Shocks vs Salukis - Game 1

[1972Shocker]

May be the nicest weekend of the season so far for baseball. A little cool tongight, but hopefully, the wind will calm down a little by game time.

Starting pitching for the series:

Rob Musgrave (LHP, 4-1, 2.55) vs. Cody Adams (RHP, 2-2, 3.51)
Aaron Shafer (RHP, 6-1, 3.04) vs. Shawn Joy (LHP, 3-2, 3.61)
Anthony Capra (LHP, 6-0, 1.75) vs. David Kington (RHP, 1-2, 3.79)

The edge in pitching would appear to be with the Shocks although the SIU starters' ERAs are not terrible. Adams and Joy have given the Shocks trouble in the past IIRC.

Shockers batting 0.311 as team vs 0.303 for SIU.

SIU was picked to finish a close 3rd behind Creighton in the preseason. However, they have gotten off to a poor 3-6 start in conference play. They lost their series with MSU 1-2 and then were swept by Bradley last weekend in Carbondale. They took a series from Indiana State 2-1.

Shocks need to duplicate Bradley's sweep of the Salukis. However, something tells me this is much easier said than done.

Hopefully, our bats will break out with the better weather conditions.

:goshocks:

[SpanglerFan316]

I hate it when the Shocks lose and losing to MSU, CU and UNL was not fun. I looked on the SIU board and a SIU fan made me feel better:
Location: A palatial estate

I wonder if people who say facilities don't matter have actually been to Eck Stadium. The place is ridiculous. It makes the Abe look like a Legion field. As for the winning part, WSU would dominate damn near dominate in any conference. The Shockers have a winning record vs. every team in the Valley. Stephenson's career record is obscene. Here's this from the Shockers' Web site:

"Consider the following. Not only has Stephenson won more games in 30 years than any other Division I program, earned his 1,200th career win in 22 seasons, quicker than any other Division I baseball coach, and moved into first place nationally among active NCAA Division I coaches in winning percentage with a career 1,605-533-3 record (.750), he’s established himself as one of the winningest coaches in Division I baseball history."

Tough act with which to compete. That isn't an excuse for the disgusting sweep at the hands of BU, but to think SIU is a legitimate threat to WSU regardless of the coach is pretty silly. And yes, I know Itchy got to the NCAA tourney in 1990.

Here's the list of Shockers on the MVC all-time team:

Baseball

Coach
• Gene Stephenson
Catcher
• Doug Mirabelli
• Eric Wedge
First Base
• Phil Stephenson
Second Base
• Blake Blasi
• Kevin Hooper
Shortstop
• Mike Lansing
• Zach Sorenson
Third Base
• Casey Blake
• Koyie Hill
Utility
• Damon Sublett
• Travis Wyckoff
Designated Hitter
• Darren Dreifort
• Dave Moffitt
Outfield
• Joe Carter
• Carl Hall
• Jeff Ryan
Pitchers
• Brandon Baird
• Greg Brummett
• Shane Dennis
• Mike Drumright
• David Hass
• Don Heinkel
• Bryan Oelkers
• Mike Pelfrey
• Kennie Steenstra
Relief Pitchers
• Jaime Bluma
• Marc Bluma
• Darren Dreifort
• Braden Looper
• Jim Newlin

http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=21194

Thanks, SIU.

[Zardoz]

Shocks lead 2-0 after 1.

[BenWSU]

WSU up 9-0 in the 3rd. :yahoo:

Lets go for 11 runs and call it a day.

[KC Shox]

WSU up 9-0 in the 3rd. :yahoo:

Lets go for 11 runs and call it a day.

sounds good to me.

[BenWSU]

10-0. Game over. Mercy rule. ;-)

[KC Shox]

Great win! But our hitting still has something to be desired, specifically, the bottom of the lineup. Our 6-9 hitters went a combined 1-11. We have got to get production out of these guys gosh darn it.

[ISASO]

I love this conference! Three days ago we get shackled and shut out by Nebraska's #4 guy and today we run-rule SIU's #1 guy.

[Shocker85]

It was a fun game tonight. Rob was crusin' after the first and after the Shox got up 9-0 in the 3rd, the only thing left in doubt was the number of innings we'd have to tolerate before the fireworks show.

The atmosphere was the best at Eck so far this season. Great crowd ~5,500 announced, with lots of kids and pretty decent weather. The players were mobbed along the 1st base line with rabid autograph seeking kids and the guys seemed to be enjoying the attention. A good time was had by all (except for the Salukis, I suppose).

Saturday should be a PERFECT day for baseball, so get your yard work done early and get out and enjoy the day.

Note to WSU Operations Staff - kill the lights for the fireworks.

--'85.

[ShockerFever]

Sounds like a great start to the weekend. I wanted to get out to the Eck, but I got out of work late.. :(

I definitely agree with KC that the bottom of our lineup needs work. Then again, I'm sure every team's bottom lineup isn't the best.. considering they're in the bottom. But ya, definitely we need some more fire power out of there.

Excellent pitching as it sounds.. and you can never complain too much after a good ol' mercy rule. It was kinda funny. MK was mentioning yesterday during the Tabor game about how WSU has yet to put up a shut out.. Well I guess all MK had to do was mention it.. 8)

Keep it up tomorrow.

By the way.. nice attendance numbers. Very impressive. Keep it up this weekend boys!

[shocker3]

Great night for baseball. Should be even better weather tomorrow.

Official Attendance tonight was 5625.

GO SHOX!!!! :wsu_posters:

[Rosewood]

It cracks me up that people were whining about Tabor being a practice game, and how we could just roll out the balls and let the kids play and all the stuff that was said.

In the end, Tabor gave us more trouble then SIU.

(Granted, Tabor vs Musgrave would have not seen Tabor get the runners they did)

[martymoose]

Yeah, we mentioned a few times Tabor could beat SIU...judging by their performances against us.

The firework show afterward was fun and since we run ruled SIU, the kids all got to bed on time. I was surprised at how may poeple were at the game last night, I assume it was for the fireworks. We got there about 40 minutes before game time and it was already packed.

[Rosewood]

Taking nothing away from Tabor, my guess is that they would have had more troubles with SIU's starter then we did since I doubt they get to see too many 92-94mph pitches.