Shocks vs ORU - BYOB Promotion

[tru2thaduce]

Think 2008 Fresno State.Anything can happen!

[Dupe]

What is going on with these shocks!?

[Cdizzle]

What is going on with these shocks!?

Pretty simple.

The starters are pitching better. Which means we are only throwing 1 reliever. Which is good, because after that one reliever, it gets really bad, really fast.

[WSUwatcher]

Well, Hayes has been good enough this year that I guess we can't begrudge him an outing like this, but really -- first he blew Hilliard's win, and then after his offense set him up for the vulture victory, he blew his own win, only to have his offense (and ORU's not-so-miraculous defense) give it to him again. I guess the third time (blown save, blown victory, victory) was the charm?

Still a nice win, however it was achieved, and quite a finish for the Shocks here at home. The guys really do seem to be figuring it out more and more, and to be providing lots of reason for optimism going forward. Things can change quickly in college baseball -- last year, for example, MoSt finished 26-31, and look where they are now.

[xazshox]

doubleplay combination

I thought Trey Vickers & Tanner Kirk looked really sharp last night in the middle of the game when they turned a doubleplay to get Sam Hilliard out of an inning.

[SPEShockAlum]

I felt like the Shocks were finally catching some breaks last night that a lot of our opponents have been getting all season. Now, of course that has nothing to do with the baseball gods, but rather just throwing strikes, not booting the ball, getting on base, timely hits, etc. By doing the things we can control, we put pressure on the opponents which turns into misplayed balls, walks, bad baserunning, etc. It went in our favor.

[1972Shocker]

New Mexico had a nice 9-6 home win over #16 Arizona State last night as well.

[Cdizzle]

I felt like the Shocks were finally catching some breaks last night that a lot of our opponents have been getting all season. Now, of course that has nothing to do with the baseball gods, but rather just throwing strikes, not booting the ball, getting on base, timely hits, etc. By doing the things we can control, we put pressure on the opponents which turns into misplayed balls, walks, bad baserunning, etc. It went in our favor.

They did catch some breaks, and they did capitalize on some things.

On the other hand, the 3rd out in the 7th should have been recorded rather easily by Kihle before any runs scored, and it wasn't. His route to the ball took him through Great Bend and didn't leave quite enough time to catch it.

[1972Shocker]

Mikel Mucha starting to come around for the Shocks. He made a very fine catch along the RF foul line and his 2-out RBI drag bunt single to finish of the Shocker scoring in the 1st inning was a thing of beauty.

Tanner Kirk made a couple of stellar defensive plays at 2B. One going to his left and another going to his right.

[Cdizzle]

The infield defense is definitely improving. Enough that I can even see some hope for a decent infield there for the next couple of years, especially if Vickers' arm regains strength.

Mucha has always been a very streaky hitter. Hopefully his current streak continues for the rest of the season. Very much unlike 6 weeks ago, there aren't very many 'easy outs' in the lineup. Certainly not a lineup of mashers, but they are putting together competitive ABs up and down right now.

[shockfan89_]

Obviously this team is now playing 9 innings rather than folding and giving up after something goes wrong. The starting pitching has been much better so our bullpen weakness hasn't killed us either. We have also been getting the timely hitting that has eluded us for the first 40 games of the season. While I am not jumping up and down for the future, the last 12 games have provided much more hope than I had 3 weeks ago. Hopefully we can keep it going this weekend and into the tournament.