Gold wins game 1

[roadshocker]

Did anyone make it to the game? How did the defense look? How about the pitching? Several guys are hitting and I think that will be OK by spring.

[WSUBB00]

Gold wins a pitching duel, 3-1. Observations from Game 1-strictly my opinons. The pitching looked great for game 1 of the Fall World Series. Tim Kelley-Gold against Jordan Cooper-Black. Each squad had 5 hits. Gold squad was able to capitalize with three hits in the second inning to score their first two runs.

Will Baez-comes to play! Great speed, good defense, and some pop. One of two players on the Gold squad to have two hits. Josh Rosecrans also had two hits. Brett Bascue singled and drove in the first two runs for the Gold after Baez and Rosecrans singled. Five hits from only 3 players, No production from the other members of the Gold squad. Charlie Lowell-LHP pitched three innings and looked very good, IMO. Two strike outs and no walks for Charlie. Andrew Letourneau put the ball in ball each at bat but was 0 for 4. Tyler Grimes (@ SS) defense was good and he has a cannon for an arm.

By position Cody Lassley-C and lead off hitter, Josh Rosecrans-1B, Will Baez-2B, Tyler Grimes-SS, Chance Sossamon-3B, Brett Bascue-LF, Andrew Letourneau-CF, Ryan Jones-RF, and Mike Williams-DH.

Black squad's lone highlight other than pitching was Clint McKeever's home run. Jordan Cooper and Max Hutson both pitched well. Jordan had 7 strike outs and only 1 walk. Max looked smooth and comfortable for my first observation of him since his injury and surgery. Black squad had 5 hits from five different players but hit into two double plays.

By position Ryan Engrav-C, Clint McKeever-1B, Kyle Sisney-2B, Taylor Brown-SS, Chris OBrien-3B, Mitch Caster-RF, Kevin Hall-CF and lead off hitter, Taylor Gilmore-RF, and Remington Johnson-DH.

Overall a well played game, only 2 errors--Grimes for the Gold and Obrien for the Black squad.

Encourage everyone to make the Saturday game-only scheduled day game of the series. Grab a roster and take some notes. Many new names and faces to learn.

It will be fun! GO SHOX!

[1972Shocker]

I did attend the game last night. The weather was a little on the cool side with only a light breeze blowing in from the SE early in the game with little to no breeze late in the game. Generally, the ball was not carrying well last night. Not a great hitters night.

Pitching: Overall I would say Brent should have slept well last night. Two guys pitched for each team.

Tim Kelley picked up the win going six innings for the Gold team and giving up only a solo homer to Big Clint Mckeever. Tim looked very solid and made a lot of guys look bad with his slider. No doubt he will be in the starting rotation.

Jordan Cooper, the 6'2", 200 lb Freshman RH from Berryton, Kansas took the loss giving up 2 runs on 4 hits over his six innings. I was very impressed with Jordan. A solidly built kid who relied mostly on his fast ball, with good athleticism as he made a couple of nice fielding plays. In the 2nd inning the Gold team scored two runs. Will Baez led off with a looping single to right center and promptly stole second base, Josh Rosecrans single to center scoring Baez. Tyler Grimes laid down a successful sac bunt to move Josh to 2nd. Brett Bascue bounced a seeing eye 4-hopper into right field to score Josh with the second run.
Brett promptly stole 2nd and 3rd but was stranded at 3rd. None of the hits were exactly scorched. Jordon may need to work on holding runners on better based on the jumps Baez and Bascue got off of him. Overall though, a very positive first impression made by Jordan. He will be in the mix I think for a starting job.

Charlie Lowell, a 6'4'", 225 lb Freshman LH from Old Monroe, MO pitched the final 3 innings in relief of Kelley and was also very impressive facing the minimum 9 batters. A big, strong hard throwing lefthander. I can see Charlie as either a weekend starter or as a closer. It will be interesting to see how they decide to use him. Another very positive first impression by a freshman. Don't count on either Jordan Cooper or Charlie Lowell being here for 4 years. I see nice drafts for these guys after their Junior years assuming they stay healthy.

