Baseball @ #4 Arkansas

jetz · February 23, 2012, 04:43:29 PM

The team is on the road as I write this and about two hours left in their 13 hour ride to Fayetteville. Obviously this will be a tough challenge this weekend, but I believe Valpo can give the Hogs a scare in one or two of the games. They'll have to do everything right on defense and the bats will have to come alive. We are healthy at the starting spots, and are bringing a few more arms on the trip this week than we brought last week, I believe. Arkansas is ranked anywhere from #4 to #8 in the nation depending on which poll you look at. That combined with the fact that Valpo has never beaten an SEC team make this a real challenge, but one that should open our eyes to what's out there and make us tougher for league games. Baum Stadium is one of the top three college baseball facilities in the country, and they will get a crowd of 7000 or so on the weekend--10K for a SEC series. Our freshman will have to forget about all the surroundings, but that's easier said than done. I mean, they even have cheerleaders!

Weather wise, it'll be sunny, but cool. 50 tomorrow with a stiff wind, warming to 60 by Sunday. I'm not sure, but if our guys are going to drive straight home on Sunday, they won't get back til 5am. For you hard core fans, Arkansas does offer a professional quality webcast, but you must buy the 30 day Razorvision subscription for $13. At a little over four bucks a game, not a bad deal.

Good luck boys! Enjoy it and GO VALPO!

valpotx · February 24, 2012, 02:17:59 AM

I think that we will show better than their other opponents this year, but will fall short each game. I just think the talent level is too different, but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised! When we won the series against Hawaii, they are not as much of a powerhouse as Arkansas is in baseball the last few years. All in all, the guys need to enjoy playing this game against some future MLB players in a great venue! One of the coolest games we played was at Minnesota in the Metrodome, and our guys will remember this the same way I do that one.

vu72 · February 24, 2012, 11:35:24 AM

Quote from: valpotx on February 24, 2012, 02:17:59 AM
I think that we will show better than their other opponents this year, but will fall short each game. I just think the talent level is too different, but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised! When we won the series against Hawaii, they are not as much of a powerhouse as Arkansas is in baseball the last few years. All in all, the guys need to enjoy playing this game against some future MLB players in a great venue! One of the coolest games we played was at Minnesota in the Metrodome, and our guys will remember this the same way I do that one.

I was at that game! Wasn't Peterson (Pederson), the superstar still on the Valpo team? Did you pitch? I remember a tall skinny lefty pitching for some reason--you??

valpotx · February 24, 2012, 12:15:34 PM

Yes, Pede was on that team. If he wouldn't have gotten injured before his last year, he would have definitely gotten drafted. He was one of the best players in VU baseball history, and chose us over several Big 10 offers (including Minnesota).

I didn't pitch that game. It would have either been Mason Linderbaum or Kyle Cummings that day. Kyle is 6'11" and Mason was around 6'7". Twenge really loved to recruit height. I was one of the shortest pitchers in the program at 5'11".

jetz · February 24, 2012, 06:54:18 PM

Just got back to the hotel after game one here in Arkansas. They had 2600 people for the game today and will have a better crowd this weekend. We can play with these guys, but have to be perfect on defense. A couple of sloppy throws on double play balls led directly to three runs for the Hogs. A fly ball or two could have been caught that weren't. Mahoney had a nice two run single. Nice piece of hitting going the other way. Manning's home run to left center was crushed. Their ace was hittable. The reliever looked more overpowering in my opinion. I actually think that tomorrow we stand a real chance to compete. Their is a difference in talent, but it's not as great as I thought when we showed up. We may lose all three, but a win for Valpo is a real possibility. Back at it tomorrow. Let's go VALPO!

STL_Hog · February 24, 2012, 08:14:32 PM

I heard on the broadcast that your coach is also a college basketball referee and that he does SEC games. I was just wondering what his schedule was this time of year. With baseball teams playing 5 games a lot of weeks that seems almost impossible to handle. I'm also curious to know the last time he called a Razorback basketball game!

jetz, I agree with what you said. You guys missed a couple double plays that eventually led to runs, and a couple singles into left looked more like fly balls that the fielder just let drop in front of him. You're also right on about our starting pitcher. He was on a 70 pitch count last week and a little higher today, and he definitely started to labor as the game went on. He's one of the best in the SEC, and I was impressed with how you guys got to him. I'm just hoping that's early season rust that will go away before conference starts! By the way, that homer from Manning was the first run scored on our starting pitcher in 17 2/3 innings dating back to last year. It seemed like we had runners on in about every inning, but you guys managed to avoid the big inning that would blow it open. Lots of smaller schools eventually fold in that position, so that impressed me.

