Fall Ball

[WuDrWu]

More pitching today. Caden Favors went 5 for yellow, giving up just one hit I think to Hogan Shelby. Robert Cranz was almost as good, but not quite. Jordan Rogers drove in a single run in the 4th I believe. Nate Adler wasn't quite as sharp as last night but still good and Matt Wilkinson closed the game in the 7th. They held Black to 2 hits. Gage Williams had an infield single in addition to Shelby's hit. Cranz and Patrick Dunn were good, but not good enough.

Lots of pitching the last 2 days. Very little hitting. Seth Stroh had a double and a triple I think. Again, Gustafson, McDonald and Stroh get to everything in the outfield.

Yellow 1, Black 0. Yellow leads 2-0.


Black has 5 hits total in 14 innings. Game 3 Monday night at 7. Will be much less pleasant than Game 1 and 2, weather wise.

[WuDrWu]

Damn, it was cold last night. 46-52 and the slightest breeze was brutal. Fortunately there wasn't much.

Game ended in a 4-4 tie.

Black FINALLY scored a run when transfer Garrett Pennington took a Nate Snead fastball up and away to the right center power alley. Dude just crushes the ball.

Snead was ok, just throwing. Got a little off kilter in the 4th when he gave up 2 walks and was tiring. This guy is going to be good though. Was probably 92-94 last night and wasn't putting forth any effort. Wait until early May when he's touching 98 regularly in the opponents kitchen.

Nate Adler was really good. Worked fast and low....great reliever stuff. Parker Dilhoff will be tough on lefties for sure. Ty Howry kind of made a mess of things when he came in for Black. He hit Cooper Harris on his first pitch then a string of bunts and walks plated one (and a misplayed bunt mixed in) but Sawyre Thornhill charged in a scooped a bunt to Mo to tag Will Stark out (and Will can fly) on a bang bang play that was one of the best plays I've ever witnessed. The Baseball Data twitter account has a video, and trust me, it doesn't do the play justice.

Not sure what to take away from last night that we don't already feel pretty solid on.

Parker Dilhoff was better than I've seen him. Tim Arguello started for Black and was serviceable. Jordan Rogers continues to impress. So does Kyte McDonald. Jayden Gustafson finally looked like a freshman should look last night (struck out badly a couple of times and misplayed 2 balls in the outfield, one he caught and the other missed leading to one or 2 runs). But man is he put together.

Thursday should be a little nicer weather, hopefully. Saturday should be spectacular. Bring a canned good, enjoy seeing the team play the right way.

[ShockerFever]

Thanks for the reports Doc. Hopefully the right way turns into the winning way.

[WuDrWu]

Black had a 4-1 lead going to the last of the 7th, trying to force a winner take all game Saturday. Will Stark walked, Kyte McDonald tripled off the CF wall. 4-2. David Herring walked. Jordan Rogers doubled down the left field line, advanced to 3rd on the throw home (just missed Herring) 4-4. Harris and Flaggert walked intentionally to put the force at any base, Charlie Rogan singled to end the game. 5-4 Yellow wins the series.

Still playing Saturday at 1 I believe. Golf tournament tomorrow.

Pennington and Rodden both hit towering home runs for Black. Pennington also hit a scorching double to left.

[WuDrWu]

Kind of a weird day at the Eck. Wind blowing out. Didn’t seem like the same “edge” I’ve seen the rest of the fall. Caden Favors for Yellow and Robert Cranz for Black both pitched well in starting roles.

Yellow led 6-4 bottom 7. With Rodden on 1st, Thornhill grounded into what could have been a fall ending DP but Moody to Herring just didn’t quite work out and Ingram came up with 2 on and 1 out. Chuck K’d and Tolle strode to the plate. He obliterated a Matt Wilkinson curve into the right centerfield trees for a 450+ feet no doubt walk off

[WuDrWu]

Haven't had an update in awhile, but D1 Baseball is reporting that the following players for WSU have entered the transfer portal:

Sam MacAleer, Tate Moody, Ty Howry, Cole Plowman & Jackson Young. By my count there were originally 46 players in the fall. One never showed up, another left early and then these 5 would mean 4 more would need to be trimmed prior to spring practice.

[baseball]

Too bad about McAleer. Kid is a stud

[ShockerFever]

Quite an odd day at the Eck. removing the wind It appeared to not be the same "edge" I had noticed for the most of the fall. In their early roles with Black and Yellow, respectively, Robert Cranz and Caden Favors pitched well.

Well that’s a good sign

[Kung Wu]

Well that’s a good sign

[Shockm]

First Day of Practice article. Lot's of optimism.

https://www.kansas.com/sports/colleg...271235077.html

[WuDrWu]

Just at a month to opening day. Guys took the offseason seriously (November to now can't practice together but kept working out individually) and have been back waiting to get after it since just after the 1st.

Just my observation, but there is good leadership on this team, maybe not as defined as some recent years (but mostly, that past "defined" leadership fell apart) but leaders none the less. There's also a good mix of confidence and humility.

As always, success breeds success. The first 7 road games could really set the table or blow apart (see last year) a promising outlook.

I've said it many times, this team should hit, run and score. There is experience, depth (which we haven't seen for nearly a decade), power and speed. We should score runs, and a lot of them.

