That's a pure hindsight second guess. This is a guy coming off Tommy John early. He was on a 100 pitch limit, and that was pushing it. His breaking pitch wasn't moving and a guy who couldn't handle his fast ball just got a hit on a two strike breaking pitch. We lost that game on a bad, baserunning mistake, that especially a left hand batter should NEVER make. The irony is, if he'd been running where he should have been, the throw would have hit him and the original result would have been at least as favorable for us.
It was the right move for Skip to remove Cade. OUr closer was really OUr only reliable reliever in the playoffs. He didn't get it done. It happens. Ole Miss was just a better team. Considering the large strike zone, he should have been able to get five outs. He couldn't. Layers of Ole Miss pitchers did over two days. We just got beat. OUr hitters just couldn't get it done with a strike zone going the pitchers' way against a quality pitching staff. Over two days, we sent 15 batters to the plate to start the game, both days in the first five innings. They didn't get it done.