WSU vs Rice

[Kung Wu]

Game over!! 7-5 Shoxorz!!!

[ShockerFever]

Just can’t make it easy. I’m happy for the win but geez.

[Cdizzle]

Glad that's over. Go Shox

[Kung Wu]

Rice's final batters got bit by the venomous Death Adler!!

[ShockerFever]

Not sure how you win a game stranding 14 runners and giving up runs on a couple of errors but it happened.

[1972Shocker]

Really nice work by Mount, Holmes and Adler out of the bullpen.

Sounds like the shark fins were there for the taking tonight but nobody wanted them.

Would druther win pretty but as pogo likes to say I take an ugly win any day over a pretty loss.

[Shockm]

Adler strikes out the side in the 9th, but the ump decided that wouldn't be any fun, so it's 2-on, 2-out.

That should have been a strike. Birge does a bad job of framing pitches. He stabs at the ball, when he catches it, bringing it out of the strike zone, instead of giving the umpire a good look on borderline strikes.

[Cdizzle]

That should have been a strike. Birge does a bad job of framing pitches. He stabs at the ball, when he catches it, bringing it out of the strike zone, instead of giving the umpire a good look on borderline strikes.

Yeah he pulled that up 8inches when it was a strike to start with. Good thing we had him in there for his bat so we could play our good catcher at first and not have to play a guy slumping at .290. But don't get me started. Not a ton of great execution in that game, but that loss was 100% gonna be on the staff if it happened. We're nowhere near good enough to be tying a hand behind our back and wearing an eye patch and trying to win games.

[Shockm]

Really nice work by Mount, Holmes and Adler out of the bullpen.

Sounds like the shark fins were there for the taking tonight but nobody wanted them.

Would druther win pretty but as pogo likes to say I take an ugly win any day over a pretty loss.

I really like Adler. He throws a heavy fastball with good sinking movement, at 95 mph. His slider also has good downward movement. He reminds me of a Heights pitcher from the 70’s that was an All American at Emporia State.

[ShockBand]

This is the type of game we would have lost in recent years. A lot of things not going our way - tons of runners left on base, crazy errors, hard hit "atom" balls repeatedly, but we clawed out a win. On to tomorrow night, let's keep a sweep in the picture!

[Old School "Shocker"]

So looking more closely this team is far ahead of where I
think anyone thought we would be. Are we ready for Omaha? No! Can we make a run in conference tournament? Yes I think so. Guys seem to be playing hard and playing for each other and for coaches. Way better than last year which was a mess!!

as for players. Pitching seems to be bright spot but need more depth l. That will come as guys get more opportunities.

Fielding is OK at best. No one really can make the big plays when needed consistently.

Catching is good. Mo is Mo behind the dish. Birge seems to have a stronger arm and seems to be more connected with his emotions. Interesting fact team is 9-8 with Mo catching and 7-1 with Birge behind the dish.

Hitting is OK. Top is good. The Johnson boys are still doing great and Roger’s is looks good. Jayden is looking better and Williams is always a swing away from a HR. Mo is Mo solid professional singles hitter. Callahan is another Mo type hitter. Stroh is what he has been through the years. Kam and Alex need to step it up but if their D is great and no one is stealing bases then we can hopefully get them to 200ish. The bench has so promising bats but hard for guys to be consistent with a few ABs each week.

Coaching from afar look outstanding. Way better than the last 3!

[ShockerExpress]

I have spent more time than I care to admit wondering how the heck this team is even comparable to last year's team on the field, when the individual talent is clearly so much less.

I guess it is a good sign that we played like dog water last night and still won - that probably sums it up.

[1972Shocker]

Yeah he pulled that up 8inches when it was a strike to start with. Good thing we had him in there for his bat so we could play our good catcher at first and not have to play a guy slumping at .290. But don't get me started. Not a ton of great execution in that game, but that loss was 100% gonna be on the staff if it happened. We're nowhere near good enough to be tying a hand behind our back and wearing an eye patch and trying to win games.

Birge had a good summer and a good fall with the bat but it certainly has not been their this spring. But HCBG is committed to not wearing down Mo so that he is as fresh as he can be at the end of the season. Alex needs to quit trying to jerk everything out of the park.

You would think some of these guys would look at Cam Johnson's approach and think maybe I should try more of that. I think Davyn Johnson actaully has done that and it is helping him at the plate.

Now what was going on with Davyn in CF I can't say but I don't recall every seeing, at this level, a player make two 3-base errors in the same game. And those were the only 2 errors that Davyn has made this year.

Beisball can be a bery, bery weird game.

[ShockBand]

Birge had a good summer and a good fall with the bat but it certainly has not been their this spring. But HCBG is committed to not wearing down Mo so that he is as fresh as he can be at the end of the season. Alex needs to quit trying to jerk everything out of the park.

You would think some of these guys would look at Cam Johnson's approach and think maybe I should try more of that. I think Davyn Johnson actaully has done that and it is helping him at the plate.

Now what was going on with Davyn in CF I can't say but I don't recall every seeing, at this level, a player make two 3-base errors in the same game. And those were the only 2 errors that Davyn has made this year.

Beisball can be a bery, bery weird game.

Yes it can be! Davyn's first error he had the sun still shining low in the west and of course the wind was blowing pretty good last night. But it was a very catchable ball. I think the second one was just a case of the "yips" from the first error.

[WuDrWu]

DJ made a bad call early when he called off DWill (I think it was DWill in left). They both need to have better communication. The 2nd one was just a little lax. Misread the wind and didn't get back fast and far enough.

Fortunately RIce hit us about 6 times.

Wind is howling today with both aces going. No idea what to expect but I hope we clean up. Lots of kids getting here. Could be a long day, for a variety of reasons.

Busy conference day with 2 DHs scheduled (one weather related, one travel/weather related) and 7 total games. Need to control the controlables and find a way.