Defense falls in the middle. I think we could/should be very good. This team fielded .971 last season (top 10 program history) and .977 in '21 (program best) so the groundwork should be there and at least half of the defense returns in some manner (Rodden, Thornhill, Rogers, Stroh, Ingram all were regulars) and there's talent filling the other spots.

This team is faster than recent teams. They will steal and take extra bases.

As it has been so often, pitching will probably determine the level of success. We certainly have more options than recent years with at least 7 viable starting options (Bye, Tolle, Candiotti, GAdler, Cranz, Favors, Miner), relieving options in NAdler, Wilkinson, Vercoe, Dillhoff & Dunn (3/4 type odd deliver that can help in spots) (and leftovers listed before that don't start) and then wildcards in Michael Mulhollon (big lefty with a big arm but raw), Nate Snead (6'2" RH with a huge arm and a ton of upside), Carter Rost (had a big summer but a tough fall) and 3 guys coming off injuries, Matt Boyer (has shown talent in the past), Austin Henry (top 20 type recruit before injury, out until at least late April) and Austin Wallace (still recovering).

If we were able to get any production from the last 6 I mentioned (Snead most likely, then Mulhollon, Rost, Henry, Boyer, Wallace) then this team should be deep enough to compete for post season.

In a perfect world, this team stays healthy, fields a top 10ish .970 or better, has great competition for catching that stays fresh throughout the season, hits .285+, steals 80+ bases, slugs .475+ and averaging 7+ runs a game.

Other than injuries, those are all reasonable goals.

Pitching wise, Snead develops quickly and Bye, Candiotti, Tolle and Snead form a rugged starting rotation. GAdler, NAdler, Favors, Dunn, Dillhoff and Boyer bridge any gaps to Wilkinson and Vercoe who close all year and the rest pick up the pieces while Mulhollon, Miner and Cranz get the midweeks. Austin Henry gets healthy and finds out the TJ surgery made him an even better prospect and much like Ron Baker a decade ago (has it really been 10 years?!) leads the team on a dream postseason run to Omaha.

In a perfect world.

[ShockTalk]

Reminds me, in a reverse sort of way, many of the later years of Gene's teams where we generally had good enough pitching, but the offense was not up to par. That always was a head-scratcher for me as "consistently above average pitching should attract above average hitting which seems to be more plentiful than that same level of pitching".

I agree with you on the leadership.

[shoxlax]

Who is our best new bat?

[Kung Wu]

Who is our best new bat?

Pennington has to be in the running, based on early WuDrWu reports?

[WuShock16]

Just at a month to opening day. Guys took the offseason seriously (November to now can't practice together but kept working out individually) and have been back waiting to get after it since just after the 1st.

Just my observation, but there is good leadership on this team, maybe not as defined as some recent years (but mostly, that past "defined" leadership fell apart) but leaders none the less. There's also a good mix of confidence and humility.

As always, success breeds success. The first 7 road games could really set the table or blow apart (see last year) a promising outlook.

I've said it many times, this team should hit, run and score. There is experience, depth (which we haven't seen for nearly a decade), power and speed. We should score runs, and a lot of them.

Defense falls in the middle. I think we could/should be very good. This team fielded .971 last season (top 10 program history) and .977 in '21 (program best) so the groundwork should be there and at least half of the defense returns in some manner (Rodden, Thornhill, Rogers, Stroh, Ingram all were regulars) and there's talent filling the other spots.

This team is faster than recent teams. They will steal and take extra bases.

As it has been so often, pitching will probably determine the level of success. We certainly have more options than recent years with at least 7 viable starting options (Bye, Tolle, Candiotti, GAdler, Cranz, Favors, Miner), relieving options in NAdler, Wilkinson, Vercoe, Dillhoff & Dunn (3/4 type odd deliver that can help in spots) (and leftovers listed before that don't start) and then wildcards in Michael Mulhollon (big lefty with a big arm but raw), Nate Snead (6'2" RH with a huge arm and a ton of upside), Carter Rost (had a big summer but a tough fall) and 3 guys coming off injuries, Matt Boyer (has shown talent in the past), Austin Henry (top 20 type recruit before injury, out until at least late April) and Austin Wallace (still recovering).

If we were able to get any production from the last 6 I mentioned (Snead most likely, then Mulhollon, Rost, Henry, Boyer, Wallace) then this team should be deep enough to compete for post season.

In a perfect world, this team stays healthy, fields a top 10ish .970 or better, has great competition for catching that stays fresh throughout the season, hits .285+, steals 80+ bases, slugs .475+ and averaging 7+ runs a game.

Other than injuries, those are all reasonable goals.

Pitching wise, Snead develops quickly and Bye, Candiotti, Tolle and Snead form a rugged starting rotation. GAdler, NAdler, Favors, Dunn, Dillhoff and Boyer bridge any gaps to Wilkinson and Vercoe who close all year and the rest pick up the pieces while Mulhollon, Miner and Cranz get the midweeks. Austin Henry gets healthy and finds out the TJ surgery made him an even better prospect and much like Ron Baker a decade ago (has it really been 10 years?!) leads the team on a dream postseason run to Omaha.

In a perfect world.

If you need a driver for such a roadie, I might know a guy.