Baseball Games 12, 13, &14 - First Pitch Invitational

Heck yeah, I’m willing to think big: let’s whip these two AND handle Notre Dame on Wednesday.

I think this win was important because MSU threw their best pitcher & it was a road win. My concern about this season is the top SoCon teams on our schedule are road games for the Cats. It is always hard to pick up Ws on the road in baseball. We also found out that our first reliever could easily be used as a starter. He threw 80 or 90 pitches in the MSU Game & kept the game close. It was also noticeable that the Cats played error free baseball. Also, WCU played Ohio State a three game series several years ago in Ohio & beat them all three games. So, beating Ohio State would not be a novelty for the Catamounts. Today’s game will once again be determined by how well our pitchers perform.

I totally agree with you. I also think Coach Mo has more depth on this team in the infield & outfield than he had last year. This gives him more options when he has to move players around or when he needs to use pinch hitters in a game. The depth of pitching is still my concern. For the most part, the starting pitchers have not consistently performed well. Right now that is the part of the Cats’ Baseball Puzzle that needs attention. I think the bullpen has been good & some of them have been great. WCU’s first reliever yesterday has been solid this far in the season. Got to get more good innings out of the starting pitchers.

Another great win. Coach Mo did another great coaching job inserting players in critical situations during the game. He also made very good decisions concerning his pitchers. The starting pitcher kept the game close, the setup pitcher did not let the game get out of hand & the closer gave me heart burn but he finally got the job done. However, the pitchers need a better command of their pitches. It is hard to be successful as a pitcher if you do not stay ahead of the hitters in the strike/ball count. The Cats had one major error that cost them several runs due to miss judging an outfield ball. The middle & bottom part of the lineup got the job done with the bats. Luke & Andrew made the best of their at bats. Andrew got the five run inning started & that was the major turning point in the game. Coach Mo also used the bunt effectively & put players in scoring positions. In close games you have to manufacture runs as a Coach & Bobby is doing a great job in this facet of the game.