USF @ WSU

[Kung Wu]

We're just so bipolar. Goodness.

[Shockerman]

Well, you can't really use terms like "weird" , "goofy", or "baseball gods" today. We have made an improvement from the Butler days but we still have a ways to go before we're a regional team again.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Sometimes it’s just a bad day. Yesterday was mixed.

Tomorrow will be very interesting.

[Shockerman]

Gross

[1972Shocker]

So far its home run or nothing in the final game of the USF series. Gareth Stroh pitching for the Shocks.

Gareth gave up back-to-back home runs to start the game, settled down then gave a walk followed by a home rund in the 4th. Seth Stroh hit a solo home run for the Shocks in the 3rd. Heading into the bottom of the 4th its USF 4 - Shocks 1.

Shocks have runners at the corners with 1 out in the bottom of the 4th with Garrett Kocis batting. Garrett flied out to left field scoring Gibson from 3rd. Bartlett advanced to 2nd. Couper Cornblum reached on an error by the shortstop with Bartlett scoring and Cornblum advancing to 2nd. That was on a 1-2 pitch. Sometimes good things happen if you just put the ball in play. Seth Stroh struck out swinging to end the at bat. USF lead 4-3 after 4 innings.

LJ McDonough comes on to pitch in the 5th and gives up back-to-back singles to lead off the game. Exactly the last thing you want to do after your team just got back into the game. LJ struck out the 3-hole and 4-hole hitters got ahead 0-2 on the 5-hole hitter then gave up a single to right (grrrrr!) but gets bailed out when Couper Cornblum throws out the runner attempting to scored from 2nd (un-grrrrr?).

.170 hitter Andrew Stewart walks, on 4 pitches no-less, to lead off the Shocker 5th. Sure the USF coach loved that. Then he strikes out Shocker lead off hitter on 3 pitches. Go figure. Cadena flies out to right on the 1st pitch he sees. Wallace grounds out to the pticher on the 1st pitch he sees. So despite the 4 pitch lead off walk to the Shocks' worst hitter turns out to be a very quick inning for USF.

LJ makes quick work of the Bulls in the 6th with two strikeouts and a 1st pitch ground out to short. With out in th bottom half if the inning the Shocks get back-to-back-to back walk to load the bases buth Seth Stroh stirkes out an Stewart grounds into a 6-4 force out at 2nd. SMH.

LJ with another quick 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 7th. In the bottom of the 7th a 1-out double by Cadena followed by a walk to Wallace puts 2-on with Gibson and Bartlett due up. USF making a pitching change. Gibson flies out to left field with Cadena and Wallace advancing to 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Bartlett intenionally walked to get to a rusty Garrett Kocis. A wild pitch scores Cadena with Wallace and Bartlett moving to 2nd and 3rd. Kocis grounded out to 2nd but the Shocks do manage to get it tied up at 4-4 all after 7.

Aaron Haase on to pitch in the 8th for the Shocks. 3-4-5 hitters due up for USF. Aaron gets a 1-2-3 inning but uses about the max number of pitches you could do it with. Two full count stirkeouts and a 3-1 fly ball to right.

Cornblum hit by a ptich. Stroh reaches safely on an error by the cather attempting bunt Cornblum into scoring position. Runners on 1st and 2nd and now Stewart need to get down a good sac bunt. But he doesn't get it done as USF gets Cornblum at 3rd on a 3-5 force out. Sigrist reaches on a throwing error by the 1st baseman and the bases are loaded with 1 out Come on Shocks USF is just trying like hell to give you this game. Cadena hits a pop fly just deep enough to rightj field ot score Stroh with the go ahead run. Wallace intentionally walked to reload the bases. Hunter Gibson with a chance to put the game on ice. Not sure what happend next but Gibson struck out looking but Andrew Stewart scored on a passed ball but apparently Gibson was out at first???? Not sure but maybe someone at the game or listening to the game can splain this one. In any case lives stats has the Shocks leading 6-4 after 8 innings.

Haase gives up a lead off double in the 9th and then gets a ground out to short, a pop up to right and a ground out to 1st and the Shocks win 6-4.

I think you clearly have to describe this one as a parting gift from USF. The Shocker only had 4 hits, one a solo home run, and stilled scored 6 runs and left 10 men on base. But it was a badly needed gift and I thank the Bulls for their generosity.

[WuDrWu]

Wild pitch before Gibby struck out, 2 pitches prior.

[1972Shocker]

Wild pitch before Gibby struck out, 2 pitches prior.

Thank Doc. The live stats described it as follows:

Gibson struck out looking; Wallace advanced to second on a passed ball; Sigrist advanced to third on a passed ball; Stewart scored on a passed ball, unearned.

So I guess I can't the Shockers had an error-free game. Well on the field they did.

The Shockers were the beneficiary of 8 walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch, a passed ball and 3 fielding errors by USF.

[1972Shocker]

East Carolina defeated Cincinnati today 5-2 to take that series 3-1.

Memphis beat Houston today 8-4 as they split there series.

