Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Efficiency at its best

After game two of the 2012 season, we have won both of our games and are feeling pretty good this morning as we wake up and prepare for game number three.  After coming from behind to win our opener against Blackburn College in a game that we didn't play very well in, yesterday's victory against the #4 ranked team in DIII gave us an opportunity to see and feel what it is like to successfully compete against top teams.
On Sunday we had some struggles with all aspects of the game--- potching, hitting, defense and baserunning.  We fell behind 4-0 in the second inning.  To the credit of our players, nobody pressed any panic buttons and we came back to win the game 8-7.

As far as piching is concerned, we learned first hand that it isn't easy to execute pitches to close out a long inning. We threw over twenty pitches in each of our first two innings, and the difficulty of pitching well and maintaining a proper and positive demeanor when some bad luck occurs was apparent to me, especially in the second inning.

After two quick outs, Blackburn hit a bloop single, then a base hit that traveled fifty feet and then a bunt single.  A bases loaded walk resulted in a run, and some negative thinking ultimately led to two more walks before we went to the bullpen to get out of the inning.

Two senior pitchers finished the game and our offense scored plenty of runs to start the season on the right track.

Yesterday against #4 Christopher Newport University, senior Jason Fryman found himself in a pitcher's duel.  Though he hit CNU's leadoff batter, he cruised through the first three innings without allowing another baserunner.  We gave up a run after they hit two doubles in the fourth, both of which I still feel were the result of poor pitch selection by the pitching coach, whoever that clown is!!
Ultimately, Jason was so efficient and allowed only one infield hit the rest of the game and had no walks, throwing only 98 pitches in nine innings.
Last night Jason told me that on the night before, he kept visualizing the execution of all four of his pitches.  The result was really a sight to see, as almost every pitch he threw hit the spots that he was trying to hit.  He got ahead of hitters, got leadoff batters out, and competed like it was business as usual as our defense made every play and our offense scored three big runs in the 8th to secure a 3-1 victory.
This was an almost perfectly pitched game, but as good as it was, today is a new day and when we get to the park we're going to have to compete with another nationally ranked team on their home field.
We haven't made an infield error yet. With that kind of defense and a team of battlers, we're anticipating another successfully competed game today!

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