Whoever said 3 runs wouldn’t be enough was completely correct.
- Thread starter Go Budaw
- Start date
I don’t have many complaints with our performance. Leaving Rowdey on third after the triple really hurt. I thought we could’ve gotten more runs off Raby and then Vandy’s bullpen just totally shut us down. Didn’t think we played poorly but Vandy seemed like the better team tonight.
Should have the whole pen available for tomorrow outside of Neff. Need a big time game from Billingsley and certainly more than 3 runs.
Should have the whole pen available for tomorrow outside of Neff. Need a big time game from Billingsley and certainly more than 3 runs.
Vandy’s relievers were dealing. We couldn’t do anything off that second guy who was touching 97-98.
I’m actually really shocked that Vandy didn’t score more than they did. We held them at bay well. They’ve ran up the score against Clemsom in their regional and went on a tear.
I said Friday our kids had a 50/50 shot of getting out of this thing, and that seems to be about right. Today should be a dogfight and could go either way.
I said Friday our kids had a 50/50 shot of getting out of this thing, and that seems to be about right. Today should be a dogfight and could go either way.
it depends on how the kids respond. Our momentum from Friday didn’t matter. In game momentum can be tough to deal with, but I don’t think momentum from day to day is as important. I think our kids will respond well and play lights out tonight. They still may not win, but these kids want it bad. They have been in this situation multiple times before and are not fazed in the slightest. This kind of situation has been par for the course all year long. I’m just hoping Mangum gets up there and wills it to happen. Kid plays with so much intensity.
Momentum didn't matter after getting drubbed by Oklahoma last week. Get some decent pitching, play solid defense, and string a few hits together. If we could have just gotten a few more timely hits in the earlier innings, who knows if we don't break their spirits before their bats woke up. It's baseball. We've got tough kids, even if they aren't the most talented. I'll take tough-minded guys in a do-or-die game all day long.
Well, the only real issue with last night is that we COULD have run Self out there in the 8th to try and get us either 5 or 6 outs to go to Omaha and we chose instead to extend Neff. If we never get a lead today and Self isn't needed in a save situation then that will be a decision we will regret for a long time. Henderson had the option to try and nail down last night's game to go to Omaha with his best reliever and instead chose to save him.
Neff had been incredible until the triple, and the guy after the triple was a lefty. I have no doubt that we would’ve brought Self in for the 9th if we had gotten through the eighth unscathed.
Henderson took a risk by staying with Neff and it backfired. I can't even remember the last time Neff pitched a stint of multiple innings. Not sure he had pitched at all since the Oklahoma 20-10 meltdown. If you bring in your best with Self to close it out for 6 outs and it doesn't work out at least you can say we had our shot with our closer and they just beat us. I personally am not convinced Self was going to be used at all last night. McQuary was the guy warming up.
Self is the closer, and pitched the day before. He’s not a guy that can go through the lineup more than once. If we had been the team down 0-1 in the series, you obviously have to use him. But we weren’t, so burning him there and making him unavailable for the rubber game on Sunday if it didn’t work out would have been a huge mistake.