Shox vs. Bluejays, Game 1

[1972Shocker]

I understand there has been reason for criticism this year but you also have to look at how young this team is and how much progress they have made as the year went on. Today we started 4 freshman, 3 sophomores, 1 junior and 1 senior. On the mound we started a freshman and used a sophomore reliever. 2 of our 3 weekend starters are now freshman and we have won 7 of our last 8 games and have a decent shot at making the NCAA. This was done in spite of some injuries and dismissals.

If this was the basketball team we would be excited about our young team and praising the coaching staff for their recruiting and the progress all the freshman made during the season. Yes I understand expectations are higher for the baseball team and we finished 3rd in the MVC. But it's also hard to compare the 6th ranked conference in the country to the 11th - 15th. Aren't there years in the "old days" where we finished 2nd, or maybe even barely won the MVC with a very young team? Are we really that far behind by finishing 3rd in a very competitive conference? I'm not trying to say there isn't some reason for concern, but you also have to concede that the next two years could/should be pretty bright. I have real concerns about the age of this coaching staff and think we NEED a younger assistant coach NOW. But I don't believe for a second this program is treading water. I could very well be wrong and if we don't win the MVC in the next couple of years I will gladly admit I was wrong.

I am curious to know what others think about the strength of the MVC this year. How does this compare to 1st and 2nd place finishes in the past in MUCH lower rated MVCs? Not calling anyone out but I know Fever has kind of changed his tone when he realized our SOS and conference RPI. I know SB has commented that the MVC RPI is due largly to adding DBU to the MVC schedule for most teams. I agree 100% but isn't that the same reason other conferences are good too? Take Texas A&M out of the Big 12 and where are they? 8th? Lower?

I think there were several factors contributing to the strenght of the MVC this year.

1. Nothing I can provide statistics to back up but it just seemed like the quality of baseball was down overall this year. Perhaps a misperception on my part. Maybe it is just that the parity in college baseball continues to build which is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe the top is not quite dominant and the middle is stronger. Maybe the BBCOR bats have something to do with that.

2. Having Dallas Baptist play a shadow MVC schedule this year certainly helped that MVC's RPI.

3. The MVC had a lot of Senior and Junior experience on most teams this year.
Bradley 8 Srs + 10 Jrs
Creighton 13 Srs + 9 Jrs
Evansville 3 Srs + 10 Jrs
Illinois State 9 Srs + 11 Jrs
Indiana State 10 Srs + 9 Jrs
Missouri State 7 Srs + 9 Jrs
Southern Illinois 4 Srs + 12 Jrs
Wichita State 5 Srs + 4 Jrs

Of course experience isn't always worth a lot. Creighton is an interesting case in that it went from 1st to worst with the most upper class experience on their roster.

I haven't analyzed in detail how much of this experience were key players but I think it is pretty clear the Shocks fielded the least experienced team in the league this year. Of the 5 seniors only Josh Smith and Don Lambert were key fixtures in the lineup. Kevin Hall and Mitch Mormann started the year as key players but gradually faded into role players. Drew Rainey was a non-factor.

Among the Juniors Johnny Coy had a very good year and has gotten better as the year has progressed. He will probably move on to the pros next year and will definitely be missed. Ryan Hege was unable to stave of Tyler Baker at catcher. With Tyler hitting below the Mendoza line that tells you something about what the Coaching staff thinks of Tyler's catching skills. TJ McGreevey had his moments, good and bad. Aaron Rea was not a key player.

The only sophomore I am concerned about losing to the draft is Cale Elam.

It will be interesting to see if the MVC can sustain this level of play as they cycle through these upper classmen. If the Shocks can just get the normal amount of year-to-year improvement and add some quality recruits to the mix then the next couple of years look to be on the upswing for the Shocks. Whether the MVC overall stays strong remains to be seen.

[shox1989]

I think playing DBU was a big factor but so was all of the experienced players on those teams. All of the Valley teams had winning records against their non-conference opponents, and I don't ever remember that happening before. That had nothing to do with playing DBU. Bradley for example is almost always horrible and they had a decent season and finished with a winning record.

[shocker3]

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.

The Thursday night crowd was far from big and hostile. There were over 20,000 empty seats, about 3,000 Special Olympic kids just having fun and a little over 1000 actual fans at that game and about 200 of them were Shocker fans.

Friday night they did have a very large crowd but even that crowd was far from hostile. About 90% of the people there came because it was free and they got to see a great fireworks show afterwards and a tribute to our military. Most of the crowd wasn't even paying any attention to the game. They were busy talking, eating, drinking and waiting for the fireworks to start. We were sitting in the front row and this family of six shows up in the sixth inning with their hands full of food talking about what a great view they are going to have for the show. The father asks us what place Creighton is in and then what place WSU was in. All of the other discussion by that family was about anything other than baseball, which was par for most of the stadium crowd.

On Saturday they actually had over 2000 fans there (again at least 200 of them routing for the Shox) but in a 25000 seat stadium they hardly made any noise. In fact the pre game senior day ceremony was very embarrassing. I don't think there were even 100 Creighton fans there to see it.

BTW finishing 5-1 in your last 6 conference games and 3-1 on the road is far from backing into anything.