Max Hutson made his return pitching 3 innings in relief of Cooper for the Black team. Max has put on a few pounds. He was effective giving up only one run on on hit in three innings, but he was the least impressive of the 4 pitchers. Of course, Max always was more of a finesse guy than a power pitcher. The other 3 guys were definitely power pitchers. I don't remember if Max was pretty much a fly ball pitcher previously, but he definitely was last night. Might not be good on a day when the wind is blowing out. The first two batters hit the ball about 760 feet, one to right center and one to left center that might have been trouble on same nights. Nevertheless, good to see Max back. Not sure how Max will be used at this point but I don't see him in the weekend rotation at this point. Personally, I think Max is more of a one time through the lineup middle relief kind of guy, but will see how things develop. Hard to say for sure based on one outing.

I'll comment on the defense and hitting in separate posts.

[1972Shocker]

Defense: Solid although no spectacular plays (well maybe one that was an almost, but I will detail later).

Outfield Defense:

We definitely will be able to cover the outfield from line to line with no problem. We can cover the field with athtletes and arms and pretty much go 2-deep in doing it with Ryan Jones, Kevin Hall, Andrew Letourneau, Brett Bascue, Mitch Caster and Taylor Gilmore handling duties last night.

Not a lot of chances for highlight reel plays last night although Taylor Gilmore made a nice catch of a screamer hit by Josh Rosecrans to right.

Remains to be seen how these guys will hit, but defensively we should be very, very solid.

Infield Defense:

Guys looked solid and pretty much made all the plays. Each team had one infield error, one by Tyler Grimes at SS and one by Chris O'Brien at 3rd.

I thought Chance Sossamon made some nice plays at 3rd base for the Gold team including starting one of their two double plays. Tyler Grimes looked comfortable at short and Will Baez looks confident at 2nd.

Big Clint will probably be at 1st, but Josh Rosecrans looks more than capable of filling in when Clint is pitching or if the rest Clint in the DH role on occassion.

No complaints about either Cody Lassley or Ryan Engrav behind the plate. I suspect they will be 1 and 2 on the depth chart at catcher respectively.

I saw nothing to cause be any concerns about our infield defense, although that is very preliminary at this point.

Almost an ESPY Award Quality Defensive play.

In the 9th inning (I think) the gold team had runners on 1st and 2nd with Tyler Grimes at the plate. He laid down a very good Sac Bunt towards 3rd. Chris O'Brien charged the ball and picked it cleanly, but had to rush his throw to first. Kyle Sisney was moving to his left from second base to cover. The throw was hard, in the dirt and back to the second base side of Sisney. Kyle, while keeping his foot on the bag, laid out backwards and snagged the ball with his bare hand. Unfortunately, the ball came lose as he hit the ground. If he had held on to that ball (and he almost did), I would have to say it would have been one of the best, if not the best defensive plays I have ever seen. Hell of an effort though.

[1972Shocker]

Offense: Probably the least impressive aspect of the game. The big question is was that because the pitching was outstanding or the hitting approach was poor.

Personally, I thought the pitching was very good so I am not going to rag on the offense too much.

I don't think we will have an over-abundance of power (as usual), but it remains to be seen what kind of offensive team we will be.

Big Clint McKeever may be ready for a break out year. His homer into the left field bleachers off of Tim Kelley was a no doubter and he also hit a rocket directly at Ryan Jones in right field late in the game. The guy definitely has the tools if he can make solid contact consistently.

I was also impressed with Josh Rosecrans who played 1st for the Gold. He was one of two players to have two hits in the game. Also he hit a rocket to right that Taylor Gilmore made a nice play on. At 6'4" and 210 lbs. the freshman has the frame to develop into a power hitter. I won't be surprised to see him in the DH slot quite a bit this year.

Will Baez, the Juco transfer who played 2nd for the Gold also had two hits and a stolen base. I think Will will prove to be a fan favorite.

I have to agree with WSUBB00 in that it will be fun following the growth of this team. A very good first impression for this recruiting class. Looking forward to seeing some of the other new guys.

