Shocker Baseball Opens the Season on Friday

[ShockerFever]

1 down, 55 more to go.

[tru2thaduce]

If Pelfrey waits 3 innings to call breaking balls when McGuinness is pitching that kid is going to have an awful season.I said it before,he is a big step down from Steele.

[SB Shock]

Just think - Butler has “scheduled down” for non-conference.

[1972Shocker]

Just think - Butler has “scheduled down” for non-conference.

I think this year's schedule is a step up from last year overall.

Not a promising start for the Shocks. And that is putting it mildly. Only one game but it certainly was not encouraging.

[SB Shock]

I think this year's schedule is a step up from last year overall.

Not a promising start for the Shocks. And that is putting it mildly. Only one game but it certainly was not encouraging.

GCU is a decent program (they won’t be RPI killers), but they are a team that somebody from the American Confernece has to be able to beat.

I’m only going by what publically Butler has said. He indicated that since WSU was playing in the American that they did not need to schedule as strong in non-conference.

[1972Shocker]

GCU is a decent program (they won’t be RPI killers), but they are a team that somebody from the American Confernece has to be able to beat.

I’m only going by what publically Butler has said. He indicated that since WSU was playing in the American that they did not need to schedule as strong in non-conference.

I think he is probably right that we don't need to schedule as tough in the non-conference being in the AAC but you still need to schedule strong enough to prepare your team for non-conference play. IMHO this year's non-con schedule is somewhat tougher than last year's although not the toughest we have had in the Butler era.

Last year we were 18-4 heading into AAC play and many of us were still not sure exactly what we had heading into conference play, Unfortunately, that record proved to be misleading and apparently did not have the guys ready for what they would be up against in the AAC.

Very possible that we will have 4 losses coming out of the 1st weekend this year and by the time AAC play opens this year we may very well have a better take on what kind of team we have than we did last. Whether or not we like that take remains to be seen. There are some wins to be had on the schedule that may not prove much but there are also opportunities to be challenged.

[SB Shock]

I think he is probably right that we don't need to schedule as tough in the non-conference being in the AAC but you still need to schedule strong enough to prepare your team for non-conference play. IMHO this year's non-con schedule is somewhat tougher than last year's although not the toughest we have had in the Butler era.

Last year we were 18-4 heading into AAC play and many of us were still not sure exactly what we had heading into conference play, Unfortunately, that record proved to be misleading and apparently did not have the guys ready for what they would be up against in the AAC.

Very possible that we will have 4 losses coming out of the 1st weekend this year and by the time AAC play opens this year we may very well have a better take on what kind of team we have than we did last. Whether or not we like that take remains to be seen. There are some wins to be had on the schedule that may not prove much but there are also opportunities to be challenged.

For record I disagree with Butler assessment that you can schedule down - that a tactic that somebody does when they are trying to save their job by creating an illusion of progress.

If you are good program then you schedule the best opponents you can because as you pointed out above,

a. Prepares you for your league grind
b. Prepares you for post-season play
c. A strong, successfully schedule then allows you for the potential hosting a regional/super regional which gives a team an advantage of getting to CWS.

[1972Shocker]

Your key words are "if you are a good proggram". At this point I don't think Wichita State qualifies.