Tulane just scored 3 in the bottom of the 7th to take an 8-7 lead over USF after 7 innings. Tulane blows it open with 6 more runs in the 8th and leads 14-7 just needing 3 more outs to finish off the game. Final: Tulane 14 - UCF 7 as the Green Wave takes the series 3-1.

I will let WuDrWu analyze the standings but I think the Shocks are still in 3rd place at the end of the weekend.

[Shocker1976]

East Carolina defeated Cincinnati today 5-2 to take that series 3-1.

I will let WuDrWu analyze the standings but I think the Shocks are still in 3rd place at the end of the weekend.

Paul S. wrote on goshokcers - "The win keeps Wichita State (27-20, 15-12 American Athletic Conference) alone in third place with one conference weekend remaining. The Shockers are assured of a winning record in Wedge's first full season. They need one win against last-place Memphis to secure their first winning conference record in three seasons since joining the American in 2018."

[WuDrWu]

ECU and Tulane will finish 1-2. ECU has a half game lead, so Tulane will have to win 1 more game at Cincinnati than ECU wins at South Florida. That will be a tall order.

WSU still controls their own destiny. 3 wins will ensure 3rd place.

UCF is probably the most likely to give WSU a problem. They likely will win 3 or 4 at home vs Houston.

Cincy hosts Tulane in a tough series. USF has to host ECU. That’s a very tall order.

ideally, to me at least , ECU wins 4 (locks first place and USF into 6th) we sweep Memphis (although 3 will do) that means that Cincy v Tulane and UCF v Houston means basically nothing.

No matter the outcome UCF and Cincy would be 4-5.

[WuDrWu]

The weekend, conference wise, went about as good as one could hope. It will take something unusual for ECU to finish 2nd and Tulane 1st.

Any combination of WSU wins and Cincy losses (same for UCF and USF) totaling 3 means WSU gets the 3rd seed and likely stays away from ECU until a potential final. Regardless, it's easier to beat Goliath once instead of twice.

Any hope for at large is gone, but there are some encouraging signs of fight. Today's comeback was good. The guys kept plugging away. Special plays by Cornblum and Stewart kept the guys close and engaged. Stewart's play was incredible. Cornblum made a great throw. Winning plays. We'll see more of these in the upcoming years.

[ShockerFever]

So it looks like a likely first round matchup with USF. They kinda hit us around. Not an ideal matchup as a 3 seed but maybe the boys will get mad by Wedge.

[WuDrWu]

So it looks like a likely first round matchup with USF. They kinda hit us around. Not an ideal matchup as a 3 seed but maybe the boys will get mad by Wedge.

I think so. HOPEFULLY 4 games of beating up on Memphis pitching and Kocis back to normal puts the guys in a better mental state. Can't see Jace getting lit up 2 times in a row. I doubt Tulane gets cute and doesn't throw Olthoff vs Houston but they might. We hit him a little anyway so it's not like Williams for ECU. Anything is better than being in the same half with ECU and Cincy imho.

[shoxlax]

While we are not doing cartwheels as Shocker fans being on the outside looking in for an at large bid, unless we completely lay an egg the rest of the season (like zero or one more win), this is marked improvement both in play and mindset. Losing Kocis when we were rolling can’t be overstated in terms of exposing our lack of depth.

This is the one and only year I will compare a Wedgie coached team to the previous coaching staff. He was the AL manager of the year so he should be better.

[Shockm]

While we are not doing cartwheels as Shocker fans being on the outside looking in for an at large bid, unless we completely lay an egg the rest of the season (like zero or one more win), this is marked improvement both in play and mindset. Losing Kocis when we were rolling can’t be overstated in terms of exposing our lack of depth.

This is the one and only year I will compare a Wedgie coached team to the previous coaching staff. He was the AL manager of the year so he should be better.

I'm not sure what kind of egg you are referring to. Even if we lay a Big Fat Zero the rest of the season, we are still a lot better than our last AAC season in 2019. If we don't win again, this year, in league play (which imo has zero chance of happening), we end up with a 15-16 AAC record or a 48% winning percentage worse case scenario. If we win 2 of our last 4 games against Memphis, we have a winning % of 55%. If we win 3 of our games against Memphis, we have a 58 %, and if we sweep Memphis, we end up with a 61%.

In 2019, we had a 9-15 AAC record, which is a 37 percent winning percentage. The worse case scenario will leave a bad taste in our mouths, but we in fact, are going to be significantly ahead of our past AAC experiences, no matter what.


2021 AAC Standings

East Carolina	18-6	0.750	36-11	0.766	27-4	9-7	0-0	W2
Tulane	17-6	0.739	28-18	0.609	20-11	8-7	0-0	W1
Wichita State	15-12	0.556	27-20	0.574	17-7	10-12	0-1	W1
Cincinnati	14-14	0.500	25-24	0.510	13-8	12-16	0-0	L2
UCF	14-14	0.500	24-28	0.462	10-12	14-16	0-0	L1
South Florida	12-12	0.500	22-24	0.478	12-10	10-14	0-0	L1
Houston	7-17	0.292	19-28	0.404	11-13	8-15	0-0	L1
Memphis	6-22	0.214	16-34	0.320	13-16	2-18	1-0	W1