2013 West Regional - Austin Tx

[Westside]

Could be huge down the road: Linfield's Wylie left after the first inning (RBI single). Hopefully he can return and the injury isn't too serious. It is hard to replace 60 RBIs.

[baseballfan24]

Good first game of the regional.  Linfield's ace, Haddeland was dominant.  TLU's Spillane pitched very well too against a strong Linfield offense.  Spillane got himself into trouble in the first with a lead off walk, and in the second Linfield scored a run on a two out bloop into centerfield.  TLU's centerfielder dove but came up short and the ball skipped into left center to give the hitter a double.  The run would have scored either way.

This was a good game with good defense by both teams.  Linfield took a couple of hits away from TLU in the middle innings, and Haddeland was really good.  He showed great command and had good zip on the fastball with a nice breaking ball.  Spillane really worked the ball to both sides of the plate and commanded what looked like two different breaking balls, although I can't be certain of that.  Once he settled in he was tough and really kept Linfield off balance.

For all the talk of TLU shouldn't be here, I did not get the impression that they weren't a quality team.  I think they played right alongside Linfield, but were just no match for Haddeland.  It looked from the season numbers that TLU likely has the weakest offense at the regional and Linfield has the strongest pitching and that held true today.  I am interested to see if TLU can bounce back tomorrow against what will be another strong team in Trinity or Cal Lutheran.

Linfield has a good looking team.  I can see why they the favorite to win the region.  Good game by both teams.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Could be huge down the road: Linfield's Wylie left after the first inning (RBI single). Hopefully he can return and the injury isn't too serious. It is hard to replace 60 RBIs.

Looked like he left after attempting to steal second. Was anybody watching the video feed when that happened?

And impressive showing on the mound and on defense for TLU. Was the lack of offensive production more the product of a great pitcher or weak hitting team? Probably a combination of the two, but we'll have a better idea when they face someone else's number 2 in their win-or-go-home game tomorrow.

[baseballfan24]

Could be huge down the road: Linfield's Wylie left after the first inning (RBI single). Hopefully he can return and the injury isn't too serious. It is hard to replace 60 RBIs.

Looked like he left after attempting to steal second. Was anybody watching the video feed when that happened?

And impressive showing on the mound and on defense for TLU. Was the lack of offensive production more the product of a great pitcher or weak hitting team? Probably a combination of the two, but we'll have a better idea when they face someone else's number 2 in their win-or-go-home game tomorrow.

Yes I think combination of the two.  Linfield's ace was really good today, and by his numbers I would assume really good almost every outing.  TLU showed well, but just couldn't do much at the plate.

[Ralph Turner]

Not to bad for TLU who many said should have not been in this tournament. Good showing against the top overall seed.

This is what I expected from the game. 

This is what I mean by the West being a competitive region.  Two complete games.  A 2-hit masterpiece and an respectable 2-run, 7-hit complete game against the #1 team in the country.

[Just_Some_Guy]

Yes you gotta win the first one. Can't overlook anyone. And Haddeland is the only starter that can bounce back on short rest (he will probably start their 4th game).

No way, you throw your best right out of the gates. 2-0 win is closer than alot anticipated.

I agree. As I said, I'm not a proponent of that strategy; however, there's plenty of coaches that out-think themselves and plenty more who probably felt like TLU didn't belong in the regional.

[NWBaseballFan10]

Quality pitching being showcased today in Day 1 of the West regional. TLU had no answer for Haddeland who is now 12-1 with an ERA on the verge of being sub 1 (West Pitcher of the Year?). Spillane looked good as well limiting Linfield to just 2 runs by getting out of a few run-scoring opportunities. Two of the best lefties in the West are squaring off at the moment in the CLU/Trinity game as well (scoreless in the 4th). Tonight could be another pitcher's duel between Bruml and Cotton.


Great baseball on display so far in Austin!

[Teddy_Ballgame]

After 6 innings of a pitchers duel, by my count Lucero has thrown 73 pitches and Petersen has thrown 77. Both are in a good spot to go very deep into the game and save their bullpens.

Trinity had a runner thrown out at the plate in the 6th to keep the game scoreless. They may finally be getting to Petersen.

Updates: Leadoff walk caught stealing for Trinity in the 7th, but a double turns into an unearned run. Looks like the leftfielder made an error and then the SS made an error as Woodruff dashed home. Would like to have seen the video, but I have to pretend to be working 
Petersen now up to 92 pitches through 7IP.

-Scoreless bottom of the 7th inning. Cal Lu had a runner on third with one out but couldn't get him in.

-Petersen walks two in the top of the 8th. Looks like he's getting tired. Up to 106 pitches, gotta imagine they put Roth out there for the 9th.

-Lucero breezes through the bottom of the 8th, only needing 7 pitches.

-Petersen still on the hill for the top of the 9th. Gets pulled after three pitches (infield single, fielders choice, stolen base). Roth comes in with a runner on second and one out. Get's a pop out and then a 12 pitch strikeout.

Cal Lu is down to their last chance in a 1-0 game.

Petersen strikes out. DellaValle grounds out to first. Koons strikes out, thrown out at first on the passed ball.

Trinity wins 1-0

Awesome performance by Lucero. Seemed to get stronger as the game went on- retired the last 9 Cal Lu hitters he faced. Biggest stat- ZERO walks. Cal Lu came in as one of the top offenses in the country and Lucero just shut them down. That was their first time being held under two runs all year, and they had been averaging close to 9.5 a game.

Gutty performance by Petersen in the loss. The one run was unearned on a double with two errors.

