First, I really like Saturday double headers... it's just fun to spend all day over there. Got to see 18 innings of baseball today... not a bad way to spend the Saturday. They definitely made the right decision too with the forecast for tomorrow.
Game One:
-Emerson Hancock looked a bit more mortal today. I was wondering how he'd do this time after that start he had last weekend. It's not like he was bad today, but just wasn't as dominant. I guess it was the 3rd or 4th inning when they really squared him up... he gave up a couple of really hard hit balls in a row. To his credit, he minimized it. He didn't seem to have the same movement on his fastball today and his curve wasn't quite as sharp either, but again, I thought that he showed a lot of maturity in how he handled it.
-I used to say that Robert Tyler's fastball had more bite when he would throw it in the low 90s. When he'd get up at 95 or 96, it could get a little bit flat. But it had so much life at 91-92 that it looked like it was harder. Hancock today threw a couple at 96 that looked harder than that... like it just explodes when it gets to the plate. I said about that he didn't have the same caliber of stuff as last weekend, but it was still good today. I really enjoy watching that guy.
-Will Procter really impressed me too. You don't want to walk the leadoff guy and he that twice (on four pitches each time), but he pitched around it. His curveball was great today. He got up to 50 pitches or so, which was more than I expected us to push him, but man he was good. He seemed a lot more in control today than his debut last weekend, too. You watch the guy, you'd never think he was our primary second baseman last season...
-Zak Kristofak in the 9th inning did not have his best stuff, at all, but I respected the way he fought through it and got those last three outs for us.
-Offensively, Maciejewski really handcuffed us. I thought he was going to come out in the 3rd inning (I think it was) when he apparently started cramping up. I also really don't understand why we swung at the first pitch after those two trainer visits, the latter of which was an 2-0 count.... That game plays out much differently if we can get him out of there earlier. Still, he was the first "good" lefty that we've seen this year in extended time and I think that was good for us... I didn't much care for his antics after the last out he collected in the 7th.... I know there is a lot of adrenaline going, but have some class...
-Charlotte basically handed us the game in the 8th inning.... Walk, two base error, walk, mis-play in LF, out, out and mis-play by 1B. That last run we scored wound up being a huge insurance run...
-Good to see Austin Biggar collect a big RBI hit early in the game and then Ivan Johnson got a bit early too... always good to see the bottom of the order produce.
Game Two:
-I don't know exactly how to describe it, but if you saw the game, you'd agree with me that Chase Adkins just didn't look comfortable at all. It looked he couldn't get his landing spot on the mound the way he wanted it, at least early.... he looked almost pissed off all game. Last weekend, it was just a nice, easy delivery quick tempo, everything looked good... Today, it seemed like every pitch was a battle. He was working slowly, he kept pounding his glove, kept walking around the mound. Something was clearly "off" with him today. To that end, his stat line was pretty respectable. It just really seemed like a grind for him today...
-I thought that Aaron Schunk, and I know he had an error, but I thought that game two was his best defensive game of the year. Guy made some really good plays at 3B.
-Along those lines, Tucker Maxwell covers a ton of ground in CF.... I don't think that's appreciated as much as it probably should be.
-Bullpen... gosh, Locey pitched really well and in hindsight, he probably should have gone back out for another inning, but I didn't have a problem at the time with him only pitching one. After that, it was a real struggle to finish the game tonight. Justin Glover has had a very tough start to the year. I do think he's better than he's shown so far, but he just isn't missing a lot of bats right now. I really couldn't believe how hard it was to close that game out... we'd been in firm control of the thing the whole way, then all of a sudden the go ahead run is at the plate in the 9th inning.... and we'd already made so many substitutions... I thought it was interesting that Stricklin replaced Chaney Rogers at 1B with Patrick Sullivan during a pitching change (I think when Glover was replaced with Cairnes). All of a sudden, you've got Cole Tate at 2nd base, Mitchell Webb in RF, and CJ Smith in CF with the bases loaded in the 9th inning. I think all anyone could do at the end was exhale.
-Finally, Keegan McGovern.... I mean, obviously that's the story from game two. He hit more HRs in that one game than he hit all of last season. And all three were BOMBS too, especially the last one. I remember Josh Morris in a midweek game in 2006 almost hitting a ball over the batter's eye (which was a different one then than we have now, although I don't know if it was the same height). Keegan's third HR today reminded me of that one... it was like two or three feet down from the top of the batter's eye. I mean, that baseball was absolutely smoked.... (I thought it was funny that Charlotte immediately pulled their pitcher after that, even though Keegan was the first batter he'd faced). And, that wound up being a big insurance run for us too.... Keegan was really hot to start the 2016 season, but not like this.... this is just something else. Obviously, he's not going to slug 1.240 all year, but he's clearly a threat at the plate to a level that he hasn't been before. There aren't a lot of guys who hit three HRs in a game.... I imagine the last time we did it was 2009, I would guess with Rich Poythress, but that's just a guess.... Anyway, it's just fun to watch that. I've always enjoyed watching Keegan play and always respected his game. I'm really happy that he's doing this now.
