Wichita State vs Texas Tech (Game 3)

[1972Shocker]

Game 3 has been moved up to Noon due to concerns over possible inclement weather tomorrow afternoon. Should be a bit warmer tomorrow.

Sounds like the Shocks are going with Fr. Tommy Barnhouse for Game 3 against Texas Tech. Tommy has a 5.27 ERA in 13.2 innings of work but he has a decent opponents BA of .220 and a good strike out to walk ratio of 11-2. He has had a tendency to give up the long ball though. 8 of the 11 hits he has given up were for extra bases including 5 home runs. He looked pretty decent against ORU except for the long flies. Seems to be a strike thrower.

Texas Tech will counter with Sophomore RHP Ryan Shetter. Shetter has an ERA of 3.29 over 27.1 innings and a .216 opponents batting average. He has given up 2 home runs this year. He has struck out 30 and walked 8.

[Play Angry]

More of the same this afternoon - good pitching, non-existent hitting. Shox trail 3-1 at the 7th inning stretch.

[wyatt]

1-3 to the 9th. Only three hits for us and six strikeouts. We have walked five times.

[Play Angry]

Shox lose 3-1. Another decent effort on the mound wasted.

We are hitting .236 as a team (down from .282 last year) and have an ERA 4.34 as a team (down from 5.97 last year). The impressive progress by the pitching staff (especially the bullpen) is more than offset by the remarkable nosedive by our hitters.

Ugh.

[1972Shocker]

I think you have to give a tip of the hat to Coach Steele. He has his pitchers competing and effective for the most part.

OTOH, the Shockers continued ineptness at the plate has to be very frustrating for the Shocks and especially the pitching staff. Coach Butler made a good move hiring Coach Steele. Too bad Brian Walker wasn't shown the door as well at the end of last season.

A number of these Shocker hitters had good seasons in some of the better summer leagues. Where has that level of performance disappeared to and why has that happened?

Maybe getting to Valparaiso next weekened and then the start of Valley playing thereafter the Shocks will find the sledding a bit easier and perhaps get things going a bit.

Texas Tech is a good team but not sure I can say they are an overly impressive team. If they really are the 3rd best team in the nation than maybe, with the right leadership, the Shocks can find there way back to being a perennial Top 25 team at some point.

[1972Shocker]

Not a good week for the Valley. Against D-1 competition the Valley was 6-21 for the week.

[ShockerVille]

pinch hit for katzfey again with Young. unlike last night young bloops a single into center then grounds out.

[shockerfanmas]

I can sum it up real easily.. these guys have coaches that know what the F they are doing in summer ball. At Wichita State, all but 1 member of the staff is totally inept and incompetent. Keep Steele, fire the rest.

[shockfan89_]

Maybe getting to Valparaiso next weekened and then the start of Valley playing thereafter the Shocks will find the sledding a bit easier and perhaps get things going a bit.

Texas Tech is a good team but not sure I can say they are an overly impressive team. If they really are the 3rd best team in the nation than maybe, with the right leadership, the Shocks can find there way back to being a perennial Top 25 team at some point.

I think you are correct that things will get easier in the MVC but what is that really saying? The MVC has 3 teams with 200+ RPIs and one team fluctuating between 175 - 210. So 12 of our 21 MVC games will be against opponents with 200+ RPIs. Even if we only go 10-2 in those games and get swept by all the decent teams we would finish 10-11. I think we will likely finish 3rd in the MVC (12-9) just based on the weak competition.

In other words, after 24 games I think we know where we stand. We are 1-10 against top 100 RPI teams (and that 1 win was when OU lost, we didn't win the game) and 10-3 against teams with an RPI of 101 or higher. By the way, we only have one win this year (OU) against a team above .500.

[1972Shocker]

I think you are correct that things will get easier in the MVC but what is that really saying? The MVC has 3 teams with 200+ RPIs and one team fluctuating between 175 - 210. So 12 of our 21 MVC games will be against opponents with 200+ RPIs. Even if we only go 10-2 in those games and get swept by all the decent teams we would finish 10-11. I think we will likely finish 3rd in the MVC (12-9) just based on the weak competition.

In other words, after 24 games I think we know where we stand. We are 1-10 against top 100 RPI teams (and that 1 win was when OU lost, we didn't win the game) and 10-3 against teams with an RPI of 101 or higher. By the way, we only have one win this year (OU) against a team above .500.

Not sure about the other 3 "decent" teams in the Valley. I assume you mean DBU, MSU and Bradley.

Bradley is 9-12 but 4 of those wins are against D-III Cornell, D-III Eureka and NAIA Robert Morris (2). Quite frankly I don't quite understand why Bradley's RPI is at 59. Their resume is not any better, and perhaps worse than the Shocks. OTOH, Bradley's Nolan Power Index ranking is 170 compared to a 164 NPI ranking for the Shocks. Bradley has only 1 top 50 RPI win and that is against #44 Mercer. Bradley's other 4 D-1 wins are over Texas A&M-Corpus Chrisiti (2), Tennessee Tech and North Florida.

Missouri State has the best RPI in the Valley at #40 and has an NPI rank of 30. They are only 3-5 in their last 8 games with losses to #142 SE Missouri, #109 Memphis (2), and #163 Central Michigan (2).

Dallas Baptist has an RPI ranking of 55 and an NPI of 66. They just lost 2 of 3 against #135 North Florida.

If the Shocks could just start hitting at around the Valley team average of .270 who knows what might happen. I doubt that the Shocks hitting can get much worse than what it is.

Missouri State looks to me like the only Valley team that might have a chance to build an at-large bid resume if they win the Valley and play well in remaining games against ORU (1), Arkansas (1), Missouri (2) and New Mexico (3).

With their remaining schedule I think the Shocks could go 30-26 overall and 14-7 in Valley play. I am assuming the hitting will pick up some against the remaining schedule.

[shockfan89_]

Wow I had no idea MSU and DBU were that suspect. I agree Bradley is nowhere near the 59 RPI they currently have. If MSU has their normal mid-season collapse and DBU is struggling with teams with a 135 RPI, WSU could be the best team in the MVC. Let that sink in for a few minutes...

[Play Angry]

Let's not get carried away.

[1972Shocker]

Wow I had no idea MSU and DBU were that suspect. I agree Bradley is nowhere near the 59 RPI they currently have. If MSU has their normal mid-season collapse and DBU is struggling with teams with a 135 RPI, WSU could be the best team in the MVC. Let that sink in for a few minutes...

I think MSU and DBU still have to be considered the favorites to win the Valley but the Shockers pitching depth gives them a shot if the Shocker offense can just find home plate at a more regular and sustained rate.

But time is running out. If the Shocks offense doesn't start showing some life against Valparaiso next weekend then all bets are off for this team. Still outside of MSU and DBU who are okay but perhaps not as good as they have been the past couple of years the Valley just does not look to be very strong at all.

[Shocker85]

WSU could be the best team in the MVC. Let that sink in for a few minutes...

The eye test says no ... or makes me want to gouge my eyes out.