Baseball (at home!) vs. UWM

jetz · March 19, 2012, 09:43:18 PM

We finally get some home cookin' this weekend against UWM. They are 2-1 in the conference after losing in extra innings against YSU in game three last weekend. Their ace had a so-so outing against the Penguins, scattering 12 hits over six but allowing only two runs I believe. He's a big guy--6'5" and 230. The team hit a few home runs in the series, but nothing to get all excited about. It's at Valpo, so naturally the weather looks like it may be a factor--40% chance of rain Friday last I looked.

I know the boys are happy to be home. One thing I heard that I never thought I would: "Can't wait to get back to the dorm so I can get some good food!" Wow, the food must have changed since I went to college.

Post here for the weekend. GO VALPO!

valporun · March 19, 2012, 10:21:13 PM

I'm guessing the "good food" is eating something familiar, not something spicy or overly seasoned because it was South Carolina Southern cooking.

valpotx · March 20, 2012, 02:31:03 AM

Eating at restaurants constantly can get old quite quickly, you would be surprised. Depending on the hotels we stayed in for this year's road trip, sometimes you don't even have a fridge in your room in order to just buy and store sandwich supplies. Trying to keep in shape on such a long road trip was always a challenge.

agibson · March 20, 2012, 01:19:12 PM

Quote from: valpotx on March 20, 2012, 02:31:03 AMTrying to keep in shape on such a long road trip was always a challenge.

Definitely a problem for business travel!

agibson · March 20, 2012, 01:21:13 PM

Quote from: jetz on March 19, 2012, 09:43:18 PMIt's at Valpo, so naturally the weather looks like it may be a factor--40% chance of rain Friday last I looked.

It's been summer here lately. Great baseball weather. At the moment, the 80's are indeed scheduled to end Friday. The high I see forecast is "only" 69. Isolated T-Storms - 30% chance of rain. The storms we've had this last week have blown through pretty quickly, and mostly have developed fairly late in the day. So, hopefully no problem for the game(s).

jetz · March 20, 2012, 02:46:58 PM

Check out the game notes for this weekend on the baseball site. Some interesting points to note:

--Valpo leads the Horizon League in team batting average at .271.
--Team ERA is approaching 5.00 and must improve.
--Vavra is 1st in the league and tied for 2nd nationally with four triples.
--We have lost six one-run games, and nine games by two runs or less. If we had just won three of those one run games, we would be 8-11 overall. Sounds pretty good! Having watched them all, this scenario was not only possible, but likely. We had to TRY to lose all six of those games...

By the way, Arkansas is now #3 in the country and has only two losses. We gave 'em one and should have taken two!

KL31NY · March 24, 2012, 10:26:18 PM

Big doubleheader earlier today with Valpo winning 7-0 and 1-0 (10 inn). Deetjen w/ a six hit complete game in the first, and it was maybe only the third best pitching performance on the day. UWM's Cale Tassi went 8.1 good shutout innings in game two before being taken out (pitch count). Same game, Kevin Wild went no-no into the 10th until a Panther double. Miller came in and coaxed a comebacker double play to get out of a jam, and Cribbs brought in Scoby with a double in the bottom half for the win.

Needless to say, fantastic opening day at home. You can read the details and figure out how great it was, but if you there, you weren't going to forget it anytime soon...

valporun · March 25, 2012, 09:49:06 AM

I commented to Ryan Wronkowicz that Kevin was having a Harvey Haddix day on the mound, where he went into the 10th with a no-hitter, so maybe I jinxed him, but that's a great pitching performance from the #2 starter on the weekends. I hope yesterday's shutouts give Wormington some confidence that he can get the outs against the Panthers today. Still need some hitting, as I felt that Wild was getting the "ace's lack of hitting support" from his teammates. Maybe it was a change in the winds, or Tassi had some great command on what he was throwing, but the bats are cold for Wild's starts compared with Deetjen's.

I also mentioned to Ryan that WVUR's web feed was down, but he mentioned that the power was knocked out overnight, so they were working on it. I do hope they get it up and running for today's game. Let's go Valpo!

jetz · March 25, 2012, 08:38:10 PM

Some takes from this weekend--

We were handed game one when UWM started throwing the ball around the lot. Deetjen was great again. He has been one of the most economical pitchers I've seen, going deep into games with a relatively low pitch count. Complete game with 102 pitches or something like that. We did hit a couple of balls into gaps, but we were handed a few early runs without having to hit.

Wild was inspirational in game two. His family and friends (about 30) were there from Wisconsin. and he fed off of their cheers. He was at 123 pitches after nine and came back out in the 10th. The leadoff double wasn't in my opinion. Scoby dove for a ball just foul off the right field line, and briefly had it in his glove, but the ump at first called it a fair ball from a long way away. Tough call, but that happens. Big hit by Cribbs in the 10th. We all wished it could have happened in the ninth for Kevin to get the win.

Worm pitched well today--2 runs over eight innings. We wore camoflauged jerseys and hats. Players had their names on the back. I guess it'll be our Sunday home uniform. Our hitting was anemic, but once again their pitcher had something to do with that. Some of the VU players commented that the guy was good today. Still, we need to swing the sticks better this weekend. Big series at home starts Friday.

Great job on the sweep. We are tied for the lead in the Horizon League after two weekends...GO VALPO!

StlVUFan · March 25, 2012, 10:53:27 PM

Do I take it right that VU home games aren't on HLN?

valporun · March 25, 2012, 11:00:14 PM

No, the baseball games aren't on HLN. I'm not sure if the press box has the capabilities for this to be possible? I know Ryan again said that WVUR was down, and they were working on it all weekend. He said they weren't entirely sure what the reasons were for the outage taking so long, but they hope to have it up again soon.

valpotx · March 25, 2012, 11:31:03 PM

Great pitching this series it looks like!! I love to see those low numbers on the scoreboard from our opponents

. Congrats guys!

vubballfan · March 26, 2012, 08:27:41 AM

This was an excellent sweep of a good team. Milwaukee came into the weekend leading the Horizon League in team ERA and their 3 starters were in the top 10 in strikeouts and ERA. One of their starters and 2 relievers are on some scout's radar, as I had a few chats with some of the scouts this weekend. Don't be surprised if they aren't around next year. Obviously our offense did enough to win 3 games -- I think we would have had more hits on Sat. as the wind held up some very well hit balls. We don't strike out as a team and we hit the ball hard just need to find some holes. Big home series against pre-season favorite Wright State next weekend.

vubballfan · March 26, 2012, 08:34:42 AM

Also, forgot to mention that the defense was spectacular this weekend. There was several diving catches in the outfield, great plays in the infield, and a couple great double plays turned at crucial times. Best defense I've seen from a Valpo team in a long time.

jetz · March 27, 2012, 01:50:00 PM

Quote from: StlVUFan on March 25, 2012, 10:53:27 PM
Do I take it right that VU home games aren't on HLN?

According to the HLN site, Youngstown is getting all of their home games shown on HLN, including our series there on April 13-15. They must have some insider there or something. Check out HLN today. The "Rundown" weekly highlight features Wild's near no hitter with video clips from yours truly. Nice feature for the team... 8)