So, I wound up having a busy and semi-late Saturday night, then managed to lose an hour of sleep in there too. As such, I couldn't find any time to write about Saturday until now.
Saturday:
-What a ballgame. It reminded me of the Saturday Florida game last year, just in terms of the razor's edge separation, the intensity, and a little bit of chippiness during the game. While Lipscomb isn't an arch rival of ours, the game still had that feel it to it. It sure was fun to watch and one of those where I took a lot of time afterward leaving the stadium, just to cool off and calm down a little bit.
-The story of the game was obviously Heath Holder. There have been some rumblings and some indications that he may be replaced in the starting rotation (Stricklin alluded to that after the Sunday Wright State game) and I'm sure Heath was well aware of it. He responded with a tremendous amount of intensity, more than I think I've ever seen from him. He had his curve working well and his slider too.... Mainly, he just battled.... He had some adversity in the early innings, but never gave in and made a bad pitch. It's inspirational to see that. There was a guy who laid it all out there on Saturday afternoon.
-Umpiring behind the plate (Jay Pierce) was awful. Very inconsistent zone, but more than that, the very late timeouts that he continued to grant to Lipscomb should earn him a reprimand somewhere. I'm sure that's what Fred Corral talked to him about, twice. And that kind of thing is what lead to Heath saying something to their RF, Hooker, after Hooker's last AB.... And in a different era or in a game that isn't 0-0, that's when guys start getting hit. Pierce could and should have taken better control of that. Calling those late timeouts is bush league. I didn't like it when we did it last year and umpires could control that sort of thing so much better by refusing to grant them.
-I was sorry that Heath didn't get the win. That's the only bad thing I can say about his game.
-Passantino for Lipscomb was really good too. Good control and changed speeds all day.... Lipscomb did the right thing, I thought, leaving him in there in the 9th. That was his game and he deserved to see it through.
-Our 6, 7, 8, and 9 hitters were all hitting .160 or below by the end of that game. It's hard to score when that's the case. I knew we had to win that thing in the 9th, otherwise we'd probably have to play to the 11th to get it done. Gotta find a way to get Michael Curry's bat in the lineup each day. Overall, I think that we're really going to have to find that "hot hand" and ride him if we are going to score runs over the balance of the season.
-I think the last time we walked off a team two days in a row was Arkansas in 2009. Matt Cierone got the winning hit for us Friday and Saturday. Mitchell Webb drew the "walk off walk" on Friday night this weekend, then Michael Curry, pinch hitting for Webb, got the walk off hit on Saturday.
Sunday:
-Driving over to the park today, I had no idea what to expect from Lipscomb. How would they respond after back to back crushing losses? Would they show up and play with their hair on fire or would they be flat footed and lethargic? Turned out it was the latter. Much lower level of intensity on their side today. Still, it counts the same for us.... there will be no (*) in the book to denote what their mental state may have been. And we deserve some credit for that too. That's two Sundays in a row we've come out and played a very sharp game... Remember 2012 how hard it was for us to win that series finale? We're doing a good job on Sundays, with one exception, so far this year.
-Very clean, quiet game from Connor Jones. Guy is really pitching well right now... and that Mercer game is looking more and more abnormal as things move along. I thought that this was a more consistent game from Jones than last week. He stayed out of the 6-8 consecutive erratic pitches today. When he has his curveball going, he's awfully hard to hit.
-Have a day, Logan Moody! Man, that was something else.... I don't know if Lipscomb thought they could just come straight after him after the first days (he did hit some balls hard on Saturday, with nothing to show on the stat sheet), but did he ever make them pay.... I think that today probably moves closer to cementing him as the RF on days when Skyler Weber catches. I'm fine with that too. Not saying that Trevor Kieboom doesn't need ABs, but Kieboom doesn't need to playing RF.
-Both our freshman 1Bs work very well around the bag, but I think that Patrick Sullivan is the better of the two in that capacity (though again, Sasser is strong defensively too).
-Nice to see LJ Talley pick up that double today. He needed that, badly. It seems like he hasn't taken a very confident approach to the plate with him the last two weeks or so. I still think he's capable of being a productive offensive player for us, but it's not going to happen if he starts doubting himself. Hopefully that double was a step in the right direction for him.
-With the win today, Lipscomb joins Binghamton, Eastern Illinois, and Tennessee on the list of teams we've swept since 2014. This one was closer than any of those first three sweeps, though. We are now 12-5 and have taken a very strange route to that mark.
-Things are obviously going to get more complicated starting next weekend. This a very important series on deck, not just for the 2016 team, but for the program in general. We've lost six SEC home series in a row and have dropped, by my count, 11 of our last 15 going back to 2014. It's time to start winning. Kentucky will be a good challenge for us given their pitching staff, but they are beatable. I'm glad it's here, personally. I think that we took some good lessons from everyone we played in the non-conference. I didn't like this schedule much when it came out. I stand corrected on it now and believe that it did serve a purpose for us. Can't wait to get SEC play started!