I hope your left/center fielders have a good sense of humor. The students out there can be pretty vicious hecklers, but it's all in fun. You guys definitely have a much more all around solid team than Villanova last weekend. ~~Just FYI, here's a link to today's game thread on an Arkansas message board if anybody wanted to see the play by play-~~ Well, that didn't work. Wouldn't let me post an external link. Just go to woopig.net if you want to see it.

valporun · February 24, 2012, 08:26:00 PM

Thanks, STL_Hog! Yeah, we have 5 posts max before new posters can add links, to avoid the spambots/trolls.

Coach Woodson does do some college basketball refereeing, but I'm guessing he cuts himself off shortly after the baseball season can officially start. About the last Razorbacks game he worked, I would say you could check the box scores in your schedule to find out...they usually mention each ref working the game.

valpotx · February 25, 2012, 12:58:12 AM

Thank you for the analysis. I look forward to the games tomorrow and Sunday! My friend that played at Arkansas the same time I was playing at Valpo just had to call to talk trash just minutes after this one ended

. Just like in 2009 against Arkansas, it looks like we will keep the scores in these games respectable, against a national contender. A 4 run loss against Arkansas is nothing to sneeze at, though I am sure they will be much better as the season progresses. That can be said about us as well though, since we don't get to take true groundballs for several months in the winter. Those gym floors can only replicate a true playing surface so much lol.

valpotx · February 25, 2012, 03:38:54 PM

Good second game, losing by one after Arkansas took the lead in the 6th (we were up 3-2 before that point). Final score is 4-3 . We had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the 9th, but hit it back to the pitcher, and then grounded out to third to end the game. A good showing nonetheless!!

jetz · February 25, 2012, 05:08:38 PM

Just got back from game 2. I honestly am not sure how we lost that one. Valpo jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first as their starter struggled. We hit, they made some errors, the catcher had a passed ball, and we got off to a great start. Wormington looked good as well on the mound, as Arkansas didn't get their first hit til the third. Wormington did begin to fade in the fifth, and struggled in the sixth when they finally got to him. He was not at 100% going in, and will be very tough if healthy going forward. Freshman Mark Johnson was forced into action in left field for us and made nice plays on a couple of tough chances in his first collegiate start. Johnson also had two hits in the game and was the runner left on third in the ninth that would have tied it. Freshman SS Spencer Mahoney has a tweaked knee and could not play, but he may be back tomorrow. That moved Tanner Vavra to short--he did fine--and Andrew Bain went from left to second. He is clearly more comfortable in the infield, and played well at 2B. Ben Mahar came in to pitch the 7th and 8th, and he shut the Hogs down. I think the 7th was a seven pitch inning. Short story is, we are finding newcomers from the bench who can perform. There were 6100 people there today and we outplayed the #4 team in the nation.

One other bad break: Chris Manning stole second and was CLEARLY safe in the fifth (I think). Of course, the ump was in a bad spot and called him out. Two batters later, Elliot Martin singled to center, which would've scored Manning with the fourth run. Bottom line is, the guys are upset that they are not playing for a series win tomorrow. We should've won--even had two on in the ninth with nobody out. We were all hoping not to get blown out, but the series really should be 1-1. We'll have to stay mad and try to get a win tomorrow to finish up. BTW, the Arkansas fans have been great. Even invited us to their monster tailgate tomorrow. It's been a great experience here so far, except for the losing part. GO VALPO!

gohogs14 · February 25, 2012, 11:39:29 PM

Man i thought you guys were going to get us in the ninth. I guess these close games will be good for us down the road though. I was impressed

We have a great pitching staff but our hitting last year needed improvement so we're trying some freshmen in the lineup...we'll be sending junior randall fant out to the mound tomorrow. He's kind of inconsistent...when he's on he's very hard to hit but when he's not its pretty bad. I think he's great for a sunday starter though (was our saturday starter last year) and is one of our more experienced ones. This will be his first start this year though because he's been a little nicked up

The guy we started saturday has a nasty fastball, probably touches 97, and is rated as a 2nd round prospect but hasnt put it all together yet for us. Im not as high on him as a lot of people but im sure we'll find someone eventually. Heres to a good game 3!

govalpogo · February 26, 2012, 04:29:23 PM

That was quite a game! Congrats to Valpo Baseball on a momentous upset!

valpotx · February 26, 2012, 04:40:38 PM

Yep, probably our second best victory all time after we beat #1 Notre Dame in 2000-2001. Congrats on a big win, and keeping all games close

. This series bodes well for the rest of non-conference, but especially in conference play.

jetz · February 27, 2012, 12:15:44 AM

I thought it might happen and it did. We not only competed with a top 15 team in the country, we probably should have won the series. They were better in game one, we were better in game two and it was even in game three when we got 'em by a Hog nostril...