Overall:
-So, I guess the last time we were 6-1 was probably 2015. We're doing some good things right now... and we aren't beating ourselves. That said, there is a lot that we do need to clean up. We've trailed at some point in five of the six games we've won... getting down two runs early at Kennesaw isn't a big deal, but most SEC teams that we play will hold a 7-2 lead if they get that on Friday night, as Ga Southern did last weekend.
I'm not trying to down play what we're doing. This was the first sweep that we've had since Lipscomb in 2016 and the fourth sweep since the start of the 2015 season. So, they haven't been easy to come by and I don't want to diminish what we did this weekend. But that said, a lot of these wins that we've had this season have largely been a function of the other team being themselves... The 8th inning in game one today, the 9th inning on Sunday last weekend, that one inning at Kennesaw (although I think that we'd win that game anyway). I'm not going to say that's never going to happen in the SEC.... it happened last year in Lexington on Friday afternoon, but it'll be rare once we get into the conference. That 8th inning today won't happen like that against Florida or Vanderbilt or Ole Miss... That's why I was feeling so good in game two today, up until the 8th inning. We just beaten Charlotte pretty soundly to that point... but then we had some much trouble closing the door.
A lot of these infield hits and misplays at 1B and walks that we're drawing.... that stuff is going to start to disappear in three weeks. But again, the good news here is that we're not beating ourselves right now. And I'm sure it's a lot easier to go to work and get better at 6-1 than it is at 1-6...
Finally, Charlotte isn't a bad team. They did make some mistakes over the course of this series, but they're a pretty good hitting team. Coming in, I thought that they were better than Ga Southern. Now, I don't know.... I think Southern is better on the mound and with the IF defense. Charlotte is better at the plate and definitely has better OF arms. They're probably pretty close to the same.... it'll be interesting to see what they do the rest of the way in C-USA.
Real good day of baseball today.
Game One:
-Emerson Hancock looked a bit more mortal today. I was wondering how he'd do this time after that start he had last weekend. It's not like he was bad today, but just wasn't as dominant. I guess it was the 3rd or 4th inning when they really squared him up... he gave up a couple of really hard hit balls in a row. To his credit, he minimized it. He didn't seem to have the same movement on his fastball today and his curve wasn't quite as sharp either, but again, I thought that he showed a lot of maturity in how he handled it.
-I used to say that Robert Tyler's fastball had more bite when he would throw it in the low 90s. When he'd get up at 95 or 96, it could get a little bit flat. But it had so much life at 91-92 that it looked like it was harder. Hancock today threw a couple at 96 that looked harder than that... like it just explodes when it gets to the plate. I said about that he didn't have the same caliber of stuff as last weekend, but it was still good today. I really enjoy watching that guy.
-Will Procter really impressed me too. You don't want to walk the leadoff guy and he that twice (on four pitches each time), but he pitched around it. His curveball was great today. He got up to 50 pitches or so, which was more than I expected us to push him, but man he was good. He seemed a lot more in control today than his debut last weekend, too. You watch the guy, you'd never think he was our primary second baseman last season...
-Zak Kristofak in the 9th inning did not have his best stuff, at all, but I respected the way he fought through it and got those last three outs for us.
-Offensively, Maciejewski really handcuffed us. I thought he was going to come out in the 3rd inning (I think it was) when he apparently started cramping up. I also really don't understand why we swung at the first pitch after those two trainer visits, the latter of which was an 2-0 count.... That game plays out much differently if we can get him out of there earlier. Still, he was the first "good" lefty that we've seen this year in extended time and I think that was good for us... I didn't much care for his antics after the last out he collected in the 7th.... I know there is a lot of adrenaline going, but have some class...
-Charlotte basically handed us the game in the 8th inning.... Walk, two base error, walk, mis-play in LF, out, out and mis-play by 1B. That last run we scored wound up being a huge insurance run...
-Good to see Austin Biggar collect a big RBI hit early in the game and then Ivan Johnson got a bit early too... always good to see the bottom of the order produce.
