Auburn (Tues) / Mercer (Wed)

[THWG]

So who's playing 1st?!?

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Shirah is a Fr pitcher who could still be in HS. Hopefully get good experience and develop into an ACC caliber pitcher by next year.

Down 0-2 going to B1. The walk led to one of the runs. On the first double, I thought Wilhite would have gotten there; Guldberg didn't.

Time to crank up our offense!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I really like the top of the lineup CDH (and some computer..) has assemble the last 2 games. .........

Maybe Hall can get a "computer" to help him with pitching.

I'm not surprised that our 3rd string pitching is having problems. We have to cede the game and get ready for NC State. Don't waste an pitching talent. Made sense to pull Winborne after a good inning. Then Ben S comes in and ....... ugly. Now onto Combs.

We need runs and we should get them. May not be enough if we need 12 to 17 to win though. T 4, no outs, bases loaded (thanks Ben) and down 4-1. That doesn't extrapolate well.

PS - I'm still ecstatic we beat Auburn. I'll take a win over Auburn and a loss to Mercer any day. We just don't have the pitching depth.

 

[THWG]

Maybe Hall can get a "computer" to help him with pitching.

I'm not surprised that our 3rd string pitching is having problems. We have to cede the game and get ready for NC State. Don't waste an pitching talent. Made sense to pull Winborne after a good inning. Then Ben S comes in and ....... ugly. Now onto Combs.

We need runs and we should get them. May not be enough if we need 12 to 17 to win though. T 4, no outs, bases loaded (thanks Ben) and down 4-1. That doesn't extrapolate well.

PS - I'm still ecstatic we beat Auburn. I'll take a win over Auburn and a loss to Mercer any day. We just don't have the pitching depth.

Combs honestly did a very good job of limiting the damage there and only giving up 2 runs on 2 sac flies.

 

[FredJacket]

Maybe Hall can get a "computer" to help him with pitching.

I'm not surprised that our 3rd string pitching is having problems. We have to cede the game and get ready for NC State. Don't waste an pitching talent. Made sense to pull Winborne after a good inning. Then Ben S comes in and ....... ugly. Now onto Combs.

We need runs and we should get them. May not be enough if we need 12 to 17 to win though. T 4, no outs, bases loaded (thanks Ben) and down 4-1. That doesn't extrapolate well.

PS - I'm still ecstatic we beat Auburn. I'll take a win over Auburn and a loss to Mercer any day. We just don't have the pitching depth.

I agree with all that. The Mercer starter is up there in pitch count headed to B4. We'll see if we can take advantage. This point in game where I always say... (in this case) 6 runs isn't enough to win. ...but can we stop them from scoring. ??

No team really has pitching depth to man handle teams when playing 8 games in 10 days.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Combs honestly did a very good job of limiting the damage there and only giving up 2 runs on 2 sac flies.

Agree. Combs and Winborne were good. "Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?"

........ No team really has pitching depth to man handle teams when playing 8 games in 10 days.

Who schedules non-ACC games?

Anyway, Hughes came in and has thrown 8 balls to start. How did he get so f'ed up?

 

[Deleted member 2897]

We can get 5 runs in 5 innings. Gotta start chipping away soon though. Although I’d take a 4+ run B5 please.

 

[FredJacket]

That B4! Gifted to get the bases loaded. 1 out. Can't get any runs in...with our best bats up. 0 for 5 with RISP. We've had runners on 3rd in 3 of 1st 4 innings. Only run is solo HR from #9 hitter. So far... one of those nights where offense failed to show up.

...TV guys mentioned we chose to take no BP "on the field" tonight.

Chapman did look good in relief in T5.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

That B4! Gifted to get the bases loaded. 1 out. Can't get any runs in...with our best bats up. 0 for 5 with RISP. We've had runners on 3rd in 3 of 1st 4 innings. Only run is solo HR from #9 hitter. So far... one of those nights where offense failed to show up.

...TV guys mentioned we chose to take no BP "on the field" tonight.

Chapman did look good in relief in T5.

Ain't it great to be a GT fan? We can win but I agree we have to start scoring. Will need to pull Chapman soon so he can pitch on Sunday if need be.

 

[FredJacket]

It would be nice for the offense to reward some of these pitchers who've come in & done their jobs. Chapman just powers thru TWO infield errors ...giving up no runs in his final inning. Gibson sits 'em down in order in the T7.

Now top of order up in B7. Gotta make move here. Please

 

[RoosterJacket]

It would be nice for the offense to reward some of these pitchers who've come in & done their jobs. Chapman just powers thru TWO infield errors ...giving up no runs in his final inning. Gibson sits 'em down in order in the T7.

Now top of order up in B7. Gotta make move here. Please

A Jake Brace sighting!!! HBP, 2 K and a batter interference call for a 3 up 3 down inning.

