Shockers host Oklahoma

[WuDrWu]

WSU is not going 44-11. Just stop.

No doubt. I was thinking last night through the rest of the schedule. So many moving parts. This group has done a really good job of winning games so far and to be fair, probably a lot closer to 17-1 than 12-6. Sweep Furman, split with OSU, KU, KSU & even Central Ark., then win at home against SDSU and ORU. That's 23-7. Win 8 of 9 against Cincy, Tulane and Memphis (hardly a stretch), 1-2 @ECU, @UCF, @UH & 3-3 at home against UCONN and USF. That's 14-10 in conference. 37-17 going into the AAC. Probably have to be 3 games better than that for an at large, or make the finals of the AAC tourney. Does that not seem reasonable?

[Shocker1976]

No doubt. I was thinking last night through the rest of the schedule. So many moving parts. This group has done a really good job of winning games so far and to be fair, probably a lot closer to 17-1 than 12-6. Sweep Furman, split with OSU, KU, KSU & even Central Ark., then win at home against SDSU and ORU. That's 23-7. Win 8 of 9 against Cincy, Tulane and Memphis (hardly a stretch), 1-2 @ECU, @UCF, @UH & 3-3 at home against UCONN and USF. That's 14-10 in conference. 37-17 going into the AAC. Probably have to be 3 games better than that for an at large, or make the finals of the AAC tourney. Does that not seem reasonable?

My friend predicted the following 14 losses for the Shockers; similar to the summary you presented in your post.

Nebraska 1
Missouri 1
Creighton 1
ECU 2
Okla St. 1
UConn 1
Houston 3
UCF 2
Kansas ST 1
Oral Rob. 1

[WuDrWu]

I can't imagine, nor can any rational person, us sweeping USF. Scott McClanahan is a stud and borderline unhittable, and their #2 and #3 are exactly chopped liver.

[1972Shocker]

I know what you meant Doc. I think.

[Cdizzle]

I do have one rational caution about the pitching numbers:

WSU has played 5 weeks of baseball, and only 1 of those 5 weeks had more than 3 games (WSU did go 4-1 that week giving up only 11 runs in 5 games). Pending weather, the final 9 weeks(inclusive) all have more than 3 games. I would wager that can have a significant impact on your overall pitching numbers.

[Play Angry]

I do have one rational caution about the pitching numbers:

WSU has played 5 weeks of baseball, and only 1 of those 5 weeks had more than 3 games (WSU did go 4-1 that week giving up only 11 runs in 5 games). Pending weather, the final 9 weeks(inclusive) all have more than 3 games. I would wager that can have a significant impact on your overall pitching numbers.

Good point.

It's going to be interesting to see what they do with the Sunday and mid-week slots going forward as Alex and Cody continue to build. Does Connor move to the bullpen, or perhaps Cody stays in a middle relief role (he's been really good at it in limited action so far)?

It'd be great to be in a position where we have a surplus of mid-week options for the first time in a decade. Everyone's gotta stay healthy for that to play out, though.

[1972Shocker]

I suppose one good thing is that in recent years by this time of the season we were already looking forward to getting the season over and moving on to more pleasant pursuits. At this point we can still have hope. Yes we still have some doubts but in recent years we were way beyond doubts.

One thing I will say about the pitching is they we might actually have a mirror image of what has gone on with our pitching staff in recent years. In previous years we start out thinking we have a couple of studs and then before we know it they are on the shelf and were regressing. This year, knock on wood, everyone seems to be staying healthy. I think conditioning is an area Coach Steele really emphasizes. This year if the main guys we have now can stay healthy we have a couple of guys coming off of injuries that could potentially be key pieces later in the season with Alex Segal and Cody Tyler being brought back from injuries very slowly and cautiously.

[WuDrWu]

No doubt. We haven't had our best pitcher on the mound for more than 2 weeks.....ever, I think, in the Butler Era prior to this season.

Also, would like to give a shout out to Clayton McGinness. In 12 appearances, opponents are batting just .143 and he's got the 2nd lowest ERA on the staff at 2.19 (of the regulars). And that's before mentioning that in almost every case, when Clayton enters, there's a fire that has to be put out. Tough conditions, and he's performed more than admirably.

[ShockerFever]

No doubt. I was thinking last night through the rest of the schedule. So many moving parts. This group has done a really good job of winning games so far and to be fair, probably a lot closer to 17-1 than 12-6. Sweep Furman, split with OSU, KU, KSU & even Central Ark., then win at home against SDSU and ORU. That's 23-7. Win 8 of 9 against Cincy, Tulane and Memphis (hardly a stretch), 1-2 @ECU, @UCF, @UH & 3-3 at home against UCONN and USF. That's 14-10 in conference. 37-17 going into the AAC. Probably have to be 3 games better than that for an at large, or make the finals of the AAC tourney. Does that not seem reasonable?

Reasonable to slightly optimistic. I guess the sample size is still a little too small for me against quality competition. 2-2 against teams with a pulse is where we stand. The pitchers have been getting the job done but man do they still put themselves in less than ideal situations with the walks in the late innings. Closers coming in and walking bad hitters on 4 straight pitches still happens too often for my taste. We've been burned in a couple of our losses that way and if it continues, we'll be burned a lot more.

We're still seeing A LOT of outs on the base paths and the hitting has definitely trailed off in the last couple of weeks.

After we get through ECU and the end of our "team with a pulse" tour, I'll reevaluate. Things can continue to go up, but theres still LOTS of time for bad things to happen unfortunately.