February 18, 20179 yr Game 1 #6 UofL def Alabama St. 7-0 Game 2 Ball St. def #22 Maryland 8-3 McKay justified his preseason accolades with a gawdy line on offense and defense. His pitching line was 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 9 K. He had a tremendous first pitch strike %. At the plate, he was 2-3 w/ a solo HR, 2 RBI and a run scored. Very positive tweets from some of the many scouts that were there. If he continues to perform, some MLB team is gonna get the pleasure of deciding whether he is a P or a 1B. Hoeing faced the minimum in 3 IP w/ just 26 pitches. 2 K. Coming off TJ surgery and redshirting last year. I suspect McDonnell wants to control his appearances out of the bullpen early in the season, but I think he'll compete for midweek or SUN starter by the time the ACC schedule rolls around. Fitch also went yard and was 2-4 w/ 2 RBI and 2 runs. He is an important cog with an opportunity to prove himself as the everyday C after ending up behind Smith last year. Hairston was 2-5 w/ a run scored. OF is going to make or break this squad. Taylor, Summers & Lyman started yesterday and were sprinkled in the order at 1, 6 & 9. If they get on base (hits, BB, HBP, whatever), UofL is gonna be good. They will steal bases and score runs with the bats around them. They will also cover a ton of ground and play awesome defense to help an already strong P staff. If these 3 struggle, appears Stowers and Oriente will be given a shot to perform. I'd expect Stowers to get at least 1 start in the OF this weekend. It was interesting to see Ellis at 1B and Fitzgerald at 3B with McKay on the bump. Would expect to see Ellis at 3B and McKay at 1B today. If Fitzgerald is in the lineup, it will signal that McDonnell really likes him and maybe Ellis will be at DH. Not sure who else might be used at DH but love the options. UofL faces Maryland today at 6:00 PM w/ McClure getting the ball.
February 22, 20179 yr Author McClure did not dazzle on SAT v. #22 Maryland. Too many pitches (85) and not enough strikes. 3 BB, 5 H and 1 HBP in 3.2 won't get it done for McDonnell and Williams. With the stuff he has (7 Ks of 19 batters faced) and a good defense behind you (0 errors in the 1st 3 game series of the year), you have to throw strikes. Sparger (2 BB & 3 H in 1.1) and Wolf (3 BB & 3 H in 1.1) were also off their games. Henzman, however, was lights out. He pitched 2.2, faced 9, Kd 4 and the only batter that reached was via HBP. 1st chip on the table claiming the closer role. Balanced offensive effort with 10 hits scattered among 7 batters. Ellis was the standout with a bomb and a drive to the track with bases loaded that would have broken the game wide open. Great defensive play by MD gave them some momentum to creep back in the game briefly. Fitch chipped in with a single and triple. McDonnell gave us a glimpse into his approach. In the 1st with runners on 1B and 2B and 0 out, he asked #3 batter (Mann) to get the bunt down. He did. MD intentionally walked McKay. Hairston singled to score a run. Lyman's line drive doubled off McKay to end the inning. In the 2nd, with Snider & Stowers again on 1B and 2B and 0 out, he asked leadoff batter (Taylor) to get the bunt down. He not only got it down, but beat it out to load the bases. After an RBI walk to Fitch and a SF from Mann, MD again intentionally walked McKay. Hairston and Lyman Kd and Ellis hit the deep fly that was caught bidding for the rare 2nd HR in the same inning. Maryland defense was atrocious with 5 errors and Cards capitalized.
February 22, 20179 yr Author True Freshman McAvene toed the rubber in the finale v. 2-0 Ball St. on SUN. He had good stuff (4 Ks & 1 R in 3.2) but like McClure the day before, too many pitches (78) and not enough strikes (3 BB). As mentioned above, Thompson was the standout on the bump. In 1.1 he Kd 4/5 faced (w/ a HBP) on only 20 pitches. He was pounding the zone with electric stuff according to the announcer. Very good to see from the RS Frosh out of CAL (2015 top-ranked player in KY by PG). Cards sprinkled 10 hits among 9 players. Most remarkable was McKay's 2nd HR in 3 days (after being walked all day on SAT). A 6 run 6th inning (helped by Ball St.'s 4 BBs and 1 E) put the game firmly in hand and let McDonnell get a lot of players in the game (which is a great thing early in the season). Unfortunately, Oriente left the game early after getting hit in the face by a ball while playing LF. I have not heard an update. Hopefully we'll hear that during today's game v. EKU.
February 22, 20179 yr Author Cards were 12/17 (71%) getting the runner home from 3B with He also passed along that the 6 Ps with a 0.00 ERA coming out of the weekend had 0 BBs and each of the Ps with an ERA > 0.00 walked at least 1 batter.
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