Mid-East Region 2014

Spence · May 14, 2014, 02:32:14 PM

Herstine was at 72 pitches when they blew it open with 4 in the 5th. That might have been a few too many for pulling him to be much good.

No idea what the heck Berks was doing here. They actually have a pitcher with pretty good numbers.

mideastfan2 · May 14, 2014, 02:47:59 PM

^^^^ We have always thrown our best, when they are available. Many teams don't follow that same philosophy, especially the last few years. They seem to hold their top guy(s) for a round 2 or 3 game, and just hope they can get there. It may have something to do with pitching depth, but who knows.

I always believe you should throw your "guy" to try to give yourself the best chance to win. Wins are tough to come by in a regional/world series, so taking a chance on a middle of the rotation guy isn't a courtesy I'd like to take.

Spence · May 14, 2014, 03:06:08 PM

Oh I know some teams do it successfully. The NJAC schools I almost expect to. But I'm sure you looked at their stats...how could they possibly think anyone else had a chance?

LaRoche did the same thing and got bit, though they didn't score enough either. Glad not to be looking at another Tyler Ferguson outing from them.

I do think under slightly different circumstances, Brewer might have put Herstine on the shelf early. But as it is, I'm not surprised he went 7.

Rain would be just fine now.

mideastfan2 · May 14, 2014, 03:33:36 PM

a very business-like win for the Etta Express, 14-2 over Berks. Great to see Herstine throw well, and even better to see Winpigler continue to be hot at the plate, and Gracia turn it on today with the bat. Having him in the line-up obviously helps defensively, but if can continue to get on base, it could be the spark that the offense needs to navigate through this Regional.

mideastfan2 · May 14, 2014, 07:33:00 PM

Salisbury hangs on by their finger nails 9-8 over JCU. Gutsy call with the squeeze in the 9th, but as a coach I try to explain to people when I'm second guessed that I know my personnel better than anyone....I trust JCU made the right call with the right guy.

OAC - 2-2 after day one of regionals

Spence · May 14, 2014, 08:25:36 PM

Definitely a good bunter with a good runner, but weren't the bases loaded? I didn't see the play to see where the 3B was or anything though.

mideastfan2 · May 14, 2014, 08:53:03 PM

Quote from: Spence on May 14, 2014, 08:25:36 PM
Definitely a good bunter with a good runner, but weren't the bases loaded? I didn't see the play to see where the 3B was or anything though.

Salisbury was ready for it and corners crashed when the runner broke from 3rd. Decent bunt, but the runner didn't have a great jump so he didn't beat the play home.

EttaFan1 · May 15, 2014, 07:54:34 AM

"Squeeze"is a generous description of that play. First pitch of the at bat. Really bad jump by the runner on third. And then the bunt was basically slugged right at the first baseman.

They actually played the Case vs. Thomas More game last night, started at 10:30, which was past my bed time.

Case won 6-2.

Today is not looking good for baseball. Mother nature will advance in the winners bracket for today.

Spence · May 15, 2014, 08:11:56 AM

Looks like they could in theory get a window to play a game this morning, but not sure how far beyond that they'd get.

EttaFan1 · May 15, 2014, 08:49:39 AM

I think their "window" is going to be spent trying to get the field playable, unfortunatley. We had a fair amout of rain over night.

Schedule update:

PSU Bergs vs. La Roche at 4:00 Thurs
JCU vs. TMC at 7:30 Thurs
Marietta vs. Widener at 9:30 AM Friday
Case vs. Salisbury at 1:00 PM Friday

Spence · May 15, 2014, 01:03:11 PM

Doesn't look like it would have been enough to get a whole game in...second line caught up with the first.

They were really smart to get the last game in last night. Normally I don't know if you would do that knowing that the losing team is going to have to come back and play, but I think they figured on rain and so they were ok with finishing late.

As a result, they can get two teams on buses today if the weather clears. It's a lot better than I expected a couple of days ago from the forecast.

EttaFan1 · May 15, 2014, 01:23:03 PM

THe rain from this last "system" line, whatever you want to call it has been pretty heavy. The outfield will be an absolute mess especially after they dump the tarp. No rolls to the fence, and bring an extra bucket of baseballs!

Now schedule adjusted again: 6:00 and 9:30 PM for the two elimination games. Still raining at a pretty good rate at 2:15.

Rose Hulman giving top ranked Webster all they want...Tied at 2 in the 11th.

Spence · May 15, 2014, 04:30:57 PM

Wow, 0 strikeouts by Berg pitching in the 2nd game of a regional facing elimination. Just wow.

EttaFan1 · May 15, 2014, 04:39:31 PM

Rose Hulman eliminates Webster in 11 innnings: 3-2.

motorman · May 15, 2014, 10:17:41 PM

Quote from: Spence on May 15, 2014, 04:30:57 PM
Wow, 0 strikeouts by Berg pitching in the 2nd game of a regional facing elimination. Just wow.

You had to be there to believe it. St Norbert isn't that great a hitting team, had an ump who must have been called out on strikes at 10 years old and vowed he would never call a batter out on strikes. Norbert had at least 7 full counts with several 2 strike foul balls and not 1 called third strike. I wouldn't swing either if I knew he wouldn't call strike 3. Not even the "best pitcher" on Heidelberg's team got a called strike 3. Berg only struck out twice, once on a swing at a pitch in the other batter's box. Adam Manner did a great job in relief, would have been a different game if he starts and pitches like that.