[Texas Leaguer]

It was an odd run no doubt.  Woodruff hit a solid double down the left field line.  The left fielder misplayed it as he was easing into second so he took an extra base.  From there, I'm not really sure what happened out in left.  Woodruff hesitated at third, took a peak into left and then came home without even a throw.  Two errors on the play (LF and SS).  Take 'em any way you can get 'em. 

Two more great pitching performances from Peterson and Lucero so far in this one.  Both have stranded runners on third with less than two outs. 

[108 Stitches]

TU - 1 CLU - 0

Lucero was just sick, I think there were only two hard hit balls, mostly flairs, he just cut up the CLU offense.

Petersen was also very good, TU had more scoring opportunities but just could not get a run across. You have to credit Petersen for this, whenever you thought he would break he got a key out.

Playoff baseball, pitching & defense. Some great plays however, play of the game, think 6 or 7th and a leadoff double down in the RF corner by CLU and crisp relay RF-2nd-3rd bang bang play at 3rd was probably the game changer play of the day. Took momentum completely out of their sails. CLU also threw out two TU runners at home, one on a force and another bang-bang play at home from RF.  CLU lost game on errors on a botched relay, in LF, LFer missed cut off for Woodruff to go to third and then SS bobbled ball and Woodruff took off and SS did not see him go and/or was in the middle of throwing the ball in lazily and by then it was too late.

Saw some of the TLU/Linfield game. TLU most definitely belonged, Linfield is solid but I still think that by they time TU and Linfield likely meet TU will have more pitching left. I think TU's hitting is better than Linfield.

Still lots of baseball left to play before we get to this however.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Saw some of the TLU/Linfield game. TLU most definitely belonged, Linfield is solid but I still think that by they time TU and Linfield likely meet TU will have more pitching left. I think TU's hitting is better than Linfield.

Still lots of baseball left to play before we get to this however.

When TLU faces CLU it will be facing a better offense (statistically, though they were shutdown in the first game) but a weaker pitcher. It'll be interesting to see if Aleman can pitch as well as Spillane did, and whether the offense can get going against Hebda/Peters (Hebda has been their #2 all year, but Peters has better numbers so not sure who gets the start in an elimination game).

As for TU I'm not sure they'll have more pitching left if/when they face Linfield. Both squads got complete games out of their starters and have fairly deep pitching staffs. Trinity will have to play the winner of the PP-UTT game while Linfield gets the loser, and I think Thomassan gets a slight edge over Alig in being able to eat up more innings in that scenario. Depends a lot on who wins and how, but both teams are on equal footing right now.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

UT-Tyler beats Pomona Pitzer 4-3 in 11 innings

-Cotton gives up his first homerun of the year to PP pitcher Jake Bruml in the 1st, 2-0 Pomona-Pitzer.
-Sam Fox scores on an RBI single by Mike Moyer in the 4th, 3-0 Pomona-Pitzer
-House singles home Tijerina in the 4th for UTT, 3-1 Pomona Pitzer
-Kosta 2 RBI single to right field for UTT in the 7th, 3-3 tie
-Passed ball with the bases loaded scores Cunniff, 4-3 UTT. Game over

Have to give a ton of credit to the UTT bullpen. They go 5 innings with 2 hits, 1 walk and no runs. The Sagehen bullpen was a little shakier- Stevens gave up four hits to his first five hitters before settling down and Gano walks three of his last four.

Updates
Eleventh Inning:
-Shepard still in for UTT. Gives up a single to Fox, but a double play gets him out of the inning with nobody left on.

-Gano stays in.
Strikeout, BB, BB, Dropped infield fly but nobody advances, BB, passed ball with the bases loaded for the winning run.

__________________

Justin Sheets came in for Chance Cotton to start the 7th inning. Good outing overall for Cotton, but that 38 pitch first inning hurt him and ended his night earlier than UTT would have liked. Sheets throws two good innings before being relieved by Matt Shepard in the ninth. Shepard was great too, only allowing one hit in three innings.

Jake Bruml replaced by Guy Stevens after throwing 6.1 IP. Great outing, got out of a lot of jams and hopefully will be able to go again on short rest. Particularly after that 7th inning, you have to wonder why Bruml got pulled with a pitch count under 100. But hindsight is 20/20. Stevens gets two scoreless innings after that rough seventh before Gano comes in for the 10th. Gano pitched well until he had trouble finding the zone in the 11th. Three walks loaded the bases, and he had already thrown a couple in the dirt before the passed ball scored the winning run. Gano actually goes 1.2 without giving up a hit or an earned run, but gets the loss.

Pomona Pitzer didn't have too much difficulty with Cotton, though he settled down after a rocky first inning.
Bruml was very good, particularly working with runners on base. Patriots had the lead off man on in 6 of his 7 innings but he only gives up two runs.
The Hens defense was a little shaky overall, though they didn't technically commit an error. Couple big double plays in big spots, but the passed ball kills them. They also ran a lot more than they usually do, 6 for 6 on stolen base attempts (one was tagged out after over sliding).

Both teams were live-tweeting.
Pomona Pitzer's page (@Sagehens) can be found here: https://twitter.com/Sagehens
UT-Tyler's page (@uttylerpatriots) can be found here: https://twitter.com/uttylerpatriots

[Jack Parkman]

Whew!  Offensive explosion in game 3 tonight !  A total of 6 runs scored after 3 total in the first 2 games.

[TexasBB]

UTT wins on a passed ball with the bases loaded and two out in the 11th!

[TexasBB]

Based on day one all of these teams are evenly matched. Very good low scoring baseball. UTT won the hard way but had to use their closer for 3 innings. I think that is his longest outing this year. Thus he may not be available tomorrow. That would hurt. Anytime there are extra inning games it hurts both teams due to burning through pitchers.