Shox vs. Bluejays, Game 1

[tripleshock]

ouch...

[WstateU]

[img]http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/var/news/storage/images/cartoons/ben-jennings/****-hits-the-fan/1858548-1-eng-GB/****-Hits-the-Fan_cartoon.jpg[/img]

[SB Shock]

kind of ironic that the worst hitting ball team in the valley is putting a hitting display on the Shox pitching. Just when you start gettiing your hopes up with this team they just take a big "dookie"...

[shoxlax]

They are acting like they won the CWS. But no rivalry.

[WuDrWu]

They are acting like they won the CWS. But no rivalry.

For them, they did. Beating WSU is the Creighton World Series. Always has been, always will be. It just doesn't happen that often.

[ShockerFever]

What a pathetic effort against the league's worst. I guess this team just doesn't want the NCAA's as bad as the fans want it.

sCUm gets up for WSU. We had that working against us as well.

Well, time to focus in on Springfield because the NCAA at-large opportunity just went down the wayside.

[SB Shock]

What a pathetic effort against the league's worst. I guess this team just doesn't want the NCAA's as bad as the fans want it.

sCUm gets up for WSU. We had that working against us as well.

Well, time to focus in on Springfield because the NCAA at-large opportunity just went down the wayside.

RPI dropped about 4 places and WSU is % pts of being in 4th place.

[WSUwatcher]

Well, that was a nasty RPI whack: from about .5628 and 41st (Warren Nolan) pre-game to .5592 and 45th after. Even a road loss hurts if your opponent's record is poor enough, as Creighton's is.

It really behooves the Shocks to win the last two now -- and even if they do, a pair of additional wins by IllSt over Evansville would keep the Redbirds ahead of WSU in the standings on percentage points, although probably not in RPI. Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing the Shocks carry the fourth seed in the tournament and avoid Missouri State as long as possible, because I still believe MSU is the most dangerous team in the field, to say nothing of where the tourney is being played.

[ISASO]

So much for a team never finishing lower than third.

[WSUwatcher]

So much for a team never finishing lower than third.

Well, IllSt hasn't exactly completed the sweep yet (of course, the Shocks haven't exactly won this series, either). And if MSU, which is a good but not great road team, somehow continues its fade and gets swept by the Trees, WSU can still finish second (or third if IllSt does get its sweep, in which case the Redbirds would be the unlikely second-place finisher).

Too many variables to worry about -- time to just win and let the chips fall where they may.

[shox1989]

Well, IllSt hasn't exactly completed the sweep yet (of course, the Shocks haven't exactly won this series, either). And if MSU, which is a good but not great road team, somehow continues its fade and gets swept by the Trees, WSU can still finish second (or third if IllSt does get its sweep, in which case the Redbirds would be the unlikely second-place finisher).

Too many variables to worry about -- time to just win and let the chips fall where they may.

Well put. Just have to win these last two games and hope things fall right.

[shox1989]

So much for a team never finishing lower than third.

Actually Paul S. had that wrong. The 1984 Shocker team finished 4th (in what I think may have been just a 6 team conference at the time, I think New Mexico St. had just left).

Besides this years team still has a chance to finish as high as 2nd. Just got to win.

[Shocker85]

What a pathetic effort against the league's worst. I guess this team just doesn't want the NCAA's as bad as the fans want it.

sCUm gets up for WSU. We had that working against us as well.

Well, time to focus in on Springfield because the NCAA at-large opportunity just went down the wayside.

Epic and predictable fail in Omaha. Past teams would have motivated themselves with a big, hostile crowd and motivated opponent to crush the cellar dwellers.

There's no glory in sneaking or backing into 2nd or 3rd. The focus has to be somehow pulling together in Springfield next week and earning a bid.

--'85.

[shox1989]

Well, that was a nasty RPI whack: from about .5628 and 41st (Warren Nolan) pre-game to .5592 and 45th after. Even a road loss hurts if your opponent's record is poor enough, as Creighton's is.

It really behooves the Shocks to win the last two now -- and even if they do, a pair of additional wins by IllSt over Evansville would keep the Redbirds ahead of WSU in the standings on percentage points, although probably not in RPI. Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing the Shocks carry the fourth seed in the tournament and avoid Missouri State as long as possible, because I still believe MSU is the most dangerous team in the field, to say nothing of where the tourney is being played.

This morning, Warren Nolan has WSU at #44 and Boyds World has WSU at #45. Warren Nolan is predicting the Shox to finish @#43 with a predicted SOS of #37. Boyd's World says WSU needs to go 2-0 to finish in the top 45.

According to Boyd's World, ISu-R has no chance of finishing with a rpi of 45 or better. Warren Nolan predicts Isu-R will finish at #55.

[ShockTalk]

Actually Paul S. had that wrong. The 1984 Shocker team finished 4th (in what I think may have been just a 6 team conference at the time, I think New Mexico St. had just left).

Besides this years team still has a chance to finish as high as 2nd. Just got to win.

You are correct about the '84 team. Even with a 40-22 overall record, NCAA Regional the previous year and a 2nd place CWS finish the year before that, it was no NCAAs.

If fact, I think the 2006 team was the worst Shocker team to get into a Regional without winning the MVC tourney.... 3rd place regular season (15-9) and a 46-22 overall record (.676).

Compare that to a current 3rd place (10-9) and 33-23 (.589). It has been the Shocker schedule and the MVC as a whole that has kept them in the discussion, not their performance. You take very weak North Dakota, KU, K St, Alcorn, and Bradley out and we're a 21-23 team.