Northwestern State won 36 games last year, and they took two of three from BYU. Don't think they made a regional, but they're one of the better non-conference teams we play this year for sure. I thought they were the best team that we've played so far. Rice better hope that they aren't on their schedule. Still not all that great of a team, but a decent mid-major.
I thought Kendall Graveman pitched pretty well. The second run he gave up wasn't his fault. We over-extended him and Busby a little bit- that tells me don't quite have the pitching depth we need, but there is also no doubt that we're getting better. It's good to see that we're headed in the right direction on that front. Pollerena and Caleb Reed pitched really well. Looks to me like Reed is making a strong case to be the closer. We didn't walk very many guys, and we got them to hit a lot of balls on the ground.
Offensively, I thought we hit too many balls in the air. If we do that, we're going to have a hard time. We have to focus on hitting line drives. Just about every hit we had was either on a line drive or a bunt single. Speaking of- we have done a great job of bunting this year. There haven't been very many times where we didn't get the ball down on the ground, and we've beat our share out- even when the other team knows that we're going to bunt. Mostly good at bats- we're good at making contact, although Wes Thigpen and I think Nick Vickerson got caught looking to strike out on a pitches that they should have at least swung at. We had five guys get hit by a pitch- mainly because their second pitcher had no idea where he was throwing the ball. I wonder why the umpire warned the pitcher after he hit Daryl Norris in the head with the bases loaded- I highly doubt he was head hunting in that situation with his team behind and the bases loaded.
Jonathan Ogden bunted a ball to first base when he really needed to bunt it to third base. We are very lucky that Daryl Norris wasn't thrown out at the plate and that the catcher dropped the ball. Ogden needs to bunt that ball to third so that his only play is to go to first or try to make an incredible play to get the runner at the plate- which is something that the third baseman wouldn't be likely to pull off.
Ogden also made a mistake getting thrown out at third to end the inning. If you're going to run in that situation, you better make it. It also didn't help that there was a left handed hitter at the plate- making it easier for the catcher, and I couldn't really tell on M2M, but I don't think he got a great jump either. I don't mind trying to steal third with two outs, but again, if you're going to do it, you better make it. And I would never try it with a left hand hitter at the plate.
The defense was very good once again. Vickerson's error was on a tough play- but they scored it correctly. If he gloves it, and gets the throw off cleanly, I think they would have scored it a hit. But he couldn't get a handle on it. The worst play to me was when we didn't cover second after a single and allowed one of their runners to move up a base to get into scoring position, and he later scored on a sac fly to tie the game. I think Ogden was the one who was supposed ot cover the base in that situation- it could have been Vickerson though. Jaron kind of misplayed a ball that was over his head, but what I want to know was where was CT to back him up? The ball could have been hit a farther to CT's left than I am thinking though- hard to tell on M2M. Brent Brownlee made an awesome catch in right field that was a big key to the game. Kendall Graveman made a great play to throw the lead runner out at third on a bunt and then got a double play ball to get out of the third inning, and those were two huge plays.
Overall, I thought we played pretty well, but we have some things that we need to clean up. We manufactured runs and it was good to find a way to win without throwing one of our top starters.
I thought Kendall Graveman pitched pretty well. The second run he gave up wasn't his fault. We over-extended him and Busby a little bit- that tells me don't quite have the pitching depth we need, but there is also no doubt that we're getting better. It's good to see that we're headed in the right direction on that front. Pollerena and Caleb Reed pitched really well. Looks to me like Reed is making a strong case to be the closer. We didn't walk very many guys, and we got them to hit a lot of balls on the ground.
Offensively, I thought we hit too many balls in the air. If we do that, we're going to have a hard time. We have to focus on hitting line drives. Just about every hit we had was either on a line drive or a bunt single. Speaking of- we have done a great job of bunting this year. There haven't been very many times where we didn't get the ball down on the ground, and we've beat our share out- even when the other team knows that we're going to bunt. Mostly good at bats- we're good at making contact, although Wes Thigpen and I think Nick Vickerson got caught looking to strike out on a pitches that they should have at least swung at. We had five guys get hit by a pitch- mainly because their second pitcher had no idea where he was throwing the ball. I wonder why the umpire warned the pitcher after he hit Daryl Norris in the head with the bases loaded- I highly doubt he was head hunting in that situation with his team behind and the bases loaded.
Jonathan Ogden bunted a ball to first base when he really needed to bunt it to third base. We are very lucky that Daryl Norris wasn't thrown out at the plate and that the catcher dropped the ball. Ogden needs to bunt that ball to third so that his only play is to go to first or try to make an incredible play to get the runner at the plate- which is something that the third baseman wouldn't be likely to pull off.
Ogden also made a mistake getting thrown out at third to end the inning. If you're going to run in that situation, you better make it. It also didn't help that there was a left handed hitter at the plate- making it easier for the catcher, and I couldn't really tell on M2M, but I don't think he got a great jump either. I don't mind trying to steal third with two outs, but again, if you're going to do it, you better make it. And I would never try it with a left hand hitter at the plate.
The defense was very good once again. Vickerson's error was on a tough play- but they scored it correctly. If he gloves it, and gets the throw off cleanly, I think they would have scored it a hit. But he couldn't get a handle on it. The worst play to me was when we didn't cover second after a single and allowed one of their runners to move up a base to get into scoring position, and he later scored on a sac fly to tie the game. I think Ogden was the one who was supposed ot cover the base in that situation- it could have been Vickerson though. Jaron kind of misplayed a ball that was over his head, but what I want to know was where was CT to back him up? The ball could have been hit a farther to CT's left than I am thinking though- hard to tell on M2M. Brent Brownlee made an awesome catch in right field that was a big key to the game. Kendall Graveman made a great play to throw the lead runner out at third on a bunt and then got a double play ball to get out of the third inning, and those were two huge plays.
Overall, I thought we played pretty well, but we have some things that we need to clean up. We manufactured runs and it was good to find a way to win without throwing one of our top starters.