Todd4State
04-08-2014, 11:32 PM
It wasn't all that pretty, but we won. We played like a struggling team. Hard hit balls right at people, double plays that only led to one run instead of a big inning, USM getting 2 runs on an infield hit and then another on a bloop single. BUT we still won- and this is the kind of game that can help a team get out of a funk.
I don't know how many people realize this, but we have beaten USM in Pearl four years in a row. We only have one player on the team that has ever lost to them- Bracewell. I'm not sure if USM has anyone on their team that has beaten us.
We pitched better than the score IMO. Ben pitched well other than the fourth and then he came back and got out of that inning. Woodruff looked very good. He's still recovering though- I don't think he has the stamina at the point to go seven YET. But he could give us 4-5 very easily. Lindgren looked a little off to me at times, but was solid overall. He got himself in trouble and paid for it. Holder was absolutely filthy. He had hitters bailing out on his curve and he mixed in his fastball well. As a staff we struck out 16 batters and walked only two. That's getting it done.
Overall, our at bats themselves were not bad in general. We had 7 BB's and 5 K's and then 2 guys that were HBP. Maybe more importantly, we had 10 hits. However, we had zero extra base hits. We also executed 3/4 hit and runs successfully, Cody Brown had a beautiful bunt for a hit that helped us score a run. Gavin Collins got a bunt down that caused USM to walk the bases loaded with some of our weaker hitters and get to Detz and Pirtle. Armstrong wreaked havoc on the bases and appropriately scored the winning run. But we also had a few chances at some big innings and we ran ourselves out of a couple of innings. Pirtle's base running mistake was inexcusable and almost made me say some dugout words around children. CT got into a run down when he shouldn't have. We had some rotten luck at tmes too- Demarcus hitting a bullet at an infielder with the infield drawn in, Wes hitting some balls hard that were bobbled and still getting thrown out because he has the speed of a wounded turtle.
It was good to see some changes in the lineup- especially Collins. But I'd still like to see Humphreys. I thought Collins hit a game winning home run for about 5 seconds before I saw it curve foul. It does show you kind of what the future holds for us though a little bit- and that's really exciting for us. As I've said on here, we are going to start to see more guys like Humphreys and Collins in the program. We're still going to recruit speed some as well- see Cody Brown- because our ballpark demands it.
USM had just hired Scott Berry after their CWS run and basically it was an in house promotion. I felt like at the time that USM was kind of trying to show us up after the Polk/Raffo/Cohen fiasco because they talked about the "seamless transition". But we see how well it has worked for them and us in the long run. They have two Under Armour All-Americans on their team, which is actually more than us and Ole Miss at this time- Mason Robbins and Conner Barron. They both look worse now than they did in high school. It's very obvious that their staff is not doing a good job of player development. We may be "small"- but USM looks like a beer league softball team. At least our guys look somewhat athletic- even if they are 5'8". But it just goes to show that you shouldn't make a coaching personnel move based totally on loyalty. To me the difference in the game was a risky move that Berry made by taking his veteran catcher out of the lineup. And sure enough, late in the game their back-up couldn't corral a ball that allowed the game winning run.
I don't know how many people realize this, but we have beaten USM in Pearl four years in a row. We only have one player on the team that has ever lost to them- Bracewell. I'm not sure if USM has anyone on their team that has beaten us.
We pitched better than the score IMO. Ben pitched well other than the fourth and then he came back and got out of that inning. Woodruff looked very good. He's still recovering though- I don't think he has the stamina at the point to go seven YET. But he could give us 4-5 very easily. Lindgren looked a little off to me at times, but was solid overall. He got himself in trouble and paid for it. Holder was absolutely filthy. He had hitters bailing out on his curve and he mixed in his fastball well. As a staff we struck out 16 batters and walked only two. That's getting it done.
Overall, our at bats themselves were not bad in general. We had 7 BB's and 5 K's and then 2 guys that were HBP. Maybe more importantly, we had 10 hits. However, we had zero extra base hits. We also executed 3/4 hit and runs successfully, Cody Brown had a beautiful bunt for a hit that helped us score a run. Gavin Collins got a bunt down that caused USM to walk the bases loaded with some of our weaker hitters and get to Detz and Pirtle. Armstrong wreaked havoc on the bases and appropriately scored the winning run. But we also had a few chances at some big innings and we ran ourselves out of a couple of innings. Pirtle's base running mistake was inexcusable and almost made me say some dugout words around children. CT got into a run down when he shouldn't have. We had some rotten luck at tmes too- Demarcus hitting a bullet at an infielder with the infield drawn in, Wes hitting some balls hard that were bobbled and still getting thrown out because he has the speed of a wounded turtle.
It was good to see some changes in the lineup- especially Collins. But I'd still like to see Humphreys. I thought Collins hit a game winning home run for about 5 seconds before I saw it curve foul. It does show you kind of what the future holds for us though a little bit- and that's really exciting for us. As I've said on here, we are going to start to see more guys like Humphreys and Collins in the program. We're still going to recruit speed some as well- see Cody Brown- because our ballpark demands it.
USM had just hired Scott Berry after their CWS run and basically it was an in house promotion. I felt like at the time that USM was kind of trying to show us up after the Polk/Raffo/Cohen fiasco because they talked about the "seamless transition". But we see how well it has worked for them and us in the long run. They have two Under Armour All-Americans on their team, which is actually more than us and Ole Miss at this time- Mason Robbins and Conner Barron. They both look worse now than they did in high school. It's very obvious that their staff is not doing a good job of player development. We may be "small"- but USM looks like a beer league softball team. At least our guys look somewhat athletic- even if they are 5'8". But it just goes to show that you shouldn't make a coaching personnel move based totally on loyalty. To me the difference in the game was a risky move that Berry made by taking his veteran catcher out of the lineup. And sure enough, late in the game their back-up couldn't corral a ball that allowed the game winning run.