Shocks Host the UTA Mavericks for 3-Games

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks will be hosting the Texas-Arlington Mavericks this weekend at Eck Stadium. Weahter should be a bit better than it has been. A little breezy maybe but nothing like we saw for the SIU-E game.

GoShocker.com Game Notes

My expectations are for a Shocker sweep which, of course, will require continue good work by Cody Heuer and Liam Eddy. I assume Connor Lungwitz will get the start in Game 3 again but he may need to pick it up if he wants to hold on to that role as the season progresses.

Hopefully, we Trey Vickers back in the lineup for this season although we should still be able to handle UTA without him. I would prefer they take their time with Trey and make sure he is fully recovered but he did play an inning in the field at the end of the ORU game. Atlhough with Preson Minor strking out the side that half inning was much of a test for Trey. I guess we know Trey's hamstring will hold up to particpating in a couple of round the horns and yelling some atta boys.

Whether Trey plays or not it's time (reallly past time IMHO) to move Dayton Dugas out of the 4-hole. If Dayton does play he needs to be in the 7 or 8 hole in the lineup until he can prove has can provided some protection for Alec Bohm and produce like your woulld expect a clean-up hitter to produce.

If Trey does play I assume Jordan Boyer will move over to 2nd and Luke Ritter can DH or move to the outfiled.

Looking forward to the Shocker bats coming alive this weekend. At least hoping they will.

[Cdizzle]

Or maybe remove Ritter from the lineup altogether for a bit.

I don't see any reason to not try to get more ABs for Croft/Katzfey, especially if the DH spot is available.

[1972Shocker]

Yeah, that would be okay. You could also alternate Ritter and Dugas in right field and see who can be most productive and still use Croft/Troutwine and Katzfey in the DH depending on whether your are facing a RHP or LHP.

[1972Shocker]

Interesting. Looks like the Game 3 starter is not settled.

[Wuzee]

Lineup cards are in for the Shocks...

LF - Young .231
CF - Jenista .325
3B - Bohm .395
1B - O'Brien .314
SS - VICKERS !!!!!!!!
DH - Croft .364
RF - Katzfey .444
C - Troutwine .250
2B - Boyer .235

P - Heuer

Opposing pitcher has a 4.91 ERA and no decisions in two starts. Only 3 Ks in 11.2 innings and an opponent BA of .349

[1972Shocker]

I have to say that I like the changes. How they will work remains to be seen but seems like a lineup up that could do some damage.

I think that is about the best protection we can provide for Bohm. Hopefully, Trey is fully recovered and not too rusty.

[WheatShock]

Lineup cards are in for the Shocks...

LF - Young .231
CF - Jenista .325
3B - Bohm .395
1B - O'Brien .314
SS - VICKERS !!!!!!!!
DH - Croft .364
RF - Katzfey .444
C - Troutwine .250
2B - Boyer .235

P - Heuer

Opposing pitcher has a 4.91 ERA and no decisions in two starts. Only 3 Ks in 11.2 innings and an opponent BA of .349

Nice to see somebody other than Dugas batting 4th.

[WuDrWu]

Jenista off the fair poll for ANOTHER grand slam. 8-2 bottom 4.

[Play Angry]

Looked like a very good effort from the Shocks tonight in the 12-3 win - hopefully we can keep it rolling tomorrow.

[1972Shocker]

Have to feel pretty good with Liam on the mound tomorrow the way he has looked this year.

Getting Trey Vickers back is also a big plus.

Will be interesting to see who gets the start in Sunday's game.

[WuDrWu]

Codi wasn't at his best but it was a blue collar effort. Keller, Allen and Evans out of the pen did their job with FR Trent Allen looking especially sharp.

Vickers was 3-5 with a dinger. Dugas had a pinch hit double. Thought our plate approach was much better, but no doubt their pitcher was not at all similar to what we'll see on Friday night in conference. Those 3 innings last night inflated Anderson's ERA from 4.91 to 9.00. Giving up grand salamis will do that to you.

Speaking of grand slams, that's 5 on the season. 6 is the program record set in '98 I think. If I heard Shane correctly, we've only had 7 at bats this year with the bases loaded. That seems like a smallish number for a team that has scored as much as this one has. But man have they made it count. The team is hitting .714 with the bases juiced and slugging 2.857. lol Small sample size but still.

