, to say the least.
-Daniel Nichols and Mike Bell both seem to be fighting it a bit right now. It looks like both are starting to press a little bit..... We know that Nichols typically warms up with the weather.... It would be nice to see him shorten up a little bit and start using the other field and I'd be willing to bet that we'll see that this weekend. Bell has hit 3rd, 5th, and 2nd this year through 7 games.... I'm sure they're going to settle on a good spot for him here soon enough. He got off to such a great start, but the last few games it looks like he's just not seeing it as well. Still, he looks much better than he did last season.... Defensively too.... You can really see the improvement there.
-Kind of a deceptive line score for Josh Cheek. I thought that we should have made a play on the ball at 3rd that resulted in Presbyterian's 2nd hit that inning and then their 3rd hit traveled about 4 feet. Cheek wasn't at his best today, but the box score doesn't tell the whole story.
-Wish Mitchell Webb and Josh Day could have gotten some ABs, but it was easy to see why we went with the left handed options once Wortkoetter came on.... Webb made a fantastic throw to the plate to get the runner and close out the 5th. That was his first game in LF this year.... Presbyterian obviously didn't have much of a book on him and I respect the aggression and challenging the freshman and all.... Still, the runner was out by about 10 feet and that kept the momentum in our dugout.... I've been really impressed with Webb defensively this year. He's very smooth at 3rd base and has a very good arm. Trevor Kieboom has a cannon, too.... A 3rd baseman who can throw like that doesn't have to field everything clearly, his arm can make up for it... It's fun to watch that.
-Finally, I thought that Sean McLaughlin did a nice job today. His control was better than his 1st two outings and I thought that he had a really nice tempo as well. Stricklin said on the post game that he's still not 100% and he knows he's not 100%. It's getting closer though.
-Nice win today.... PC brought a game team down here. I liked our effort. I'm glad that we're getting on the road this weekend. I think it's a good time to step away from Athens for a minute and I KNOW that we're going to be ready to go this weekend down in Statesboro.
-Early on, I thought we were looking at 15-0 type of game. The way the 1st inning went, I thought then that we would be scoring at will. But give PC some credit. They hung in and did a nice job after the 1st.
-After watching their second guy, Wortkoetter, throw a few pitches, I thought that our lefties would wear him out. So did Stricklin I'm guessing, as we starting pinch hitting and sent up 4 straight left handed hitters against him. It's funny though.... A guy who throws 65 can have some success against us. NOBODY on our staff pitches that way. It's just something that our hitters don't see. Wortkoetter wound up being very effective. It reminded me of Furman's starter at Flour Field in Greenville back in 2011.... That guy worked in the 60s and low 70s all night and kept us totally off balance.
-With the depth on our pitching staff, we're going to win a lot of mid week games this season. Ryan Avidano looked terrific.... What a great curveball that guy has.... You figure he's got a good chance to be in the weekend rotation next season.... Today was only his second appearance on the year, which is just crazy if you look at this "stuff".... He and Bo Tucker are extremely polished for freshmen.
-Zack Bowers is really raking right now. On a less humid day, I'm sure his 1st inning hit winds up being a HR. He looks like he's got a ton of confidence at the plate right now and he's turning into a guy who you expect can go deep at any time. I'm not sure he was healthy last year and then everyone figured out how to pitch him pretty quickly into it. It looks like he's made some adjustments, to say the least.
-Daniel Nichols and Mike Bell both seem to be fighting it a bit right now. It looks like both are starting to press a little bit..... We know that Nichols typically warms up with the weather.... It would be nice to see him shorten up a little bit and start using the other field and I'd be willing to bet that we'll see that this weekend. Bell has hit 3rd, 5th, and 2nd this year through 7 games.... I'm sure they're going to settle on a good spot for him here soon enough. He got off to such a great start, but the last few games it looks like he's just not seeing it as well. Still, he looks much better than he did last season.... Defensively too.... You can really see the improvement there.
-Kind of a deceptive line score for Josh Cheek. I thought that we should have made a play on the ball at 3rd that resulted in Presbyterian's 2nd hit that inning and then their 3rd hit traveled about 4 feet. Cheek wasn't at his best today, but the box score doesn't tell the whole story.
-Wish Mitchell Webb and Josh Day could have gotten some ABs, but it was easy to see why we went with the left handed options once Wortkoetter came on.... Webb made a fantastic throw to the plate to get the runner and close out the 5th. That was his first game in LF this year.... Presbyterian obviously didn't have much of a book on him and I respect the aggression and challenging the freshman and all.... Still, the runner was out by about 10 feet and that kept the momentum in our dugout.... I've been really impressed with Webb defensively this year. He's very smooth at 3rd base and has a very good arm. Trevor Kieboom has a cannon, too.... A 3rd baseman who can throw like that doesn't have to field everything clearly, his arm can make up for it... It's fun to watch that.
-Finally, I thought that Sean McLaughlin did a nice job today. His control was better than his 1st two outings and I thought that he had a really nice tempo as well. Stricklin said on the post game that he's still not 100% and he knows he's not 100%. It's getting closer though.
-Nice win today.... PC brought a game team down here. I liked our effort. I'm glad that we're getting on the road this weekend. I think it's a good time to step away from Athens for a minute and I KNOW that we're going to be ready to go this weekend down in Statesboro.
