Arkansas-Pine Bluff

MWBATL

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Connor should be done after 5. 35/51 so about 70% strikes. NO walks, NO hit batters, NO wild pitches and 6 SOs. He did give up a hit though.:(

Up 4-0 B5 and the game seems out of reach. I shouldn't be so complacent, but ........ this is nice.
I wish I was as confidant. I guess I still remember last year. And the year before. And....you get the idea.
 

GTNavyNuke

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English ain't messing around. Walked first batter. Then stuck out 4 of the next 6. Only stuck out the side in 7th. 80% strikes.

Wish he could play first base and pitch at the same time.
 

GTNavyNuke

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LMAO, Tristin is on WREK post game. Says today is the first day he has throw a change-up for a strike...... obviously threw before and wasn't strike.

I'll still say this again, this guy is going to be a starter for us. Maybe this year, maybe next. Then MLB for him.

English says that McCann ran like pond water on McCann's triple ....... and English says he got his first triple today too.

Carpenter and Bugs (Serratos) dominated in their innings.

Just nice.
 

THWG

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I looked at the stats again and it stood out to me that the guys only struck out twice today and walked five times. It seems to me that we are striking out less so far this year and being more selective than last year. This is a very good sign for the offense if they can keep it up.
 

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5th straight win.

7th straight game with at least 7 runs.

Freaking 16 more hits today. 5 different guys had multiple hits.

Wade Bailey got on base freaking 5 times today and Kyle McCann got on base 4 times.
 

FredJacket

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We’ll get an indication tomorrow about UAPB because they visit Tennessee.
Yes. UAPB may prove to be the worst team on our schedule. However, we dominated...all phases. 2 team shutouts already. (y)

I was not able to watch much of the game... but did see the 1st inning.

Another few things that don't show up in box score after the fact. Leadoff batter hit the ball hard & Bailey ranged left, dove & threw to first. 2nd batter hit a little chopper in no mans land between McCann, Bailey, & Thomas. All 3 went to ball (nobody covering 1st). Thomas scooped it up & hustled to beat the runner to the bag. Pretty difficult play for a LHP, especially. 2 GREAT defensive plays to start game. So, instead of 2 on & 0 outs... or 1 out with a guy on 1st or 2nd, the bases were empty & 2 outs. 3rd guy gets a hit. No damage though... as Thomas closes inning with a K. Defense & no freebies are critical.... pitch count stays lower too. Good signs... & those things are less sensitive to the competence of the competition. Like I said... good sign.
 

GTNavyNuke

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We were successful in 2016 due to our record 80 double plays. But that also meant we had people on a lot. Today, no DPs because there were 0 opportunities..... the one base runner with 1 out was followed by a strike out. The most heartening thing about the recent games is lack of errors and lack of walks.

If we play good baseball, few errors and walks .......
 

65Jacket

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Tristen said in the post game interview that the emphasis this year is going after the hitter and no nobbling.
 

MWBATL

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Yes. UAPB may prove to be the worst team on our schedule. However, we dominated...all phases. 2 team shutouts already. (y)

I was not able to watch much of the game... but did see the 1st inning.

Another few things that don't show up in box score after the fact. Leadoff batter hit the ball hard & Bailey ranged left, dove & threw to first. 2nd batter hit a little chopper in no mans land between McCann, Bailey, & Thomas. All 3 went to ball (nobody covering 1st). Thomas scooped it up & hustled to beat the runner to the bag. Pretty difficult play for a LHP, especially. 2 GREAT defensive plays to start game. So, instead of 2 on & 0 outs... or 1 out with a guy on 1st or 2nd, the bases were empty & 2 outs. 3rd guy gets a hit. No damage though... as Thomas closes inning with a K. Defense & no freebies are critical.... pitch count stays lower too. Good signs... & those things are less sensitive to the competence of the competition. Like I said... good sign.
Thomas looked like an EXCELLENT fielder today (my first live view of him). He made a couple of plays off the mound where he fielded balls, wheeled, and made very strong throws to first to get runners. Both were close plays and had they not been played perfectly by Thomas would have been infield hits.

I agree with @GTNavyNuke as well that we are playing MUCH cleaner baseball this year than I can remember us playing in quite a while. Through 8 games this year we have now given up 27 "freebies" (BB + HBP) vs 41 in the first 8 games last year...and that counts and terrible outing vs Bradley this year. I am beginning to catch "FredJacket-itis"!
 

MWBATL

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OK, so @RoosterJacket got me thinking about the issue of throwing strikes, and we have all been talking about freebies, so I decided to do some figuring. Here are some interesting stats over our first 8 games in 2018 vs 2017.

Corrected from my earlier note///TOTAL FREEBIES (2017)=40....TOTAL FREEBIES (2018)=28 ...TOTAL FREEBIES (Last 5 Games)=6 (yes, you read that correctly)
Average # of pitches per game (2017)= 151...Average # of pitches per game (2018)=138....Average # of pitches per game (Last 5 Games)=124.6
% of Strikes thrown (2017)=62.1%....% of Strikes thrown (2018)=65.1%....% of Strikes thrown (Last 5 Games)=68.9%

Maybe we are facing just horrid offensive teams. But that wasn't exactly murderer's row we faced last year and only in 2 of the first 8 games last year did we exceed 65% strikes, which we have done in each of the last 5 games.

It is encouraging.
 

GTNavyNuke

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Thomas looked like an EXCELLENT fielder today (my first live view of him). He made a couple of plays off the mound where he fielded balls, wheeled, and made very strong throws to first to get runners. Both were close plays and had they not been played perfectly by Thomas would have been infield hits.

I agree with @GTNavyNuke as well that we are playing MUCH cleaner baseball this year than I can remember us playing in quite a while. Through 8 games this year we have now given up 27 "freebies" (BB + HBP) vs 41 in the first 8 games last year...and that counts and terrible outing vs Bradley this year. I am beginning to catch "FredJacket-itis"!

Jim Poole commented after the game that he was more impressed by what he saw with the quality of pitches, than the box score. Since APB is such a weak team, you'd expect us to win. But the movement and control of the pitches is what he really liked. And he knows far far far far more than we do about this.

Let's not forget that Micah Carpenter came back earlier than forecast. And threw well. Only saw 6 pitches, 5 strikes, in getting his three outs. (2 FO and a GO) But the movement and control was there.

As for @FredJacket -itis, I'll wait till after Clemson. Till then the most important game of the year is UIC Friday at 4.
 
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