Beware, this Michigan team looks like Vanderbilt's 2014 national title team
Adam Sparks, Nashville Tennessean @ 3:55 p.m. CT June 23, 2019
https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports ... 517982001/
Beware, this Michigan team looks like Vanderbilt's 2014 national title team
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Re: Beware, this Michigan team looks like Vanderbilt's 2014 national title team
But this Vanderbilt team is a lot better than the 2014 Vandy team and UVA team.
Re: Beware, this Michigan team looks like Vanderbilt's 2014 national title team
Just going by stats alone it looks like they have 3 really good starters, a couple solid guys in the pen, and a somewhat versatile lineup in the sense that they've got four hitters with double digit home runs and a bunch of aggressive guys on the base paths.
They seem to have our problem where once you get a couple guys deep in the pen, they really fall off. Our bats kinda took last week off so hopefully they'll regain their form and get hot the next few days. If so, if we can get their starters out of the game kind of early, we could potentially put up some big numbers. But that's a big if as they've got a good starting rotation.
Our pitching carried us last week. Only 6 runs in 3 games. Never would guessed that considering how inconsistent we've been at times this year. And I'd be surprised if we replicated that. Partly because Michigan looks like they can score a variety of ways but also because for every great couple of performances, we seem to throw in a real stinker at some point. If we get one more great outing from Fellows tonight, I feel pretty good about our chances.
They seem to have our problem where once you get a couple guys deep in the pen, they really fall off. Our bats kinda took last week off so hopefully they'll regain their form and get hot the next few days. If so, if we can get their starters out of the game kind of early, we could potentially put up some big numbers. But that's a big if as they've got a good starting rotation.
Our pitching carried us last week. Only 6 runs in 3 games. Never would guessed that considering how inconsistent we've been at times this year. And I'd be surprised if we replicated that. Partly because Michigan looks like they can score a variety of ways but also because for every great couple of performances, we seem to throw in a real stinker at some point. If we get one more great outing from Fellows tonight, I feel pretty good about our chances.
Re: Beware, this Michigan team looks like Vanderbilt's 2014 national title team
i feel like if we win tonight they won't have any arms for a Game Three. Given that our bats haven't broken out in days, if we can rock their staff tonight we'll go a long way towards winning this thing.
Re: Beware, this Michigan team looks like Vanderbilt's 2014 national title team
Do we know who they are starting tonight? They've been using their Sunday starter as the closer in Omaha. But he hasnt thrown that many pitches. Pitched some Friday and then 2 outs last night. Not sure if they would risk going with him tonight. Their ace pitched friday as well and would be on 3 days rest if he went tonight. Not sure what their plans are.
Regardless if our bats dont wake up, not sure we can win two straight. They've been on hiatus since coming to Omaha. Only scored 16 runs in our 4 CWS games. 4 runs a game isnt going to cut it unless the pitching is lights out. Which is was for the first three games. But pitching inconsistency has been our weakness all year long. After a great performance last week, Fellows was due for a blow up. Although give him credit for keeping us in the game even though he wasnt sharp. I'm sure not the way he wanted his career to end. But seems fitting as he finishes the year with an ERA over 4. Too inconsistent all year long.
As far as the hitting, it's easy to play monday morning QB, but we've seemed really aggressive. And maybe rushing things. Swinging at way too many first pitches. Michigan's bullpen looks just as thin as ours. Our strategy should have been to get their starter out of the game as early as possible and get into their pen. Or use up their sunday starter/omaha closer so he wouldnt be able to pitch much the rest of this week. But we gave that kid last night so many first pitch easy outs. He should have been out of the game after 6 innings but there he was in the 9th.
Maybe Rocker and Hickman will bail us out once again with lights out performances but I don't think we are going to be able to comeback unless our bats wake up.
Regardless if our bats dont wake up, not sure we can win two straight. They've been on hiatus since coming to Omaha. Only scored 16 runs in our 4 CWS games. 4 runs a game isnt going to cut it unless the pitching is lights out. Which is was for the first three games. But pitching inconsistency has been our weakness all year long. After a great performance last week, Fellows was due for a blow up. Although give him credit for keeping us in the game even though he wasnt sharp. I'm sure not the way he wanted his career to end. But seems fitting as he finishes the year with an ERA over 4. Too inconsistent all year long.
As far as the hitting, it's easy to play monday morning QB, but we've seemed really aggressive. And maybe rushing things. Swinging at way too many first pitches. Michigan's bullpen looks just as thin as ours. Our strategy should have been to get their starter out of the game as early as possible and get into their pen. Or use up their sunday starter/omaha closer so he wouldnt be able to pitch much the rest of this week. But we gave that kid last night so many first pitch easy outs. He should have been out of the game after 6 innings but there he was in the 9th.
Maybe Rocker and Hickman will bail us out once again with lights out performances but I don't think we are going to be able to comeback unless our bats wake up.
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Re: Beware, this Michigan team looks like Vanderbilt's 2014 national title team
It's easy to say this ... hard to do against good pitchers with control. That guy last night was *good*. And for the first 4 or 5 innings, he didn't throw many balls. It's hard to plan to work the count or lay off first pitches when the result means an 0-1 count against a good pitcher.fldore wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2019 7:20 am Our strategy should have been to get their starter out of the game as early as possible and get into their pen. Or use up their sunday starter/omaha closer so he wouldnt be able to pitch much the rest of this week. But we gave that kid last night so many first pitch easy outs. He should have been out of the game after 6 innings but there he was in the 9th.
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Re: Beware, this Michigan team looks like Vanderbilt's 2014 national title team
is it too late for this season for us to play some small ball and actually execute some bunts?