WCU Baseball

It's strange that we seem to suck at everything. Pitching is horrid. No batting stats. Fielding the worst by far in the league, probably toward the bottom of the NCAA in most of these stats.

I know we have had a pretty big turn rate this year, but the lineup is filled with folks who have gotten PT in previous seasons. I hope they get things figured out. A week ago I thought tinkering with the lineup was the plan. Now I'm not so sure there is a plan.

At 1-14, we need to at least think about panicking. (With that, I mean making major changes in the lineup.)

Have to agree. The games I have been able to see I just don't see the sense of competing necessary to win. It peaked during the Ball State series. Yes on the scoreboard errors are down (scoring has been questionable at best) but there are plays not being made that a D1team should be making. OF allowing flyballs to drop in for hits, infielders with zero range allowing many "hits" that should be outs. Double play balls that aren't. We don't seem to have a pitcher that can get through the lineup twice before getting rocked. Our hitting stats are comical. Where do double digit Ks register in quality ABs?not sure if this is the "power" lineup or what but it sure would be interesting to see some good old fashioned disciplined offense. It is obvious after the last 2 weeks that this the 9 or ten position players that are going to be used. I for one would like to see a little more competition for PT. Something has got to change.

Most of the rest of the conference is where we usually like to be:
UNC-G - 11-4 - Wins over UT, Wake and took 2 of 3 from App
Mercer - 12-5 - Sweeps UNCA, Takes 2 from Kennesaw and Split 2 games this weekend w/Kansas State
Furman - 9-6 - Wins over South Carolina and Michigan State
Even Sammy next up from us is 7-10 with wins over Jax St & UCF (#22)

Frustrating... Bad enough we had to slog through basketball saying "Wait until baseball season."

Okay -- before we all get to wigged out, Ball State can hit. Louisville can hit. Yes, we were blown out by both in a game, but played very competitive ball in the majority of the games. Errors killed us and throwing fat pitches or hitting batters with 2 strikes killed us and allowed runs. I looked at the young guys reports and found some interesting things on them. It seems they are all playing out of position. And, we apparently, have a lot of catchers on the roster besides our starter - Sparks, Bigbie, Cappell, L. Robinson, etc...

Experienced bats (seniors/juniors are not hitting). The Freshman batting average is MUCH better than that of the upperclassmen. We can figure that the experienced bats will come around. The solution on offense is to play the hot bats. When it gets to Socon play, Coach Mo usually does this, so it should self correct.

Catchers are playing third and first (Bigbie/Sparks). It seems like Coach Mo is trying to force a lineup, but I would suppose he knows these guys better than any of us do.

That being said, didn't Blaquiere play third last year? Yes, he did -- 45 starts there. I wonder why Coach Mo doesn't have him at third. That would seem to solve the third base issue. According to perfect game reports, Freshman Prater and Redshirt Freshman Fricks are pure MIF. Prater started a few games at short and did pretty well. I haven't seen Fricks at 2nd, but judging by his perfect game reports, he would do well there. At least you would have people playing where they know how to play. That would reduce the errors and allow the infield to become a little more cohesive. It would also make the infield much faster/quicker. Then, Sparks/Bigbie (both catchers) could play first or DH. L.Robinson has also played first.

Gotta play textbook baseball and steal bases. We have a bunch of catchers on the team (Holcomb, Sparks, Bigbie, Cappell, L. Robinson).

Finally, some of the guys have pitched well. Spencer Holcomb is doing a good job with the young pitchers. Throw strikes and sure up the infield and you will stay in games.

I took the time to look and that is what I found.