Missouri State vs Shox -- Game 3

[ShockerFever]

Anybody watching Overtime Live?

I just skipped to it and wish I hadn't. Whoever made the phone-in is the most ignorant moron I've ever heard on live television in my entire life.

Wow.

You'd have to pay me to watch that 3rd grade production. :(

No kidding.

I dunno which is worse.. the production or the idiots they let call in.

.. I will say Terrell Benton at least tries to hold things together. I don't mind him. It's a shame he's stuck there though.

[Veritas]

Shox seem to get shaken and not stirred. However, they need to put this game behind them and focus on beating ORU & DBU and getting some positive momentum going again.

I'm feeling a lot better about this team than a month ago.

[WSUwatcher]

This is the type of game that tells me no way WSU wins the valley tourney.

No way they can put together 4-5 good games in a row needed to win the tourney.

You're too Shocker-centric, Ta, and too pessimistic as a result. Who else is more likely to put together 4-5 games good enough to win, especially in Wichita? Nobody else has a pair of starters like Cooper and Kelley when they're on their games, which is almost always these days, and if they step up WSU has a game with its #3 against someone else's #4 to play for the championship. Yes, the worry is what happens after that -- but everyone else has that same worry, too.

[ShockerFever]

This is the type of game that tells me no way WSU wins the valley tourney.

No way they can put together 4-5 good games in a row needed to win the tourney.

You're too Shocker-centric, Ta, and too pessimistic as a result. Who else is more likely to put together 4-5 games good enough to win, especially in Wichita? Nobody else has a pair of starters like Cooper and Kelley when they're on their games, which is almost always these days, and if they step up WSU has a game with its #3 against someone else's #4 to play for the championship. Yes, the worry is what happens after that -- but everyone else has that same worry, too.

Our #3 guy just got raked to the #3 guy of the last place Valley team last weekend.

Maybe he's not pessimistic and you're simply too optimistic. Ever thought of that one, PuppyWatcher?

[twister17e]

This is the type of game that tells me no way WSU wins the valley tourney.

No way they can put together 4-5 good games in a row needed to win the tourney.

You're too Shocker-centric, Ta, and too pessimistic as a result. Who else is more likely to put together 4-5 games good enough to win, especially in Wichita? Nobody else has a pair of starters like Cooper and Kelley when they're on their games, which is almost always these days, and if they step up WSU has a game with its #3 against someone else's #4 to play for the championship. Yes, the worry is what happens after that -- but everyone else has that same worry, too.

I'm normally a pretty optimistic person, but our odds aren't as high as in years past :cry:. Fact is Kelley & Cooper should give us a W (not to jinx them). However beyond those two, we have Lowell but he is coming off an injury. Nobody knows how deep and effective he'll be. A good sign was how he pitched on Sunday for two innings. After Lowell, we have no constantly great pitchers. Furthermore, we all now how awesome our bullpen has been in the last two years.

[WSUwatcher]

Fair enough

Twister, I certainly agree that WSU is not an odds-on favorite (i.e., more likely to win than not) as they have been most times in the past. The second-line pitching and bullpen inconsistency are absolutely factors in that.

Still, I remain convinced that WSU, especially playing at home (and with ORU not being a Valley member) has a better chance than anyone else. All the other teams have flaws, too -- it's no accident that WSU is the only MVC team with an RPI in the top 100. The panic-stricken and bipolar tend to lose sight of other teams' weaknesses and focus only on WSU's.

Edit: By the way, here's an oddity. The Valley team with the best overall record, and the only one to win a series from WSU, Indiana State, will play only 50 regular season games this year (assuming they get in all three with Bradley, as they no doubt hope to do). And that's with only four lost to weather -- they only scheduled 54, apparently. I realize Indiana isn't exactly baseball country, but still -- why would you not at least schedule the full complement of games, especially if you're trying to regain some prominence in the sport?

