Baseball Conference Tourney

[valpotx]

Things are going well right now, up 7-2 in the 6th on UIC.  Yesterday, WSU beat YSU.

Edit:  We are now up 8-2 after a SF.  We have been wearing out the RCF gap!

[valpotx]

After a bunch of pitches left up in the zone by our pitchers, we are now up 8-7 heading into the 8th.  It should be 8-8, but UIC held up their runner coming from second on a single through the left side of the infield.  You would have thought they would at least chance it to tie the game, but they are playing to tie/win in the 8th and 9th.  Mahar with a big strikeout to end the bases loaded threat.

[valpotx]

A solid 1,2,3 in the 8th, and we are up 8-7 heading to the 9th.  Let's get some insurance runs and close it out!

Cole Webb's line of 6 IP, 10 OH, 6 ER looks bad, but he pitched well until that disaster of a 7th. 

[valpotx]

The righty sidearmer gets a big K for UIC with runners on 1st and 2nd.  His curve looked nasty, going from behind Martin to the inside corner.  On to the bottom of the 9th up 8-7.

Hold them Karch!

[valpotx]

One away on the groundout to second!

[valpotx]

Flyout to CF for the second out!  Karch looks like he throws decently hard versus every other pitcher in this game

[valpotx]

Karch takes care of UIC's 2-4 hitters 1,2,3, and we have an 8-7 Valpo win!  That is a big win against a team we went 1-5 against in the conference season.  We move on to play the winner of Milwaukee and WSU tomorrow.  If we win that game, we are in the HL championship game yet again, and would have to lose twice.  Let's take the easy way to the title, and go 3-0!

Great job guys!

[Valposter]

Great start!!!  I agree with Valpotx, let's go 3-0 and call it a day until the NCAA Bracket Selection party!!!

Go Valpo Baseball!!!!!

[talksalot]

I'm feeling it... with the rain taking out the other two games... so now we get a day off... rest the pen a little... into the Winner's bracket... and I'll keep the sentiment... 3-0 sounds good to me!   

[jetz]

My two cents...we have lost 4-5 games this year because the pen isn't warm and ready to go.  Let's just start a policy that in the 6th inning, no matter what, we get a couple of guys up and throwing.  We have had a ton of bad 7th innings this year.  When the first guy or two in the seventh gets on, yank the starter and go to any of a number of guys in the pen.  Today our guy was rough out of the pen when he didn't have time to get warm--then he had a smooth 8th after throwing some pitches.  We need to use our pen earlier and get 'em ready quicker...again just my 

[LaPorteAveApostle]

good point, jetz...I think the ole Trace wants to thereby show confidence in his starter, but Grady Little might still be managing in Boston if he had had his bullpen up and ready.

In light-hearted, wait-for-tomorrow news, I thought I would post this link...seems like something Tex would approve of:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/05/cincinnati-bearcats-postgame-interview-gifs/

[valpotx]

Yep, it's all about having fun  .

I agree with jetz on the bullpen needing to be up a bit quicker.  Webb was really struggling to keep the ball down early in the 7th, and after a few batters is when the switch should have been made.  It's great to instill confidence in your starter, but when you are in a tournament that determines an NCAA bid, you need to lock down each game you can.

[Valposter]

good point, jetz...I think the ole Trace wants to thereby show confidence in his starter, but Grady Little might still be managing in Boston if he had had his bullpen up and ready. In light-hearted, wait-for-tomorrow news, I thought I would post this link...seems like something Tex would approve of: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/05/cincinnati-bearcats-postgame-interview-gifs/

Maybe having too much fun.......the Cincinnati Bearcats fired their head baseball coach, Coach Cleary, and entire staff last weekend........

[valpotx]

YSU is beating UIC 5-1 in the 5th right now.  If that holds true, that is huge for our chances, as they are really the only team that has given us a good amount of difficulty this year.

[valpotx]

anddddddddddddd jinx.  UIC up 9-5 in the 7th because of YSU errors

[historyman]

anddddddddddddd jinx.  UIC up 9-5 in the 7th because of YSU errors

And that surprises you?


If you look at YSU games many times they took leads but their defense was horrible and they lost due to key errors.


By the way UIC just took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 4th on WSU in an elimination game to play the loser of the Milwaukee/Valpo game.

[Dave_2010]

By the way UIC just took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 4th on WSU in an elimination game to play the loser of the Milwaukee/Valpo game.