I am happy with the win and glad to finally break through on an SEC team. We'll all see that Arkansas is overrated at #4, however. They have good athletes, but no first rounders. Their pitching staff is deep with good pitchers, but no dynamite hurler. Porcicello (sp. ??) has a lot of pop in his bat, but the others were just decent. Still, they will end up in the top 15 or so and beating them is a huge accomplishment for a team from the Horizon League. There should be no doubt that we can compete for a league title. Anything else would be a disappointment--yes I said that! We have way too many good players, and we don't need to rely on one "horse" to pull us through. Here's the standouts from this series and/or game three:

--RHP Ben Mahar: Shut down the Ark lineup in his three inning appearance. Second strong outing of the year.

--Kevin Upp: Another good arm out of the pen. Cooled 'em off when they were hot in game three, retiring the last eight Razorbacks in a row that he faced.

--Will Hagel: The 1B goes 0h-fer in the first two games, then gets four hits and drives in the game winner in game three. Good on 'D' throughout.

--Elliott Martin: A two out, 3RBI double that was "scorched" out to left center, according to the Razorback radio feed. Clutch hit. He was charged with two throwing errors in the game, but both of those were harsh scoring decisions. He was solid at third all series.

--Tanner Vavra: The leadoff man is now hitting over .400 for the season.

You'll notice many of these names were not on the preseason list of standouts. What you have here, fellow Valpo fans, is a TEAM of players who are ALL capable of stepping up. There are still some more who have not seen action yet that you'll probably hear about next week when we play five in a row in the Carolinas. We are deep, talented and hungry, and it could be special season.

Let's go win a bunch on the spring break trip. I thought that coming home .500 would be pretty solid, but now I'm hoping for a few games better than that. One big obstacle: no flying. The team is in the middle of a 12 hour bus ride as I type, and they are back on the hook for another long trek out to Spartanburg. I hope they can "sleep fast".

valpotx · February 27, 2012, 01:47:12 AM

I would also expect for us to compete for the HL title this year. The only questions I had were relating to losing several solid pitchers, but it looks like we will be good in that area yet again. I don't know if it is the talent Woodson is bringing in, or his Major League pedigree helping prepare them for games, but he is definitely a solid coach (as well as supporting coaches). Each AB I watched, our guys looked to have confidence in being able to hit some really solid pitchers.

You mention that they probably don't have many first round picks. That is true, but that is also the case for 99.9% of colleges

. A lot of HS kids go in the first round, as well as Juco. I believe Arkansas has one guy that can go in the second round (based on media projections), and several other later round guys. A win over any team in the top 25 is a great victory for our program. I had fun in AR, and hope to be able to attend our first ever D-1 NCAA tournament later this year in my area (preferably TCU or UT regional).

valpotx · February 27, 2012, 02:04:22 AM

Had to post this RPI as well (in bold), since I don't see us ever being this high again lol:

1 Valparaiso 0 - 0 - 0 0.000 - 3 - 3 - 0 0.500 20 0.6818 1 - 2 - 0 5 - 5 - 0 1 Win

http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2012/conference/Horizon%20League

jetz · February 27, 2012, 08:10:50 AM

Quote from: valpotx on February 27, 2012, 02:04:22 AM
Had to post this RPI as well (in bold), since I don't see us ever being this high again lol:

1 Valparaiso 0 - 0 - 0 0.000 - 3 - 3 - 0 0.500 20 0.6818 1 - 2 - 0 5 - 5 - 0 1 Win

http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2012/conference/Horizon%20League

Agree. The numbers all stack up in our favor right now, since Murray St. has won a bunch of games since our series. For others reading this who may not know--the numbers above say we are the #20 ranked RPI team in the country right now, largely due to the fact that our two previous opponents are highly ranked and/or winning. Our strength of schedule is #11. Because our opponents will get weaker, those numbers will more than likely drop as the season progresses. Sorry for the RPI 101 speak for those of you who already know...

I also agree with valpotx when he says that 99.9% of schools don't have first rounders. My point was that top five teams in the nation typically have two or more players who are in the discussion. Having been associated with a team that had two 1st rounders last year, I saw what that caliber of player looks like. I saw flashes from the Arkansas kids, and maybe they just didn't have their good stuff for this series, but I'm just not quite on the top 10 bandwagon for the Hogs. Your point is well taken, though.

