#24 Wichita State at Houston, 3 Game Series

[Play Angry]

Young singles to put runners at the corners with nobody out for Ritter as the Shocks have the top of the order coming up in the clutch.

[Play Angry]

Shallow fly out to left fails to get the runner in, out #1 for the Shocks. Jenista up with runners at the corners and 1 out now.

[Play Angry]

Jenista hits a dribbler to 1B soft enough to drive in Boyer, Young advances to 2nd with 2 out for Bohm. 1-0 WSU.

[Play Angry]

Leadoff double for UH to start the bottom of the 5th, Clayton McGinness on in relief. Excellent outing for Tyler Davis.

[Play Angry]

K, fly out to CF, and then an RBI single. 1-1 to the 6th.

[Play Angry]

2 out rally for Houston in the 7th puts them ahead 3-1. There is still some time in this one but WSU is staring at a Titanic-level disaster this weekend if they do not have a comeback in the cards.

[Play Angry]

Shocks lose 3-1.

[Cdizzle]

Shox get a leadoff single in the 9th and then strike out 3 times to put this weekend out of its misery.

Will a 6-8th place team in the AAC get an at-large?

[ShockTalk]

NO

[Play Angry]

Baseball is less rigid than hoops on this. We need 38-39 regular season wins to feel good heading into the AAC Tournament. Does not matter how we get them.

Getting there became much more challenging after this weekend.

[1972Shocker]

Will a 6-8th place team in the AAC get an at-large?

I wouldn't think so. But the thing is the Shocks still have 12 AAC games remaining. Granted they have not shown any indication in the 1st half of AAC play that they will be able to make some hay over these remaining games but anything is possible I guess. But the odds are not good especially they way they played and failed to respond this weekend.

At this point post-season play is looking more and more dependent on winning the AAC Tournament. But they way we have played so far in conference games that seems like a pretty long shot as well.

[ShockerFever]

I'd comment on the situation but I'm a bad fan so I'll just let it be.

[JayPak]

Shockers leave another 2 men on. Eddy gives up another ringing single to start of the Bottom of 2nd.

3-dude single [copyright Brent Kemnitz) given up. Houston with runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.

What’s a three-dude single?

[WSUwatcher]

Is Liam Eddy healthy? Has he hit the wall?

And anyway, wow -- is the rest of the American really that much tougher than the non-conference opposition WSU has faced? The Shocks have won as many against the Big 12-2 in four tries as they have against the American in 12 games

Unfortunately, the sixth inning of today's second game was kind of a microcosm of the whole conference season for the Shocks. Tied going in, leadoff man on, only to have Dugas kill the inning with a DP; so they started over and ended up with runners on second and third, whereupon a called third strike (how many of those have we seen lately?) finished the inning. Three runners, no big hits, no runs. Then, in the home half, Houston got an infield hit, made two quick outs, and had a runner at first with two out; but in this case Lungwitz couldn't close the deal. For them, it was also three runners, but one big two-out hit, two runs, and the ball game.

Coaching guru and former Shocker Bill Parcells might have put it this way: "You may not look like you're a 4-8 team, and you may not feel like a 4-8 team or think you should be a 4-8 team; but if your record says 4-8, then you're a 4-8 team."

The Shocks still have time; their last nine league games are six at home and then three at Memphis, which is pretty woeful. That means there's still a chance to turn it around. But more and more, despite the good (and much improved) numbers this team has put up, it's starting to look like 4-8 is a more accurate reflection of what they are than 26-12 is, and that does not bode well unless there's a major reversal on the weekend, and soon. So -- can they stop giving away unearned runs (the defense AND the pitchers), and can they get a clutch hit after Wednesday? If so, this could yet be fun. But if not, the doldrums will have returned for yet another year, and this one would be the most disappointing in a while.

[Shockm]

This was a bad sweep and not likely to get fans back in the seats.

[shockfan89_]

This sweep was bad and even uglier if you factor in that before the weekend Houston was under .500 (12-13) against teams with an RPI of under 150. They are 10-2 against RPI 150+.

If there was going to be a sweep this weekend, it should have been the Shockers carrying the brooms...

[WstateU]

nm