[1972Shocker]

BTW, did you notice the game time on last nights game - 1:57

Now that is a crisply played game.

[t7017s]

I made it out to the game and I agree for the most part with what everyone has had to say. One thing that I think might be lacking some attention though that deserves some is Grimes bunting. He laid down 2 bunts last night right down the third baseline that were very nice. I know it had to kill him as you could tell he wanted to swing that aluminum bat with 2 on and no outs but his bunts were perfect and he didn't need multiple tries to get them down. That's something we have been missing the last few years is a guy who can lay down a good bunt where it has to go and do it right the first time and get those runners over. Cooper is going to be amazing. I was very impressed with Baez at second. His arm isn't very strong but it doesn't need to be at second as long as he can get it out of the glove quickly and it looked like he had no issues with that last night. All in all with all the new kids I was really impressed how far along they were. I expected more errors and bad decisions to be made than there was. That could also maybe be contributed to the excellent pitching and lack of opportunities for mistakes. The one disappointment I had last night that stands out and struck me as unusual was Lassley at the plate. Granted Cooper was throwing nasty stuff in there and really mixing it up well and keeping guys off balance but Lassley looked the worst at the plate last night easy. O'Brien had some strikeouts also but he was swinging for the fences a few times when he would get that fastball. The guys that had success against Cooper were smart and patient and waited for change ups and breaking balls to swing. Nobody could catch up with his fastball. Guys were fouling the heaters off in bunches of 3 and 4 against him because they couldn't catch up. Cooper is very very impressive. All in all I think this team is gonna be just fine. The new group of kids is gonna be something to see over the next few years that's for sure.

[1972Shocker]

In Cody's defense he did drive Mitch Caster to the wall in left on a night the ball was really not carrying that well.

I think Cody will be fine as a hitter given enough AB's under his belt.

I think this team will similar to the Shocker Men's Basketball team in that they should improve a lot as the season progresses and should be much better at the end of the year than at the beginning.

As everyone has noted you can see the potential and the athletic ability. The question is will they be able to bring their A game to the park on a consistent basis.

[Shirley Schmidt]

I have never seen Gene out coaching in the field during these games before.

I think that he realizes that he has a lot of work to do.

[tru2thaduce]

Will Baez already seems to be a vocal team leader.I was impressed with the way the ball came off of his bat and his quick release on the DP he turned.I really like his game.

[ShockU89]

Thanks for these updates guys. It kills me that I can't be there to see it for my own eyes. Sounds like there are many positives that stick out thus far. Do you guys know who starts game 2??? Maybe Flynn & Banwart???

[biggoldshocker]

lowell

i saw lowell throw for the Rawlings Prospects this summer, and I would be real suprised if he didnt earn a weekend starting role, even as a frosh! And why not, there have been some good ones in the recent past (Kris Johnson, Travis Banwart just to name a few! ! Im making a prediction now as well Clint Mckeever will have a HUGE year for the shox!

[ddog44]

have never seen Gene out coaching in the field during these games before.

I think that he realizes that he has a lot of work to do.

The reason Gene was doing the coaching for the Black team last night was that JT was sent to the hospital where he spent the night for observation for pretty serious dizziness. I spoke with him at the practice field today and he said he is doing much better and will be at the golf tourn tomorrow. Blood pressure was elevated, but everything else checked out well. Glad to hear that JT. He will be ready to go the rest of the series.

He really seems to like the potential of this team, but says with all the new guys they will really have to keep their foot on them to stay focused.

I think this will be another fun team to watch grow.

[im4wsu]

The reason Gene was doing the coaching for the Black team last night was that JT was sent to the hospital where he spent the night for observation for pretty serious dizziness. I spoke with him at the practice field today and he said he is doing much better and will be at the golf tourn tomorrow. Blood pressure was elevated, but everything else checked out well. Glad to hear that JT. He will be ready to go the rest of the series.

The anticipation of playing baseball can raise anybody's blood pressure.

Hope JT is A-OK and gets back to it soon.

[shockball]

There's a guy at Larry Bud's that looks just like JT. He is talking with Kemnitz. He appears to be in good health. :yahoo: