I was encouraged by last night *

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roanoke
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I was encouraged by last night *

Post by roanoke »

* assuming Owen is ok.

Coach has made some meaningful adjustments lately. Our lineup didn’t change for long stretches this season. Suddenly LaNeve, McKenzie and Hewitt are getting some starts and our regulars are getting some rest.

The serious stuff begins next week and we have, I think, secured a top 8 seed. Rest and getting reserves ready are useful this time of year.

He has also found a couple of pitchers. Boki is throwing the best all year. Horn is really peaking at a good time - (he was lower on velocity last night, I suspect he will be getting some rest after this outing ). Cunningham threw well too - and Reilly is outstanding (so long as he doesn’t start?!?) We have plenty of arms. And note this is minus Holton, Dut and Doolin.

Our bats are more suspect - but We got 10 hits last night off a good staff. Bradfield seems to be trying to lift less - he’s getting on base and making things happen. That’s his path to the big leagues. Diaz is our most consistent hitter this past month. I’d really consider hitting him 4th - I think that would get Schreck out of his slump because he would see better pitches. Bat Hewitt second… Along with Diaz, Vastine is really improving at the plate. These two have been going for contact, going with pitches and just really playing well. For that matter, Noland has had some great at bats in Hoover.

Bottom line, we are fine - but our margin for error is less than our recent championship teams - because we have trouble scoring sometimes. Situational hitting and contact are the keys for improving this. I see some improvement - and guys swinging for the fences need a not so subtle message that k’ing when you need contact is not ok. I wonder who will start at catcher today - and note, Bulger got a huge single in the 8-run inning by swinging for a single.

I do wish we’d make a few more mound visits. I think Cunningham’s one hiccup inning was preventable - and he was being squeezed that inning, so a stare at the ump might’ve been in order too. The key walk to trigger the trouble, the Florida batter had to be told he had been walked - he didn’t realize the obvious strike had been called a ball.

Finally, I give Florida some credit - they have a pretty good book on our hitters. Guys who can’t hit curves and offspeed are getting curves and offspeed. Arkansas, by comparison, did not do that - and lost giving fastball hitters a steady diet of fastballs. I grudgingly give O’Sullivan some praise there. I think they are likely to win this SECT. And it may cost them in two weeks? They’re likely already the #2 or 3 national seed.


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Re: I was encouraged by last night *

Post by charlestonalum »

Well said.
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Re: I was encouraged by last night *

Post by commadore »

I fear part of Schreck's problem is he has no one behind him that the pitchers fear. A lot of time good hitters are somewhat protected by another good hitter in front of them. Thus they get better pitches to hit because the pitcher doesn't want to walk them with the next guy coming up. No one is afraid of Bulger and the recent change hasn't changed that.
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Re: I was encouraged by last night *

Post by Saminator92 »

Why do you think Owen may NOT be okay? Wasn't he by definition on a limited pitch count?
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Re: I was encouraged by last night *

Post by VU1970 »

I was encouraged by last night, too. Very different vibe from the sweep in Gainesville. Vandy had one bad inning, and you can't have even one against a team like Florida.

If we beat Alabama, I think (suspect, hope) that the Gators will find it very difficult to beat a team as good as Vanderbilt five times in a row.
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Re: I was encouraged by last night *

Post by Ndorefin »

I thought Cunningham was totally dominate most of the time. He had one stretch with the 3 hitters (a walk, hbp, walk) followed by the only hit he gave up which, unfortunately, was a grand slam. The other 10 hitters he faced, he struck out 7! I don’t like to complain about the umps, but I do believe they were squeezing him a little especially in the seventh. That had to be a confidence builder for him and I hope he learned from whatever caused him to lose those 4 hitters. I do believe he should have had a mound visit at some point.
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Re: I was encouraged by last night *

Post by egbertsouse »

Saminator92 wrote: Fri May 26, 2023 1:05 pm Why do you think Owen may NOT be okay? Wasn't he by definition on a limited pitch count?
The announcers thought that when Horn came in to pitch the 4th inning he got more than the usual number of warm-up pitches and speculated that happened because of an injury to Owen. I'm not sure if any of that is true.
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