[shocker3]

Re: Fair enough

Twister, I certainly agree that WSU is not an odds-on favorite (i.e., more likely to win than not) as they have been most times in the past. The second-line pitching and bullpen inconsistency are absolutely factors in that.

Still, I remain convinced that WSU, especially playing at home (and with ORU not being a Valley member) has a better chance than anyone else. All the other teams have flaws, too -- it's no accident that WSU is the only MVC team with an RPI in the top 100. The panic-stricken and bipolar tend to lose sight of other teams' weaknesses and focus only on WSU's.

Edit: By the way, here's an oddity. The Valley team with the best overall record, and the only one to win a series from WSU, Indiana State, will play only 50 regular season games this year (assuming they get in all three with Bradley, as they no doubt hope to do). And that's with only four lost to weather -- they only scheduled 54, apparently. I realize Indiana isn't exactly baseball country, but still -- why would you not at least schedule the full complement of games, especially if you're trying to regain some prominence in the sport?

With UNI dropping baseball last year, all Valley teams struggled to fill their schedules this year.

Many of them had to add non-division 1 games or even go a weekend without playing anyone during the conference season (Missouri State).

WSU was able to play Dallas Baptist and San Jose St to make up their 2 off weekends during conference play, the other Valley schools were not nearly as fortunate.

[Born2Shock]

Re: Fair enough

[quote="WSUwatcher"]Twister, I certainly agree that WSU is not an odds-on favorite (i.e., more likely to win than not) as they have been most times in the past. The second-line pitching and bullpen inconsistency are absolutely factors in that.

Still, I remain convinced that WSU, especially playing at home (and with ORU not being a Valley member) has a better chance than anyone else. All the other teams have flaws, too -- it's no accident that WSU is the only MVC team with an RPI in the top 100. The panic-stricken and bipolar tend to lose sight of other teams' weaknesses and focus only on WSU's.

Edit: By the way, here's an oddity. The Valley team with the best overall record, and the only one to win a series from WSU, Indiana State, will play only 50 regular season games this year (assuming they get in all three with Bradley, as they no doubt hope to do). And that's with only four lost to weather -- they only scheduled 54, apparently. I realize Indiana isn't exactly baseball country, but still -- why would you not at least schedule the full complement of games, especially if you're trying to regain some prominence in the sport?[/quote]

Perhaps they were over the limit last year and suffered the 2 game penalty?

[shocks771]

Indiana State was only 33-21 last year so they didn't go over last year. Shocker3 is correct, many Valley schools had a hard time filling their schedules with the loss of UNI. Most non-conference series are scheduled years in advance. We are just lucky that we still have a big enough name that we were able to fill the open weekend with a decent team, San Jose State.

[shox1989]

Re: Fair enough

[quote="Born2Shock"]

Edit: By the way, here's an oddity. The Valley team with the best overall record, and the only one to win a series from WSU, Indiana State, will play only 50 regular season games this year (assuming they get in all three with Bradley, as they no doubt hope to do). And that's with only four lost to weather -- they only scheduled 54, apparently. I realize Indiana isn't exactly baseball country, but still -- why would you not at least schedule the full complement of games, especially if you're trying to regain some prominence in the sport?[/quote]

Perhaps they were over the limit last year and suffered the 2 game penalty?

How is 33-17 (.667) better than 38-18 (.679)? I think WSU has the best overall record in the Valley this year.

[shocker3]

Indiana State was only 33-21 last year so they didn't go over last year. Shocker3 is correct, many Valley schools had a hard time filling their schedules with the loss of UNI. Most non-conference series are scheduled years in advance. We are just lucky that we still have a big enough name that we were able to fill the open weekend with a decent team, San Jose State.

WSU was the only Valley school this year that was able to play a full 56 game schedule.

The other 7 Valley schools played anywhere from 49 to 55 games this year.

It is not easy to schedule 56 games in the first place and it is very hard to get make up games against anybody at the last minute. I know some people complain about us playing teams like Tabor and Sterling, but at least we have been able to get those games.