USF @ WSU

[1972Shocker]

A squeeze play scored a 2nd USF run as they take a 2-1 lead.

Not sure why Wedge gave Edddy such a long leash there. I guess he just wanted to see if he would hang himself. He did.

[Kung Wu]

Wulp, this is the way to respond!

[Kung Wu]

This is REALLY the way to respond.

[1972Shocker]

The Shock respond with 3 in the bottom of the 6th on a Bartlett single, back-to-back triples by Cornblum and Stroh, and a single by Stewart.

Liam Eddy comes back out for the 7th throwing strikes as he only need 13 pitches while giving up a 2-out single.

The Shocks take advantage of USF's very generous charity in the bottom of the 7th to tack on 5 more runs on only 2 hits capped by a 2-run single by Andrew Stewart.

Shocks lead 9-2 after 7 complete.

Eddy is done and Aaron Bechtel comes in to pitch in the 8th. Liam was very good with the exception of his hiccup, maybe more of a belch in the top of the 6th. But the bottom line is it was a quality start and he gave his team a chance and they eventually responded.

Bechtel gives up a run in the 8th on back-to-back 1-out singles followed by a sac fly. Shocks still in control at 9-3.

[NCAABound]

Thanks for the updates

[ShockerFever]

Why can’t this team play well in series openers?

[ShockerFever]

And why are our home games limited with ESPN Plus? I was hoping to catch a replay of this one.

Its just not worth it to have it at this point.

[1972Shocker]

Tommy Barnhouse comes on in the 9th and stirkes out the side in order to end the game.

Shocks 9 - Bulls 3

Liam Eddy gets the win.

Andrew Stewart goes 2-4 with 3 RBI and raises his average by 20 points to .184

The Shockers committed no errors in today's doubleheader.

[Kung Wu]

Man we have to win them all from here on out.

[shoxlax]

Tommy Barnhouse comes on in the 9th and stirkes out the side 1-2-3 to end the game.

Shocks 9 - Bulls 3

Liam Eddy gets the win.

Andrew Stewart goes 2-4 with 3 RBI and raises his average by 20 points to .184

The Shockers committed no errors in today's doubleheader.

This team continues to baffle but they are miles ahead of a Todd Butler product without the high draft choices that he had to work with. This is really Wedgie’s first year and in reality it has been skewed with the mid week limitations the AAC Politburo has placed on baseball.

[Kung Wu]

Doesn't playing 4 games every weekend really stretch a non-deep roster? Tough situation for a new coach to be in right off the bat, but EW is not gonna back down from a fight.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Baseball is a weird game when it comes to pitchers. Overall, good pitchers pitch well. But there are things they cannot control in the field. A dropped foul can change a game. What would have been a third out, leads to a 2-out rally that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

The best pitchers to ever play the game have had games of 10 ER allowed. Maddox, Big Unit, Hershiser. Knowing that, it is how you respond.

Liam came back with a vengeance. Kaminska will as well.

As to the problem with game 1’s? Is it a preparation thing? I look at our success in Game 2’s and think maybe they just aren’t getting game ready due to knowing they have to play 2. Easing into it. Who knows. What I do know is they never quit. They never just go through the motions. They had opportunities in several late innings with multiple runners on, it just didn’t happen.

We can build on that. And hopefully, with age and experience, the players will figure that part out. Just great to see the boys having fun!

[WuDrWu]

Doesn't playing 4 games every weekend really stretch a non-deep roster? Tough situation for a new coach to be in right off the bat, but EW is not gonna back down from a fight.

Yes it does. The decision to play 4 games and no midweek was a bad one for us. I have said it before, but 3 quality arms that we were counting on (to some extent) have provided 0.1 innings for us this year. That's tough for any team to overcome, especially a thin, rebuilding team. Then we lost our biggest bat for most of the conference season (good to see him get a couple of swings last night).

As a for instance, ECU at full strength is one of the best teams in the country, loses Carson Whisenhunt (not for the season) and goes from sweeping AAC teams to splitting with them. It matters. And ECU is deep, or at least a lot deeper than we are.

We're likely to see a large turnover in the offseason for a variety of reasons. HCEW will get there, but with the timing of everything, it's going to take time.

Obviously not a good day yesterday, but at least the guys still control their own destiny for 3rd place (Cincy split and UCF blew a 9th inning lead and lost in extra then got swept at Tulane). Cincy getting that win from ECU though really muddles things. We need ECU to win the last 2 there and Tulane to drop at least 1 to UCF to feel good, and that's assuming we win the last 2, which is dicey at best. In fact, none of those 3 things are particularly likely at this point.

Tulane, ECU, WSU and Cincinnati are all 6-4 in their last 10. Say what you want about this conference (and yes, it is down a bit) but it's a tough conference, and it will pay off when the rebuild is complete in a couple of seasons.

[WuDrWu]

College baseball oddities (it just doesn't happen to us):

#6 and certain regional host and national seed TCU is off this week in the Big 12. They welcomed .500 Louisiana Monroe last night for the 1st of 3 games. ULM led 4-0 into the bottom of the 9th, and in fact had a no hitter going. Walk, error, strikeout. 1st and 3rd, one out. Hit by pitch, walk. 4-1 bases loaded (no hitter still in tact though). Ground out, 4-2, 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs.
Single to right, run scores, 2nd runner thrown out at the plate. 4-3 final. Only hit of the night resulted in the game ending play at the plate.

Arizona trailed 17-25 Washington 12-10 into the bottom of the 8th. They score 3 on 3 singles to take the lead 13-12. But UW ties it in the 9th, then takes a 16-13 lead in the 10th. 3 hits and 3 walks later and the Wildcats walk it off, 17-16. That's with their Friday guy.

#16 La Tech, fighting for a possible regional, gave up 3 in the 7th to a .500 UTSA team and lost 7-5.

Central Michigan lost and Ball State now leads the MAC (helps teams looking for an at large). Virginia no hit Wake Forrest 17-0.

Clemson lost to FSU (didn't help their at large), UCONN gave up 3 in the bottom of the 8th to Villanova and lost 3-2 (all but kills their at large hopes).

In a combined 32 separate at bats, neither Butler nor Georgetown could score a single run.

Equally toothless Northern Colorado managed no runs and 2 hits in 2 games at UTRGV. I can assure you that UTRGV, Xavier & St Johns (the teams that administered those beatings) don't have a Jace Kaminska or Liam Eddy on their rosters.

KU no hit KSU 10-0 on the way to a DH sweep.

UCLA lost at home to UCSB 10-4 (not helpful). Alabama took advantage (sarcasm) of 13 hits, 2 walks, 2 HBP and 1 LSU error to score 1 run and lost 2-1.

**** happens.

[Shockm]

What has happened to VanVooren? Has he been hurt or just relegated to the bench?

Cornblum is starting to hit more consistently. SS is the only position that doesn't hit much, and yesterday, he had a couple of hits (of the seeing eye variety, not extra bases or barreled hits) to contribute to rallies, but in the long term, you can't have a player in your starting lineup who is hitting 150ish. Our SS can field it though. I like him at SS if he could just hit in the 275 or even 250 range.