While some little things continue to be there, I like what I'm seeing from a variety of angles. Pitching continues to keep the ball down and limit the opposition from squaring up too many balls (only giving up 28 extra base hits in 12 games vs hitting 45) while striking out batters at a 3-1 clip. Of the 15 arms they've rolled out, all but Kilgore and Evans (to me at least) have been sharp more often than not. Barnhouse was rock solid before the 2 outings against Nebraska.

This team continues to be sharp in the field. .989 is doing a bunch of things right and NOT by accident and let's remember, last year they fielded .974, tied for 2nd best in program history. Encouraging signs to me at least. Yes, things will get much more difficult after this weekend, but they're off to a good start. Go Shocks!

[ShockerFever]

Numbers are still early but our RPI has now dropped to 85 and our SOS has ballooned to 219. 8 of our 10 wins are against teams with losing records (some significantly losing). Our only two wins against a winning team was Nebraska, who isn't exactly tearing it up at 7-6. I think that absolutely is a factor.

However, things change starting on Tuesday with a stretch of 13 straight games against teams with winning records. If they start piling up wins against that stretch, then we can start talking.

[WuDrWu]

Fever, I'm not trying to paint you into a corner, but what if this team is competitive, splits, with OU and MU, takes 2-3 from CU and Furman, beats Central Arkansas and loses 2-3 at ECU. That's 7-5 over the next 12. Do they have to go 10-2 again in their next 12 to start talking? I'm really not baiting you, I'm trying to figure out what they have to do to bring back in the "pessimistic" fans that are out there (admittedly they are the vast majority still).

I also realize you're often only as good as your last game. And I want to know, in all honesty, to see where you are before, and compare after (hopefully they do well!) to see if, frankly, it's even possible to change the pessimistic fan, because deep down I'm not sure it can be done, and that's not a reflection on you.

[ShockerFever]

Honestly, in year 5, with a coach getting Top 25 type money, yes something closer to 10-2 than 7-5 would be more expected to confirm the "realness" of this team. I'm sorry Doc, but I still see the same low-IQ play with some interesting lineup and game play decisions that have not yet resulted in losses thanks to a much easier schedule than last year thus far. Our bullpen pitching is still extremely concerning. It can wiggle past teams that are lost causes, but put them in there against teams with just decent hitting (i.e. Nebraska) and games that shouldn't be lost, end up going south.

In year FIVE, I just think the patience is running thin for me. There has been NOTHING in the 4 previous years that have turned the direction or relevance of Shocker baseball. Attendance is God-awful and there simply is no buzz. If they prove to be legitimate in the next coming weeks, I suppose there's a chance to reevaluate but I just think this team's record isn't a true indicator of what to expect in May/June. I guess we'll see.

I'm a WSU fan so of course I will never cheer against them. It's just I haven't seen anything proven yet to think this program has a chance and is for real. We have some really good players though and they will be supported as best as they can.

[1972Shocker]

The new lineup worked pretty well. Don't know how much was the new lineup and how much was the UTA pitching but this was exactly what the Shocks needed after the ORU loss.

Even Dayton got into the act with a 2-run double. Good for him.

So much for Trey Vickers being rusty.

We had an Adam Keller sighting was well.

Another errorless game.

Another quality start from Codi. Not dominating but plenty good enough and another 3 solid innings from the bullpen.

[WuDrWu]

Nice little 9 pitch 1st inning for Liam Eddy. The freshman has been rock solid so far this season.

Shocks coming up. Dugas and Ritter back in the lineup hitting 6th and 5th respectively. O'Brien in the cleanup spot.

Young flies out to fairly deep center. Jenista and Bohm ground out, although Grey appeared to beat the throw, to me at least. No score going to the 2nd.

[WuDrWu]

Liam works around a 1 out single and needs only 13 pitches to set UTA down in the 2nd. Bohm with a nifty pick up on the last ground out. Still no score, bottom 2.

[WuDrWu]

Well, a single and a walk made it 1st and 2nd nobody out. But UTA has a crafty lefty with several pitches he can throw at three speeds....slow, slower and slowest.

The result? No score, top 3.

[WuDrWu]

A couple of very loud outs, but no damage. 0-0 bottom 3.

[WuDrWu]

A Jordan Boyer homer in the 3rd, and a Croft single scoring O'Brien in the 4th and it's 2-0 Shocks in the top of the 5th.

Top 5, 2 quick outs and 2 strikes and then everything went bad all of a sudden.

Eddy threw 3 balls, and with the count loaded UTA hit a fly to Jenista, who had it measured but it was right in the sun (shades on) and it fell next to him for a 3 base error. The next batter hit a flare behind Bohm that somehow fell and it's 2-1 Shocks bottom 5.