Game Two:
-I don't know exactly how to describe it, but if you saw the game, you'd agree with me that Chase Adkins just didn't look comfortable at all. It looked he couldn't get his landing spot on the mound the way he wanted it, at least early.... he looked almost pissed off all game. Last weekend, it was just a nice, easy delivery quick tempo, everything looked good... Today, it seemed like every pitch was a battle. He was working slowly, he kept pounding his glove, kept walking around the mound. Something was clearly "off" with him today. To that end, his stat line was pretty respectable. It just really seemed like a grind for him today...
-I thought that Aaron Schunk, and I know he had an error, but I thought that game two was his best defensive game of the year. Guy made some really good plays at 3B.
-Along those lines, Tucker Maxwell covers a ton of ground in CF.... I don't think that's appreciated as much as it probably should be.
-Bullpen... gosh, Locey pitched really well and in hindsight, he probably should have gone back out for another inning, but I didn't have a problem at the time with him only pitching one. After that, it was a real struggle to finish the game tonight. Justin Glover has had a very tough start to the year. I do think he's better than he's shown so far, but he just isn't missing a lot of bats right now. I really couldn't believe how hard it was to close that game out... we'd been in firm control of the thing the whole way, then all of a sudden the go ahead run is at the plate in the 9th inning.... and we'd already made so many substitutions... I thought it was interesting that Stricklin replaced Chaney Rogers at 1B with Patrick Sullivan during a pitching change (I think when Glover was replaced with Cairnes). All of a sudden, you've got Cole Tate at 2nd base, Mitchell Webb in RF, and CJ Smith in CF with the bases loaded in the 9th inning. I think all anyone could do at the end was exhale.
-Finally, Keegan McGovern.... I mean, obviously that's the story from game two. He hit more HRs in that one game than he hit all of last season. And all three were BOMBS too, especially the last one. I remember Josh Morris in a midweek game in 2006 almost hitting a ball over the batter's eye (which was a different one then than we have now, although I don't know if it was the same height). Keegan's third HR today reminded me of that one... it was like two or three feet down from the top of the batter's eye. I mean, that baseball was absolutely smoked.... (I thought it was funny that Charlotte immediately pulled their pitcher after that, even though Keegan was the first batter he'd faced). And, that wound up being a big insurance run for us too.... Keegan was really hot to start the 2016 season, but not like this.... this is just something else. Obviously, he's not going to slug 1.240 all year, but he's clearly a threat at the plate to a level that he hasn't been before. There aren't a lot of guys who hit three HRs in a game.... I imagine the last time we did it was 2009, I would guess with Rich Poythress, but that's just a guess.... Anyway, it's just fun to watch that. I've always enjoyed watching Keegan play and always respected his game. I'm really happy that he's doing this now.
Overall:
-So, I guess the last time we were 6-1 was probably 2015. We're doing some good things right now... and we aren't beating ourselves. That said, there is a lot that we do need to clean up. We've trailed at some point in five of the six games we've won... getting down two runs early at Kennesaw isn't a big deal, but most SEC teams that we play will hold a 7-2 lead if they get that on Friday night, as Ga Southern did last weekend.
I'm not trying to down play what we're doing. This was the first sweep that we've had since Lipscomb in 2016 and the fourth sweep since the start of the 2015 season. So, they haven't been easy to come by and I don't want to diminish what we did this weekend. But that said, a lot of these wins that we've had this season have largely been a function of the other team being themselves... The 8th inning in game one today, the 9th inning on Sunday last weekend, that one inning at Kennesaw (although I think that we'd win that game anyway). I'm not going to say that's never going to happen in the SEC.... it happened last year in Lexington on Friday afternoon, but it'll be rare once we get into the conference. That 8th inning today won't happen like that against Florida or Vanderbilt or Ole Miss... That's why I was feeling so good in game two today, up until the 8th inning. We just beaten Charlotte pretty soundly to that point... but then we had some much trouble closing the door.
A lot of these infield hits and misplays at 1B and walks that we're drawing.... that stuff is going to start to disappear in three weeks. But again, the good news here is that we're not beating ourselves right now. And I'm sure it's a lot easier to go to work and get better at 6-1 than it is at 1-6...
Finally, Charlotte isn't a bad team. They did make some mistakes over the course of this series, but they're a pretty good hitting team. Coming in, I thought that they were better than Ga Southern. Now, I don't know.... I think Southern is better on the mound and with the IF defense. Charlotte is better at the plate and definitely has better OF arms. They're probably pretty close to the same.... it'll be interesting to see what they do the rest of the way in C-USA.
Real good day of baseball today.
