-First, it's good to win. We needed to win.... 8-10 isn't great, but it's a whole lot better than 7-11. And for a long time, I thought that 7-11 is what we would take to Baton Rouge. Presbyterian probably feels that they got jobbed out of that one, and they probably have a point. I'm not sure if we win without Will Procter's 3R HR, which only showed up after the 3rd base umpire said Procter fouled a ball off his foot.... Even Stricklin conceded on the post game show that we got a lucky break there and the ball did not go off Procter's foot. When you get a do-over like that, you have to to take advantage, and we did.
-Michael Curry is really seeing the ball well right now... so is Cam Shepherd. Aaron Schunk had a really good day at the plate too. Good to see him get on the board with the HR.... He's had a slow start, Schunk, but that guy can really hit. For the offense to click, I think it goes without saying that Keegan McGovern and Michael Curry have to hit... both guys look like they're getting heated up.
-Good 1st inning for Justin Glover. I'm not sure what happened in the 2nd. I had to break out that line from Major League after we had 3 walks to load the bases and Wise steps in a CRUSHES that grand slam on the first pitch.... I said "Well, it looked like a strike anyway." I was happy that they let Glover finish that inning, though. He's a young guy and needs to pitch.
-Home plate umpiring tonight.... wow.... We had a ball that hit the dirt beside the plate, almost in the other batter's box, that was called a strike. Both teams got hooked several times, but I thought that we benefited from it it more than they did.
-I walked into the stadium at 3:55p today and counted 22 people in the grandstand, not counting employees. I've never seen it that empty that close to first pitch. And I get it, it's a cold day and a 4:00p start time.... If we were 17-0 it would have been a very light crowd. Still, I wonder if we sold more than 5 walk up tickets today... The paid attendance has to be 99% season tickets, I would imagine.
-We got a little sloppy on defense today, but part of that was playing our LF at 1st base and part of that was the wind... I thought that Presbyterian played a worse defensive game than we did, errors aside. It couldn't have been fun to play out there in that today.
-We are too beholden to righty/lefty late in the game, I think. I got really irritated when we took out Zak Kristofak. Here's a guy who'd overmatched every hitter he'd seen, then he gives up a 2 out walk in the 9th, and gets replaced so we can go lefty-lefty. I'm 99% sure that's the first time we've asked Adam Goodman to throw on back to back days. And he gets behind 2-0, I'm not having very positive thoughts. To his credit, he got the out, but I really hated taking out Kristofak. Just watch the game... We had the right guy in there.
-So, 8-10 heading into Baton Rouge. Stricklin said on the postgame show that Kevin Smith has an oblique injury and will not travel, while Shane Tucker is under the weather and also will likely not travel. So Andrew Gist will get the ball on Friday night and we'll go Tony Locey and Chase Adkins on Saturday and Sunday. Stricklin also said that we've "created some depth" in the bullpen (after saying all off-season that we were deeper on the staff than we were last year, but I digress) so we'll probably end up taking a couple of pitchers who wouldn't have otherwise gone. Look, I think that we all know the situation now and have an idea for what's waiting on us Friday. Today was a good win, but we're going to be smoked if we play that way against LSU. I'm glad though that we could end this portion of the schedule on a positive note. I imagine everyone will be in a better mental state on Friday afternoon than if we'd lost 7-3 today. Hopefully that counts for something.
-Michael Curry is really seeing the ball well right now... so is Cam Shepherd. Aaron Schunk had a really good day at the plate too. Good to see him get on the board with the HR.... He's had a slow start, Schunk, but that guy can really hit. For the offense to click, I think it goes without saying that Keegan McGovern and Michael Curry have to hit... both guys look like they're getting heated up.
-Good 1st inning for Justin Glover. I'm not sure what happened in the 2nd. I had to break out that line from Major League after we had 3 walks to load the bases and Wise steps in a CRUSHES that grand slam on the first pitch.... I said "Well, it looked like a strike anyway." I was happy that they let Glover finish that inning, though. He's a young guy and needs to pitch.
-Home plate umpiring tonight.... wow.... We had a ball that hit the dirt beside the plate, almost in the other batter's box, that was called a strike. Both teams got hooked several times, but I thought that we benefited from it it more than they did.
-I walked into the stadium at 3:55p today and counted 22 people in the grandstand, not counting employees. I've never seen it that empty that close to first pitch. And I get it, it's a cold day and a 4:00p start time.... If we were 17-0 it would have been a very light crowd. Still, I wonder if we sold more than 5 walk up tickets today... The paid attendance has to be 99% season tickets, I would imagine.
-We got a little sloppy on defense today, but part of that was playing our LF at 1st base and part of that was the wind... I thought that Presbyterian played a worse defensive game than we did, errors aside. It couldn't have been fun to play out there in that today.
-We are too beholden to righty/lefty late in the game, I think. I got really irritated when we took out Zak Kristofak. Here's a guy who'd overmatched every hitter he'd seen, then he gives up a 2 out walk in the 9th, and gets replaced so we can go lefty-lefty. I'm 99% sure that's the first time we've asked Adam Goodman to throw on back to back days. And he gets behind 2-0, I'm not having very positive thoughts. To his credit, he got the out, but I really hated taking out Kristofak. Just watch the game... We had the right guy in there.
-So, 8-10 heading into Baton Rouge. Stricklin said on the postgame show that Kevin Smith has an oblique injury and will not travel, while Shane Tucker is under the weather and also will likely not travel. So Andrew Gist will get the ball on Friday night and we'll go Tony Locey and Chase Adkins on Saturday and Sunday. Stricklin also said that we've "created some depth" in the bullpen (after saying all off-season that we were deeper on the staff than we were last year, but I digress) so we'll probably end up taking a couple of pitchers who wouldn't have otherwise gone. Look, I think that we all know the situation now and have an idea for what's waiting on us Friday. Today was a good win, but we're going to be smoked if we play that way against LSU. I'm glad though that we could end this portion of the schedule on a positive note. I imagine everyone will be in a better mental state on Friday afternoon than if we'd lost 7-3 today. Hopefully that counts for something.
