A lifelong friend asked me early this week to check about getting some tickets for tonight's game, and we were very fortunate to find some really good seats at a reasonable price from a fellow Reb (thank you very much @BRBRebel!). As most of you know, I am primarily a football guy, but I did play baseball, winning one state championship and playing for another, and I spent nearly 20 years umpiring baseball in the offseason while I was coaching, so I have a decent idea of what I am looking at. Now that I have given you my qualifications for this post, I thought I would share a couple of random post-game observations from tonight's tough 3-2 loss to UTjr.
1. BLUF: UT was the better team tonight. We couldn't put the ball in play against Doyle, and this, coupled with Elliot not being particularly sharp, led to us coming up on the short end of the scoreboard. That said, this team has guts. I can't say I saw one thing tonight regarding our effort, attention to detail, and our body language that made me cringe with disgust. Simply put, I like this team. If we continue to show the resilience we showed tonight, we will win 16-18 games in the league and have the opportunity to host a regional at year's end.
2. Play (pitch) of the game - top of the 2nd, Fischer is at the plate for UTjr and has a 2-2 count. Elliot throws a beautiful pitch that handcuffs Fischer. Unfortunately, the umpire doesn't wring him up, which visibly frustrates Elliot, and he ends up walking. The next guy walks on a 3-1 count after another close pitch goes against us, and the next batter hits a double down the line, scoring both runs. If we get the close call, just the one on Fischer, the inning and, IMHO, the game, goes differently.
3. Doyle really blowed us away, especially early. He was hitting 97 consistently on the gun, occasionally hitting 99. I don't remember him throwing that hard for us. We finally stopped the perfect game/no-hitter with a single by Hill in the 4th. Doyle threw 111 pitches in 8 1/3 innings with 14 strikeouts to get the win. I am not a fan of his attitude, but the kid can pitch.
4. Elliot took the loss, being charged with all 3 UTjr runs in 4+ innings. He was not very sharp, consistently missing high. To his credit, he continued to battle and kept us in the hunt. Mason Morris came in and finished up, throwing less than 65 pitches in 5 innings of work. I am not a baseball coach, but he certainly looks like an SEC starter to me.
5. Fawley went 2-3 and had the HR that cut the UTjr lead to 1 run. They almost started the light show and the HR theme song too soon, as it appeared to me that the UTjr LF almost came down with the ball.
6. In the 9th, with 1 on, Utermark, who was representing the winning run, absolutely smoked the pitch from the UTjr reliever, but it was hit right at the UTjr RF. I honestly thought it was gone.
7. Furniss had a great AB to extend the game in the 9th. I don't understand why we don't have this approach more throughout the game. Speaking of that, I don't understand why we continue to swing for the fences with 2 strikes. Whatever happened to shortening up and putting the ball in play and forcing the defense to make a play? This is college baseball; errors happen. I guess the game has just passed me by, analytics and all.
8. Saw Coach Chris Beard and the basketball team (both of them, Klafke and Dia) at the game. They looked like they were having a good time and appeared to be recruiting while watching. Also saw Channing Ward. Spoke to him briefly. He is a HS football coach now. Man, that dude would knock your head off on KO team.
9. Conclusion: Tough loss. Loved our competitiveness. We will win our share if we play like that the rest of the way. We need to get at least 1 from UT. Hopefully we can get the bats cranked up tomorrow and Sunday. Thanks again @BRBRebel for the great tickets at a reasonable price. Rebs are taking care of Rebs. Just like it should be. LFG! HYDR!
1. BLUF: UT was the better team tonight. We couldn't put the ball in play against Doyle, and this, coupled with Elliot not being particularly sharp, led to us coming up on the short end of the scoreboard. That said, this team has guts. I can't say I saw one thing tonight regarding our effort, attention to detail, and our body language that made me cringe with disgust. Simply put, I like this team. If we continue to show the resilience we showed tonight, we will win 16-18 games in the league and have the opportunity to host a regional at year's end.
2. Play (pitch) of the game - top of the 2nd, Fischer is at the plate for UTjr and has a 2-2 count. Elliot throws a beautiful pitch that handcuffs Fischer. Unfortunately, the umpire doesn't wring him up, which visibly frustrates Elliot, and he ends up walking. The next guy walks on a 3-1 count after another close pitch goes against us, and the next batter hits a double down the line, scoring both runs. If we get the close call, just the one on Fischer, the inning and, IMHO, the game, goes differently.
3. Doyle really blowed us away, especially early. He was hitting 97 consistently on the gun, occasionally hitting 99. I don't remember him throwing that hard for us. We finally stopped the perfect game/no-hitter with a single by Hill in the 4th. Doyle threw 111 pitches in 8 1/3 innings with 14 strikeouts to get the win. I am not a fan of his attitude, but the kid can pitch.
4. Elliot took the loss, being charged with all 3 UTjr runs in 4+ innings. He was not very sharp, consistently missing high. To his credit, he continued to battle and kept us in the hunt. Mason Morris came in and finished up, throwing less than 65 pitches in 5 innings of work. I am not a baseball coach, but he certainly looks like an SEC starter to me.
5. Fawley went 2-3 and had the HR that cut the UTjr lead to 1 run. They almost started the light show and the HR theme song too soon, as it appeared to me that the UTjr LF almost came down with the ball.
6. In the 9th, with 1 on, Utermark, who was representing the winning run, absolutely smoked the pitch from the UTjr reliever, but it was hit right at the UTjr RF. I honestly thought it was gone.
7. Furniss had a great AB to extend the game in the 9th. I don't understand why we don't have this approach more throughout the game. Speaking of that, I don't understand why we continue to swing for the fences with 2 strikes. Whatever happened to shortening up and putting the ball in play and forcing the defense to make a play? This is college baseball; errors happen. I guess the game has just passed me by, analytics and all.
8. Saw Coach Chris Beard and the basketball team (both of them, Klafke and Dia) at the game. They looked like they were having a good time and appeared to be recruiting while watching. Also saw Channing Ward. Spoke to him briefly. He is a HS football coach now. Man, that dude would knock your head off on KO team.
9. Conclusion: Tough loss. Loved our competitiveness. We will win our share if we play like that the rest of the way. We need to get at least 1 from UT. Hopefully we can get the bats cranked up tomorrow and Sunday. Thanks again @BRBRebel for the great tickets at a reasonable price. Rebs are taking care of Rebs. Just like it should be. LFG! HYDR!
