Play Ball!

1-2-3 first inning for Austin (two strikeoutsKK, groundout).

Byrd popped to SS.
Stainback grounded out to 2B.
Aquino struck out. Geez.

Scoreless tie heading to the top of the second inning.

Efficient, 1-2-3 second inning for Austin (3 groundouts). Come on, offense, let's start teeing off against less than stellar pitching.

Stringer flied out to LF. Once again, we're not being very patient.
Teykl flied out to CF.
Ratterree grounded out to SS.
6 pitch inning. Ugh. Let's just keep repeating past behavior with the hope of a different result.

Scoreless tie heading to the top of the third inning.

Walked a guy hitting .056.

E-5 by the Crimson plates the first two of the game for Rice. 2-0 Bottom 3.

4-0 end of three.

Austin suddenly struggling with his command-- walking the leadoff man (his one issue all season so far), wild pitching him to 3B after sac bunt, then walks another batter...but escapes with a strikeoutKKK and deep fly to CF. Austin continues to throw a lot of pitchers; the reason he has yet to go beyond 7.1 IP this season, despite pitching exceptionally well. Offense needs to wake up. We're not facing Sandy Koufax here.

Cook flied out to LF.
Perrott hit by pitch (#5 on season for Geoff).
Taylor ground single through hole. Runners on 1B and 2B, one out.
Byrd popped out to 3B (his 2nd consecutive infield pop).
Stainback walked to load the bases with two outs. At least we're finally making the pitcher work this inning. Time for Michael to break out of his week-long slump...
Aquino first pitch swinging AGAIN, reached on E-5, with two runs scoring on the errant throw. Runners on 2B and 3B, two outs.
Stringer hit by pitch to reload the bases with two outs.
Teykl clutch, 2-RBI single for the hit man! Runners on 1B and 2B, two outs.
Ratterree walked to reload the bases with two outs.
Cook flied out to deep CF (the best hit ball this inning).
4 unearned runs on two ground singles, 2 BBs, 2 HBP and a huge E-5...but at least we capitalized.

Good guys take a 4-0 lead heading to the top of the fourth inning.

Tekyl single in 2 more. Owls leave the bases loaded but lead 4-0 after 3.

And that's why it's so critical to put the ball in play in college play, as opposed to striking out; anything can happen...and usually does.

Austin really laboring out there and struggling with his control for the second consecutive inning, but manages to escape damage. Back-to-back leadoff ground singles (one of infield variety), followed by a strikeoutKKKK throw 'em out (at 3B), then a wild pitch and walk put runners back on the corners before a ground out ends the threat. AK has throw a ton of pitches once again. Time for the offense to start making solid contact against this guy and hit some line drives rather than pop ups/fly outs.

Perrott leadoff line single! That's more like it. Need to get the bunt down...
Taylor failed to get the bunt down then flied into double play, with Perrott caught napping. Third time in a week we've had a baserunner doubled up on a fly ball. How is it that every other team can consistently lay down the sac bunt, but we cannot. And we wonder why we have so much trouble scoring runs? Embarrassing. Funamentals. Execution. Not.
Byrd doubled down the line. Great, once again, threw away a run.
Stainback walked. Runners on 1B and 2B, two outs. Can Michael break out of his mini-slump here?...
Aquino gets the job done with a clutch, two-out RBI! Runners on 1B and 3B, two outs.
Stringer popped to 2B.
Nice two out rally, but that inning should have produced 2 - 3 runs if we could execute and avoid the mental mistakes on the bases.

Good guys lead 5-0 heading to the top of the fifth inning.

It sounds like we might only need AK for five innings tonight anyway.

Austin bounces back with a quick and easy 1-2-3 inning (strikeoutKKKKK, two groundouts to P).

Teykl flies out to RF.
Ratterree flied out to RF.
Cook hit by the pitch (#3 on night to go along with 3 BBs).
Perrott hits his second consecutive line single. Runners on 1B and 3B, two outs.
Cook out at the plate on a double steal attempt. Seriously?
Talk about running ourselves out of innings. Two in a row now. Ugh.

Good guys lead 5-0 heading to the top of the sixth inning.

It was a daring and aggressive steal attempt that just didn't quite pan out. Game has been well in hand so far, so no need to fault giving it a try.

(03-15-2013 08:10 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  It was a daring and aggressive steal attempt that just didn't quite pan out. Game has been well in hand so far, so no need to fault giving it a try.

But why would you even it give it a try in that situation? Sorry, that's bad baseball.

Why play aggressively when the other team is on the ropes? Why not! In the past you've found fault for lack of killer instinct and overcaution.

(03-15-2013 08:15 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  Why play aggressively when the other team is on the ropes? Why not! In the past you've found fault for lack of killer instinct and overcaution.

Try again.

No.

Austin is gutting this one out without his best stuff or his best command, but he was hit quite hard that inning (leadoff double, pop out, OF line out, strikeoutKKKKKK).

Fr LHP Sliepka (6.00 ERA, 6 hits allowed in 3.0IP) now pitching for the Crimson...
Taylor flied out to RF.
Byrd fly ball to RF. Boy, have we hit a lot of fly balls today.
Stainback grounded out to 2B.

Good guys lead 5-0 heading to the top of the seventh inning.

Austin got two quick outs, but then hit a batter an walked the next, before inducing an inning-ending strikeoutKKKKKKKK. I suspect that is it for AK, as I believe he's already thrown over 100 pitches, and has really struggled with his command all night (reminiscent of this Hawaii game). Great effort, however, when he didn't have his great stuff.

Aquino leadoff walk (only our 2nd leadoff baserunner all game).
Aquino sole 2B.
Stringer lazy fly to CF.
Teykl deep fly ball to CF. I can't recall the last time we hit so many fly balls. Christian's inability to move the runner to 3B cost us another run. Situational hitting. The little things do matter.
Ratterree infield pop...yet another popup/fly ball. Geez.
6 hits in 7 innings against a pitching staff that had surrendered almost 2 hits per IP through their first 7 games.

Good guys lead 5-0 heading to the top of the eighth inning.

McCarthy making his first appearance of the year in relief of AK. I know it's a 5-run lead, but the way we're hitting, I wouldn't exactly call it safe. Let's hope McCarthy has had some good bullpen sessions and has something to prove.

Is this Ryan's Rice debut? I can't remember if he pitched an inning or two last year.