In the span of a couple of weeks, I saw two of the greatest college baseball games that I have ever seen, Ucla's 25-22 win over OSU and tonight's Stanford victory! They were totally different in style; one a slugfest, the other a low scoring pitching duel. But both were nail-biters and bith featured completely improbable 9th inning comebacks and heroics.
I knew before the game - I won't bother to tell you because you wouldn't believe me - that this was going to be a low scoring, tight game till the end with Stanford winning a close one. When we had chances late, I thought it was coming true, but when TSU scored two in the top of the ninth, I admit that I thought our season was ended. Yet I still had some positive vibes despite scaant hopes. Unbeiievable that Bowser and Troy led off the inning with back to back home runs, both strong shots. Troy didn't surprise me as he has been hot as a pistol and just a hitting phenom. But Bowser looked awful all game long - not on that swing though! Park continued his amazing post season hitting and an intentional walk to Jones was an obvious decision by TSU.
Although I really like Esquer, I thought that he screwed the pooch by bringing in Montgomery and putting the pitcher, by rule, into the second slot of the batting order. It meant we had to pinch hit and also lose Pancer which didn't bode well for extra innings and a depleted pitching staff. I could see us losing in extra innings. David chose Trevor Haskins and I'm thinking; what a spot to put a frosh in and is he any good? A wild pitch by their best pitcher was a gift, but not unexpected as I mentioned yesterday, pitchers whose arms are tired can have control issues. Haskins is a gamer. He hung right in there fouling off some tough pitches and then delivered the game winning single. He certainly was an unexpected hero (though Bowser and Troy also were heroes).
Previously I wrote about this team's success being linked to hitting abilities of the lower end of the batting order, giving no relief to opposing pitchers and setting up our top of the lineup. Well, in this regional, the lower end was absolutely fantastic - what was the stat - something like .550 BA for them?! It could be argued that they carried the team.
When we lost the first game to TSU and fell into the loser's bracket, I was ready to write our guys and their season off since it's so difficult to play 5 games, win three in a row, and we had to face a really good TSU team with our pitching staff in depth and quality marginal when comparing to top competition. Our guys deserve tremendous credit, not only for their abilities, but for their mental toughness, heart, and tenacity.
All i can say beyond that si WOW!
P.S. - We will take UConn in 2 games and be back at the CWS with an excellent shot at the NC.
I knew before the game - I won't bother to tell you because you wouldn't believe me - that this was going to be a low scoring, tight game till the end with Stanford winning a close one. When we had chances late, I thought it was coming true, but when TSU scored two in the top of the ninth, I admit that I thought our season was ended. Yet I still had some positive vibes despite scaant hopes. Unbeiievable that Bowser and Troy led off the inning with back to back home runs, both strong shots. Troy didn't surprise me as he has been hot as a pistol and just a hitting phenom. But Bowser looked awful all game long - not on that swing though! Park continued his amazing post season hitting and an intentional walk to Jones was an obvious decision by TSU.
Although I really like Esquer, I thought that he screwed the pooch by bringing in Montgomery and putting the pitcher, by rule, into the second slot of the batting order. It meant we had to pinch hit and also lose Pancer which didn't bode well for extra innings and a depleted pitching staff. I could see us losing in extra innings. David chose Trevor Haskins and I'm thinking; what a spot to put a frosh in and is he any good? A wild pitch by their best pitcher was a gift, but not unexpected as I mentioned yesterday, pitchers whose arms are tired can have control issues. Haskins is a gamer. He hung right in there fouling off some tough pitches and then delivered the game winning single. He certainly was an unexpected hero (though Bowser and Troy also were heroes).
Previously I wrote about this team's success being linked to hitting abilities of the lower end of the batting order, giving no relief to opposing pitchers and setting up our top of the lineup. Well, in this regional, the lower end was absolutely fantastic - what was the stat - something like .550 BA for them?! It could be argued that they carried the team.
When we lost the first game to TSU and fell into the loser's bracket, I was ready to write our guys and their season off since it's so difficult to play 5 games, win three in a row, and we had to face a really good TSU team with our pitching staff in depth and quality marginal when comparing to top competition. Our guys deserve tremendous credit, not only for their abilities, but for their mental toughness, heart, and tenacity.
All i can say beyond that si WOW!
P.S. - We will take UConn in 2 games and be back at the CWS with an excellent shot at the NC.
