Baseball @ Murray St.

[jetz]

I was at Murray for Saturday and Sunday and have some early impressions to share.  Just want to give those of you that don't have a chance to see the games a little more info.  Just my take and nothing earth-shaking.  Here goes with my letter grades:

Pitching:  A-  The starters were outstanding.  Deetjen went 7 and allowed only 4 hits.  He was cruising through the last couple innings, having no trouble with the 'Breds hitters.  Mid 80s fb, good breaking ball and left handed.  Wormington was excellent as well.  86-87 fb in the cold at Murray.  Went eight innings and did not look tired.  Both Deetjen and Wormington threw 98 pitches.  Coach Schmack had a 100 pitch limit on the starters.  Wild did a fine job on Sunday.  Also mid 80s fb.  I think we walked 3 or 4 all weekend.  Starters gave up 11 hits over 20 IP and 1 ER.  Impressive.  Since Wormington is a transfer, I believe that the HL coaches didn't know what we had when they picked us third.  With starting pitching like this, we'll contend for a title.

Bullpen:  B-  Former All-American closer Miller struggled in his first outing in over a year, but regained his old form with a quality save on Sunday.  Hopefully that bodes well for him going forward.  Mahar made his first collegiate appearance in game one and looked nervous early but settled down to pitch three good innings.  Robinson looked decent in two appearances, getting the save in game one and taking a loss in game two.  Jacobs is a crafty lefty, but struggled in game two.  He was hit hard and I wonder if the cold affected his breaking stuff.  I checked the radar gun and he was at 58-60 (!), obviously likes to throw junk.  In fairness, we dropped a fly ball for an error that led to the winning run against him and would have had him out of the inning unscathed. 

Offense: B-  Stranded a bunch in game one and struck out 12 times.  Did not get an extra base hit in games one or two.  The conditions were tough--cold with a gusty wind blowing in.  No one threatened the fence for either team in games one or two.  In fact, Manning's homer in game three was one of only two balls to come near the fence all series.  His dinger went over the right field wall (he's swings righty) about 350 feet away.  Our 1-2-3 guys took a while to get going, but finally did in game three.  It looked a lot like the first series of the year for our hitters, but I'm sure they'll be alright.  Vavra was mister up and down this series--he struck out more than he would like, but had the big 2 RBI triple in game three in the ninth.  He's plenty fast but got picked by the pitcher in his one steal attempt.  I thought he tried to bunt for base hits too much, but again the cold weather and wind blowing in may have had a lot to do with that.  If he gets it rolling he'll be tough at the leadoff spot.  Hagel and Cribbs put good swings on the ball a lot of the time I thought.  Room for improvement with the bats as a team, but not a bad start to the season.  We'll definitely see tougher pitching.

Baserunning: C   I think we stole one base, and that was because our runner was caught off first and took off for second.  Failed on our one squeeze play, but the pitch was in the dirt and tough to get at.  Not a ton of chances to run, but not much happened when we did have an opportunity it seemed.  I would guess that our team speed is average to slightly above.  We do have a couple of guys who can run, so hopefully we can make a few runs that way as time goes on.

Defense:  B+  A couple of errors in game one but then pretty good.  Vavra made a web gem at 2B, Cribbs was solid with no passed balls and one for two on throwing out base stealers.  Martin looked good at third and freshman Mahoney got his feet wet with a decent series at short.  Mahoney is almost 6'5", so if he takes anything off his throw it tends to sail.  Hagel bailed him out at first a few times, but Mahoney's glove work was solid.  If he turns it loose on the throw, he'll be fine.  Manning saved game one when he threw out a runner at the plate, and Scoby made a nice catch at the wall in right in game three.  Bain is a natural infielder moving to left, and he was just OK out there but should get better with some experience.  As a team, we made nearly all the routine plays--impressive for a first series.

The team chemistry was great.  Guys picked each other up and stayed positive.  I think Coach Woodson commented that he hasn't seen that kind of excitement in the dugout for a while.  While I'm sure they thought they should've won all three, everyone is satisfied with a series win.  Every game was decided in the ninth or later, but Valpo dominated for most of the series.  Overall grade for the team:  B+.

Good job guys...GO VALPO!   

[valpotx]

Thanks for the in-depth analysis!  Surprising that we have a 6'5" SS!

In regards to Jacobs, that had to have been his offspeed pitches if they were 58-60?!?!  There is no way someone can pitch D-1 ball throwing that slow as a fastball  .  After my Tommy John surgery, I only threw 77-82 from the left side depending on the weather, and also had to rely on my offspeed pitches.  You can get away with that speed if you have good offspeed pitches, but anything less would be trouble.  Either the gun wasn't working correctly, or he was throwing a changeup. 

[jetz]

No, it was definitely a breaking ball, but that was all he threw in this outing.  He didn't throw any fastballs that I remember.  I was next to the gun and that's where he was consistently. 
His deal is just go out there and throw stuff up there that's a total change from what the hitters have been seeing.  I think he's normally good at hitting his spots, but in this first outing in the cold he left balls over the plate or they weren't breaking as much as he wanted.  In any case, Murray hitters were able to barrel the ball up.  We still had a few arms left in the pen after the series was over, so besides Jacobs we'll see others get spot duty.  The starters will be challenged at Arkansas, and while I hope we don't have to, Valpo faces the possibility of using all of the pen this weekend.

[valpotx]

Yes, it will be a tough series this weekend, but I think we will show up ready to play from the sound of it.  I will be at the Saturday/Sunday games, so will try to do a similar analysis if you aren't going to be there as well.

Deetjen was rewarded with HL Pitcher of the week, good job Tyler!

[jetz]

I'll be there.  Look for the Valpo flag.  I always carry it with me to games and will hang it on the fence somewhere.  Congrats to Tyler--go get the Hogs!