Let’s score some runs!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Brace threw a ball. 3 outs on 4 pitches. Not bad for a start. So room for improvement (tic).

Hall needs a computer program to figure out in the bullpen when pitchers have it or they don't. Take away Shirah and Hughes and we have a shutout with the other 7 pitchers.

The failure of the offense to show up against pitching which is probably inferior to NC State's is my concern.

 

[THWG]

Brace threw a ball. 3 outs on 4 pitches. Not bad for a start. So room for improvement (tic).

Hall needs a computer program to figure out in the bullpen when pitchers have it or they don't. Take away Shirah and Hughes and we have a shutout with the other 7 pitchers.

The failure of the offense to show up against pitching which is probably inferior to NC State's is my concern.

Ben S was also bad today. The freshman pitchers are honestly making me super excited. Hurter had 5 scoreless innings. Chapman had 2 scoreless even with 2 errors thrown in. Brace had an outstanding inning in his debut and deserves more after today. Serratos deserved better yesterday, Mannelly has looked good (other than 1 outing) and I believe that Shirah will get there. You can tell that Shirah has great stuff, but doesn't know how to use it yet. The dude has racked up some strikeouts, but also has a lot of walks. I can't decide if I'm happy or sad that the freshmen and sophomore pitchers are far better than the junior and senior pitchers.
As for the offense, it was freezing cold tonight and we left double digit men on base. That will not happen very often and I'm really not concerned about the O. Also, Hall kind of experimented with lineup tonight by using both Serratos and Radcliffe who aren't at a starter level, yet.

 

[65Jacket]

GT players were not interested in playing tonight. If they want to go pro. they have to play every day, not just show up. A sick performance to take the glow off the Auburn victory.

 

[FredJacket]

...Hall kind of experimented with lineup tonight by using both Serratos and Radcliffe who aren't at a starter level, yet.

Took the words right out of my mouth. This lineup was not optimal for run production. I guess it showed. Perhaps credit goes to the Mercer pitchers too.

@GTNavyNuke asked (perhaps rhetorically?) about scheduling 2 mid-week (non-conf) games. I really don't know how scheduling works. I assume CDH has some control over it. Enough that he chose to play Tues/Wed twice this season. But if you want to schedule 55-56 games, you have to do it at least a couple of times.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Took the words right out of my mouth. This lineup was not optimal for run production. I guess it showed. Perhaps credit goes to the Mercer pitchers too.

@GTNavyNuke asked (perhaps rhetorically?) about scheduling 2 mid-week (non-conf) games. I really don't know how scheduling works. I assume CDH has some control over it. Enough that he chose to play Tues/Wed twice this season. But if you want to schedule 55-56 games, you have to do it at least a couple of times.

Yes it was rhetorical since I knew the answer was us. {Think Pogo: we have met the enemy and he is us.}

As to @THWG point about the cold. I agree we don't seem to play as well in the cold. We had better win Friday night then ....... https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/nc/durham

And yes, of the 9 pitchers, 6 were good. 2 were bad (Ben S and Hughes). 1 was marginal (Shirah). I give Shirah a pass since he is a Fr and shouldn't be put in a starting role; or if he is then realize he's going to get beat up unless he's a Fr phenom.

But the bright side really is that we "should" be a lot better next year. But that assumes the pitchers progress and don't regress.

 

[gtie73]

Tough game to sit through. Might have been colder than Tuesday night. Parents were the largest segment of a very small crowd. Not much enthusiasm from the team or crowd. Sometimes the fan support helps spark some positive actions when team appears lethargic . Mercer came loaded with a good starting pitcher and their number 1 reliever. Between Sunday and last night Mercer reliever threw 80-85 pitches. Not much left for the start of their conference. As noted above GT went the opposite to save the more experienced players for the NCS series. Hopefully the freshman learned from the experience. So many walks for GT and nothing to show for it.
Felt like the GT pitchers were auditioning to see who travels. Felt sorry for Hughes tossing nothing good. Short leash but he has to produce. Met his parents and girlfriend at the Auburn game. Nice people . Mercer coach may not like GT. Winborne's mother had a bad experience during recruiting with the Mercer coach negative recruiting versus GT.
As painful as it was to watch maybe the strategy will help with positive results this weekend. NCS had the week off ?

 

[65Jacket]

Sadly, some insiders say thatHughes has the best "stuff" on the pitching staff, but he can't throw it in games.

 

[RoosterJacket]

Mercer coach may not like GT. Winborne's mother had a bad experience during recruiting with the Mercer coach negative recruiting versus GT.

Interesting you say this—his son was a student asst for GT the past two seasons and committed to GT out of HS before being drafted and forgoing college.

 

[gtie73]

Interesting you say this—his son was a student asst for GT the past two seasons and committed to GT out of HS before being drafted and forgoing college.

May just be a mothers view from a bad recruiting visit.