Shox vs. Bradley Game 2

[shox1989]

Game 1 was a big win. WSU roughed up BU starter Joe Bircher with the most hits he had allowed all year and he left the game with his shortest outing since Febr. 17 and with his fewest strike outs of the season (3). Shocker starter Josh Smith, on the other hand, gave a great effort going 8 innings, his longest outing of the year.

There were a lot of hitting stars as just about everybody got a hit (Casey G. 5 for 5, Coy 2 for 4, Micah Green 3 for 5,Lambert 2 for 4) but WSU also made some big defensive plays: Doggett's throw out at the plate in the 5th, Tyler Baker picking a guy off of second, Harbutz snag of a hard hit line drive.

Can WSU keep up the momentum with another win today? Kris Gardner gets the start for the Shox.

[Shocker85]

Can WSU keep up the momentum with another win today? Kris Gardner gets the start for the Shox.

I'm looking forward to watching Gardner pitch today. I have missed a lot of games this season and I'm not sure I have seen him throw yet. Yet another promising young player on this team.

This cool weather is a nice touch to wrap-up the home schedule. It seems like we're usually getting plenty of sunburns and such by the time baseball season wraps up. Let's just hope DOFO's drought ends by game time.

--'85.

[Ta town]

I'll never understand Gene's perspective on base runners. Gets a runner on with 1 out and sends him first pitch, never mind the catcher throws out 54%.

[tripleshock]

But that 54% isn't against the mighty Shockers. We are better than everyone else. Stats don't mean a thing when you're playing against Gene. His will to win crushes the opposition.

[ShockerFever]

These 1-0 games are getting pretty annoying, but it's nice to walk off with a W this time. Absolutely had to have it.

Need to bring the brooms tomorrow and do it in convincing fashion. Excellently pitched game by Gardner. The kid is just plain good.

The mighty Bares lost at home to Evansville so UE remains a game back and WSU pulls into sole possession of 3rd over Illinois State by a 1/2 game.

[WSUwatcher]

Just got home and saw the score -- not very impressive (except by Gardner, who just keeps getting better), but good enough. Some days you win unimpressively, others you look like worldbeaters, but they all count the same. Plus, if Bradley is inclined to get frustrated and think "we'll never win in Wichita," this kind of game may do just as much to reinforce that impression as yesterday's did.

[Shocker85]

Overall, in fairness, I thought the Shox had some very well struck balls that went for outs today. Dayne hit two balls that were snagged by the 3B that would have been basehits with almost anyone else running. Micah Green squared-up two balls that were outs (his hit was a soft 'tweener). Coy's triple would have been an inside the park HR if he wasn't down one wheel. There were two bang-bang outs at 1B. Blah-dee-blah. But that is baseball. Credit to the BU starter - no walks helped his cause. I was impressed BIG TIME by Gardner. He spots his pitches really well and doesn't make mistakes up in the hitting zone. He really keeps hitters guessing and the BU guys were out on their front foot flicking at Kris' junk all day. I was disappointed when 10 pulled him, but I'm assuming he was nearing a pitch count and wasn't going to finish the game anyway. Elam was sharp, especially vs. his outings in the last 2-3 weeks.

If the Shox want to shake-up the tournament, they're going to have to figure out some consistent hitting vs. some pretty darn #1 and #2 good pitching in the league. Sometimes they do it (Friday) sometimes they don't (today). As long as the Shox starters continue to be stingy, they have some chance.

-'85.

[SB Shock]

Tomorrow shockers are primed to run rule Bradley for the sweep.

[shock10]

Good day at the Eck. Mucha's throw to get the guy at the plate was really good baseball. Pitching really good for both teams. Good baseball. Shockers winning good times.

[1979Shocker]

Tomorrow shockers are primed to run rule Bradley for the sweep.

Speaking of run rules, don't the shockers get at least one run rule each year? I don't think they've had any this year.

[shox1989]

Shox Win! That game was a little too exciting for me. I would love to see a run rule game tomorrow. Kris Gardner pitched great. That throw from Mucha to Baker to get the out at the plate was huge. I hope Coy didn't hurt himself legging out that triple.

[DUShock]

I am unhappy with Krusty and Crew but a W is a W.

Go Shocks!

[WSUwatcher]

Huge game tomorrow, if only because a loss to Bradley would be so disastrous from an RPI standpoint.

Today's win made no positive difference whatever at first (.5613 and 44th at gametime, and exactly the same RPI and rank when Warren Nolan first posted the result), although since that time the Shocks have risen slightly (to .5619 and actually up to 41st, thanks to a rather tightly clustered group of low-40s RPI rankings) based on opponents' results that have come in over the past few hours. When winning moves you up just .0006, the impact of losing would not be pretty.

[shox1989]

Huge game tomorrow, if only because a loss to Bradley would be so disastrous from an RPI standpoint.

Today's win made no positive difference whatever at first (.5613 and 44th at gametime, and exactly the same RPI and rank when Warren Nolan first posted the result), although since that time the Shocks have risen slightly (to .5619 and actually up to 41st, thanks to a rather tightly clustered group of low-40s RPI rankings) based on opponents' results that have come in over the past few hours. When winning moves you up just .0006, the impact of losing would not be pretty.

I could only imagine how playing Alcorn St. would have affected the rpi. Warren Nolan also shows WSU's SOS at #32 now. He is also predicting that WSU will finish with a rpi of 38.

[1972Shocker]

Gardner pitched very effectively, although I don't think he had his usual command of his change and breaking ball. But he was able keep the Bradley hitters off balance. Mucha's throw was the play of the game IMHO. Of course, the throw may not have been needed it it wasn't for Mucha's misplay on the 1st hit of that inning. I didn't realize Mucha had such a good arm. Yes, the Shocks did hit a lot of balls hard that were caught or right at someone. Bradley had their share of the at 'ems also. I thought Cale Elam looked sharp in his 2 innings. A big thank you to Bradley reliever Rob Kennedy. The 0-2 waist-high fastball right down the middle he delivered to Eric Harbutz was about as bad an 0-2 pitch as your will ever see. Credit to Eric for making him pay.