WSU managed to pull off the upset in an outstanding game. The UWM game tomorrow will be interesting. Looking forward to heading from Cleveland to Youngstown for an afternoon of baseball...hopefully I won't have to stay for the elimination game.

[VUfan]

Valpo 6 UWM 4, Valpo hangs on to get to the finals

[valpotx]

Man, our defense tried its best to throw away the game, but we came out on top!  Our 3rd straight HL championship game/series, I believe.  Let's not waste any time, and win the first one to get back-to-back NCAA bids!

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Jimmy the Loser, er Panther (wait, redundancy alert) had a meltdown as WSU was beating the @#% out of the Panthers in yet another sport on Twitter:

"Man, I can't wait for Valpo to roll over in the NCAA Tournament in yet another sport #HLBB #HLnightmare"

I'll tell you what, I can't wait for him to write something worth reading. Because I can't wait forever.

And when we're talking about "HL Nightmares", I checked that hashtag and the only thing there is "the entire UWM athletic department".

Paul Oren gamely tried to point out that we won games in softball and bowling, and then PantherU claimed to "exist in a world where soccer, basketball and baseball are all that matters. My apologies."

But he clearly wasn't apologizing.  What a loser douche.

...which, now that I think about it, makes him perfect for his loser commuter school.

[Dave_2010]

Jimmy the Loser, er Panther (wait, redundancy alert) had a meltdown as WSU was beating the @#% out of the Panthers in yet another sport on Twitter:

"Man, I can't wait for Valpo to roll over in the NCAA Tournament in yet another sport #HLBB #HLnightmare"

I'll tell you what, I can't wait for him to write something worth reading. Because I can't wait forever.

And when we're talking about "HL Nightmares", I checked that hashtag and the only thing there is "the entire UWM athletic department".

Paul Oren gamely tried to point out that we won games in softball and bowling, and then PantherU claimed to "exist in a world where soccer, basketball and baseball are all that matters.

The butthurt is strong with him. The three at the top of the league (VU, UIC, UWM) were pretty balanced this season with WSU solidly at 4 and YSU (as is typical) pulling up the rear. Considering their sweep in Valpo two weeks ago, I think it's safe to say the Panthers were definitely not the league's hottest team headed in to this weekend (my money would be on UIC for that honor).

Truthfully, I'm not convinced UWM was the league's best team at any point this season. We got wins in Tempe and Tampa (ASU and USF both look tourney-bound) and UIC beat TAMU in College Station. The only tourney team it looks like UWM beat is going to be the HL champ.

Just because your team got cold at the wrong time and couldn't take care of business as the #1 seed doesn't mean that the league tourney format should be changed.

[vubballfan]

Good work today Crusaders....third straight Championship game in 3 years.....second straight 30+ win season....just 1 more win!!!

[HC]

He's not a very good sport/fan when his team is losing. Oh we'll. one more win! Lets get another NCAA birth!

[valpotx]

Jimmy the Loser, er Panther (wait, redundancy alert) had a meltdown as WSU was beating the @#% out of the Panthers in yet another sport on Twitter:

"Man, I can't wait for Valpo to roll over in the NCAA Tournament in yet another sport #HLBB #HLnightmare"

I'll tell you what, I can't wait for him to write something worth reading. Because I can't wait forever.

And when we're talking about "HL Nightmares", I checked that hashtag and the only thing there is "the entire UWM athletic department".

Paul Oren gamely tried to point out that we won games in softball and bowling, and then PantherU claimed to "exist in a world where soccer, basketball and baseball are all that matters. My apologies."

But he clearly wasn't apologizing.  What a loser douche.

...which, now that I think about it, makes him perfect for his loser commuter school.

I saw those comments as well, and finally broke down to join Twitter just to comment back lol.  Seeing the comments by the video feed from Milwaukee fans was just too much!  I played nice after a bit, but just had to comment a little bit first .  The top 3 teams in the HL are very evenly matched this year, and probably will be just about every year.  We battled many injuries this year, and if we hadn't, could have won the regular season as well. 

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I saw those comments as well, and finally broke down to join Twitter just to comment back lol. 

I wondered if that were you!  Cheers.

Honestly, I contemplated joining twitter myself just to tell his douche self off.

If you can't handle losing well, then just maybeeeee Milwaukee's not the team for you!