This was an important game for us and one that probably gets overlooked given the non-marquee opponent. Aside from the fact that we are now 4 games over .500 instead of 2, today gave us our second winning weekend on the year.... We'd lost 5 straight home series coming into this season. It's important to establish something of a home field advantage and every rubber game W is a step in a good direction on that front.
Here are my thoughts:
-First, the pitching weekend gets an A+. No two ways about it. I was disappointed that we didn't see Sean Murphy this weekend, but even without him Wright State is a quality lineup. We did a terrific job on the mound this weekend... arguably as good of a pitching performance as we've had over a weekend since Fred Corral has been here. Two different people mentioned Mitchell Boggs today and the great job he is doing getting our guys ready to go from the bullpen. I could not agree more with that sentiment.
-Offensively, we're getting better. We had a good day at the plate today, better than the stat sheet reflects. Keegan McGovern had a tough weekend, but he did a great job today of not getting himself out. Skyler Weber continues to swing a hot bat, and Steven Wrenn had his best day at the plate this season today, too. We only K'd 4 times today while drawing 7 walks. On the heels of a poor offensive day yesterday, our hitters did a tremendous job of bouncing back.
-I thought Conner Jones had a really nice day. I don't think he knew yesterday morning that he was going to throw today. Coming off of 7 innings on Tuesday, we got what we needed from him, and the coaching staff did a good job of limiting his pitch count today as well. It's a different bag with Conner. He's throw 5 or 6 beautiful pitches, fastballs and curveballs in a row, and then won't be close on the next 5. I don't say that in criticism, stuff like that makes him really tough to hit. He dropped in some outstanding curveballs today, really fun to watch, but what I enjoyed the most was that he battled all afternoon.... He had some baserunners, but he never let the situation explode on him, which has been a problem in the past. Very happy for #23.
-That was definitely the best I've see Drew Moody in his career. Good grief.... talk about some movement.... He was rolling up those early count outs, also. I wish I'd made note of his pitch count, I think it was 40-50. I had complete confidence in Moody today, from my seat, I knew he was never going to give up that lead.
-All that said, Wright State looked a little tired today. I noticed that their coach talked to them for a long time in LF after the game. I'm sure that they were disappointed with their performance in the rubber game this afternoon. For my money, they have nothing to be ashamed of this weekend. That's a good baseball team and they're going to present some real challenges to someone in a regional this June.
-I was really surprised that Wright State put the DeFevers fellow in the 2 spot today. And I was glad that they did, we got him out in some big spots. He really struggled today... I think you saw him take some offensive frustrations with him catching today also.
-Really happy for LJ Talley and Nick King getting those hits late. Both guys needed that, badly.... especially LJ.
-David Savage did a nice job behind the plate.... I thought that the home plate umpiring was really good all weekend. I don't know what to say about Savage. Some games he's awful, some he's really good. Since I called him a "------- joke" from the fence rail at tech in 2013 after the game (which I'm not overly proud of) we haven't had many issues with him that I can recall, so I'll take partial credit for it.
-With next weekend remaining, I think it's safe to say that this is the best non-conference weather we've had since.... maybe ever. I didn't wear a jacket yesterday or today. No snow, no moving games to noon because of cold weather, I haven't worn gloves once this entire season. It's been a blast.
-Again, really nice win today.
Here are my thoughts:
-First, the pitching weekend gets an A+. No two ways about it. I was disappointed that we didn't see Sean Murphy this weekend, but even without him Wright State is a quality lineup. We did a terrific job on the mound this weekend... arguably as good of a pitching performance as we've had over a weekend since Fred Corral has been here. Two different people mentioned Mitchell Boggs today and the great job he is doing getting our guys ready to go from the bullpen. I could not agree more with that sentiment.
-Offensively, we're getting better. We had a good day at the plate today, better than the stat sheet reflects. Keegan McGovern had a tough weekend, but he did a great job today of not getting himself out. Skyler Weber continues to swing a hot bat, and Steven Wrenn had his best day at the plate this season today, too. We only K'd 4 times today while drawing 7 walks. On the heels of a poor offensive day yesterday, our hitters did a tremendous job of bouncing back.
-I thought Conner Jones had a really nice day. I don't think he knew yesterday morning that he was going to throw today. Coming off of 7 innings on Tuesday, we got what we needed from him, and the coaching staff did a good job of limiting his pitch count today as well. It's a different bag with Conner. He's throw 5 or 6 beautiful pitches, fastballs and curveballs in a row, and then won't be close on the next 5. I don't say that in criticism, stuff like that makes him really tough to hit. He dropped in some outstanding curveballs today, really fun to watch, but what I enjoyed the most was that he battled all afternoon.... He had some baserunners, but he never let the situation explode on him, which has been a problem in the past. Very happy for #23.
-That was definitely the best I've see Drew Moody in his career. Good grief.... talk about some movement.... He was rolling up those early count outs, also. I wish I'd made note of his pitch count, I think it was 40-50. I had complete confidence in Moody today, from my seat, I knew he was never going to give up that lead.
-All that said, Wright State looked a little tired today. I noticed that their coach talked to them for a long time in LF after the game. I'm sure that they were disappointed with their performance in the rubber game this afternoon. For my money, they have nothing to be ashamed of this weekend. That's a good baseball team and they're going to present some real challenges to someone in a regional this June.
-I was really surprised that Wright State put the DeFevers fellow in the 2 spot today. And I was glad that they did, we got him out in some big spots. He really struggled today... I think you saw him take some offensive frustrations with him catching today also.
-Really happy for LJ Talley and Nick King getting those hits late. Both guys needed that, badly.... especially LJ.
-David Savage did a nice job behind the plate.... I thought that the home plate umpiring was really good all weekend. I don't know what to say about Savage. Some games he's awful, some he's really good. Since I called him a "------- joke" from the fence rail at tech in 2013 after the game (which I'm not overly proud of) we haven't had many issues with him that I can recall, so I'll take partial credit for it.
-With next weekend remaining, I think it's safe to say that this is the best non-conference weather we've had since.... maybe ever. I didn't wear a jacket yesterday or today. No snow, no moving games to noon because of cold weather, I haven't worn gloves once this entire season. It's been a blast.
-Again, really nice win today.