Saturday:
-What a ballgame. It reminded me of the Saturday Florida game last year, just in terms of the razor's edge separation, the intensity, and a little bit of chippiness during the game. While Lipscomb isn't an arch rival of ours, the game still had that feel it to it. It sure was fun to watch and one of those where I took a lot of time afterward leaving the stadium, just to cool off and calm down a little bit.
-The story of the game was obviously Heath Holder. There have been some rumblings and some indications that he may be replaced in the starting rotation (Stricklin alluded to that after the Sunday Wright State game) and I'm sure Heath was well aware of it. He responded with a tremendous amount of intensity, more than I think I've ever seen from him. He had his curve working well and his slider too.... Mainly, he just battled.... He had some adversity in the early innings, but never gave in and made a bad pitch. It's inspirational to see that. There was a guy who laid it all out there on Saturday afternoon.
-Umpiring behind the plate (Jay Pierce) was awful. Very inconsistent zone, but more than that, the very late timeouts that he continued to grant to Lipscomb should earn him a reprimand somewhere. I'm sure that's what Fred Corral talked to him about, twice. And that kind of thing is what lead to Heath saying something to their RF, Hooker, after Hooker's last AB.... And in a different era or in a game that isn't 0-0, that's when guys start getting hit. Pierce could and should have taken better control of that. Calling those late timeouts is bush league. I didn't like it when we did it last year and umpires could control that sort of thing so much better by refusing to grant them.
-I was sorry that Heath didn't get the win. That's the only bad thing I can say about his game.
-Passantino for Lipscomb was really good too. Good control and changed speeds all day.... Lipscomb did the right thing, I thought, leaving him in there in the 9th. That was his game and he deserved to see it through.
-Our 6, 7, 8, and 9 hitters were all hitting .160 or below by the end of that game. It's hard to score when that's the case. I knew we had to win that thing in the 9th, otherwise we'd probably have to play to the 11th to get it done. Gotta find a way to get Michael Curry's bat in the lineup each day. Overall, I think that we're really going to have to find that "hot hand" and ride him if we are going to score runs over the balance of the season.
-I think the last time we walked off a team two days in a row was Arkansas in 2009. Matt Cierone got the winning hit for us Friday and Saturday. Mitchell Webb drew the "walk off walk" on Friday night this weekend, then Michael Curry, pinch hitting for Webb, got the walk off hit on Saturday.
Sunday:
-Driving over to the park today, I had no idea what to expect from Lipscomb. How would they respond after back to back crushing losses? Would they show up and play with their hair on fire or would they be flat footed and lethargic? Turned out it was the latter. Much lower level of intensity on their side today. Still, it counts the same for us.... there will be no (*) in the book to denote what their mental state may have been. And we deserve some credit for that too. That's two Sundays in a row we've come out and played a very sharp game... Remember 2012 how hard it was for us to win that series finale? We're doing a good job on Sundays, with one exception, so far this year.
-Very clean, quiet game from Connor Jones. Guy is really pitching well right now... and that Mercer game is looking more and more abnormal as things move along. I thought that this was a more consistent game from Jones than last week. He stayed out of the 6-8 consecutive erratic pitches today. When he has his curveball going, he's awfully hard to hit.
-Have a day, Logan Moody! Man, that was something else.... I don't know if Lipscomb thought they could just come straight after him after the first days (he did hit some balls hard on Saturday, with nothing to show on the stat sheet), but did he ever make them pay.... I think that today probably moves closer to cementing him as the RF on days when Skyler Weber catches. I'm fine with that too. Not saying that Trevor Kieboom doesn't need ABs, but Kieboom doesn't need to playing RF.
-Both our freshman 1Bs work very well around the bag, but I think that Patrick Sullivan is the better of the two in that capacity (though again, Sasser is strong defensively too).
-Nice to see LJ Talley pick up that double today. He needed that, badly. It seems like he hasn't taken a very confident approach to the plate with him the last two weeks or so. I still think he's capable of being a productive offensive player for us, but it's not going to happen if he starts doubting himself. Hopefully that double was a step in the right direction for him.
-With the win today, Lipscomb joins Binghamton, Eastern Illinois, and Tennessee on the list of teams we've swept since 2014. This one was closer than any of those first three sweeps, though. We are now 12-5 and have taken a very strange route to that mark.
-Things are obviously going to get more complicated starting next weekend. This a very important series on deck, not just for the 2016 team, but for the program in general. We've lost six SEC home series in a row and have dropped, by my count, 11 of our last 15 going back to 2014. It's time to start winning. Kentucky will be a good challenge for us given their pitching staff, but they are beatable. I'm glad it's here, personally. I think that we took some good lessons from everyone we played in the non-conference. I didn't like this schedule much when it came out. I stand corrected on it now and believe that it did serve a purpose for us. Can't wait to get SEC play started!