BTW, do you have a son or know the kid with the old school brown Valpo jersey at the Saturday game? Cool shirt...

gohogs14 · February 27, 2012, 09:42:13 AM

Quote from: jetz on February 27, 2012, 12:15:44 AMTheir pitching staff is deep with good pitchers, but no dynamite hurler. Porcicello (sp. ??) has a lot of pop in his bat, but the others were just decent.

DJ Baxendale is a preseason all american and beat south carolina, florida, and vanderbilt's aces last season. I think Fant might be moved to the pen though and have someone like Astin move to our sunday starter. He got hit hard after he got tired.

Ficociello is probably our best hitter but Jacob Morris and Matt Reynolds are legit too...im hoping we can finally get our lineup figured out by the minute maid classic...not sure if the freshmen should be in there or not

But anyways it was a good game...one more hit and it could have been different but thats baseball. Good luck the rest of the way!

valpotx · February 27, 2012, 10:26:38 AM

I don't have a son, but saw that kid as well

. Those old school brown jerseys are so ugly, that they are kind of cool lol. The JV we used to have wore the brown jerseys. I don't believe we have a JV anymore from the looks of the roster.

jetz · February 27, 2012, 01:25:14 PM

Gohogs--Thanks for the reply. Yep, it's very early and I'm sure Baxendale will show his stuff in the SEC. Also, great job by the stadium staff and the Arkansas fans. We felt welcome and were even invited to a Hog tailgate. Had a great steak dinner at Doe's and a nice night at Noodles, so Fayetteville was great as well. Best of luck to you this year!

jetz · February 28, 2012, 05:48:00 PM

Valpo now has an RPI of 15 and SOS of 8. (Arkansas beat BYU 5-0 today.)

Valpo1b · February 28, 2012, 09:58:53 PM

Quote from: valpotx on February 27, 2012, 10:26:38 AMI don't have a son, but saw that kid as well . Those old school brown jerseys are so ugly, that they are kind of cool lol. The JV we used to have wore the brown jerseys. I don't believe we have a JV anymore from the looks of the roster.

The NCAA roster limit includes members of any JV team. That's why you're seeing varsity rosters the size they are, and why there is no "JV" team.

Valpo1b · February 28, 2012, 10:06:31 PM

Quote from: jetz on February 27, 2012, 08:10:50 AMdo you have a son or know the kid with the old school brown Valpo jersey at the Saturday game? Cool shirt

Wish you had a picture of the jersey. Not sure what you mean by "old school." Coach Twenge actually brought back the brown jerseys in the late 80s. He used brown throughout his tenure. Even after the basketball team went to black and yellow, the baseball team wasn't permitted to use black jerseys. Then, when Coach Woodson started, the team was allowed to use black. The coach prior to Twenge used red, white, and blue as the colors (there wasn't an enforced color scheme at that time). The hats were a dark blue, with a red VU on the front. Can't recall what colors Coach Bauer used.
About the only nit I can pick with Coach Woodson is that he and his staff give the impression that Valpo baseball started in 2007. That's probably not accurate, but several of players my generation are largely ignored. That's too bad, because there were several good players even when the records weren't what everyone wanted.

valpotx · February 29, 2012, 02:01:18 AM

Yes, Valpo does have some solid baseball alumni. I am not sure what years you played, but guys like Robert Skaltsis (spelling, believe his nickname was Rabbit?), Tim Holmes, Lloyd McClendon, Tim Juran (I think that is his name), etc, were all talked about highly by Coach Twenge when I was playing. He made sure that we respected those that came before us. I would assume Coach Woodson conveys this same message to his players, but talks more about the recent success of the program to show the improvement over the last decade. We had some good years when I was playing, but some really bad ones as well (I think we were 14-44 or something in 1999-2000, before going to 28-29 to get Twenge COY in 2000-2001).

Edit: I tried to attach a picture of the framed jersey on my office wall that they gave us when we graduated, to show the brown color. Unfortunately, it is 100 KB too large to post on here. The old Valpo brown jersey was a similar color, but with a large VU in gold/yellow near the heart on the front of the jersey, with huge gold/yellow numbers on the back.

Valpo1b · February 29, 2012, 11:33:14 AM

Quote from: valpotx on February 29, 2012, 02:01:18 AMThe old Valpo brown jersey was a similar color, but with a large VU in gold/yellow near the heart on the front of the jersey, with huge gold/yellow numbers on the back.

If it was v-neck, and the VU interlocking, that jersey would have been from the late 80s/very early 90s. It replaced a thick, almost wool, brown jersey that was suana-like it was so hot. Coach Twenge loved big numbers on the back. Not sure why. That is old-school.

And, I hope Coach Twenge spoke highly of Tim Holmes, he was your pitching coach when you arrived on campus and for most of your career.