Holy Cross defeated Conner 8 to 4 in 9 innings. Big win for the Indians.

Was this a varsity game? I saw an earlier post on BGP yesterday that had Conner 9- HC 2. Then on NKY.com they have Conner over Holy Cross 9-0 yesterday.

Was this a varsity game? I saw on NKY.com they have Conner over Holy Cross 9-0 yesterday, or was the NKY.com a misprint.

 

I believe they played 2 days in a row. Conner won the first day. Holy Cross won the 2nd day.

I believe they played 2 days in a row. Conner won the first day. Holy Cross won the 2nd day.

 

Thanks, I didn't see the second game listed anywhere.

I think someone posted in the previous day's game results that Conner had been playing good defense. I'll mildly disagree. In a couple previous games I saw there were some balls misplayed but the opponent couldn't string together more baserunners to make it hurt, so those plays didn't lead to runs. When you win games it's easy to overlook that stuff.

 

In last night's (Friday) game vs. Holy Cross, the defense wasn't good. An E3 with 2 outs, followed by a stolen base and two doubles gave HC their first two runs (both unearned), putting them up 2-0.

 

HC's fourth run was also unearned as the inning started with an E6 and that hitter ended up scoring.

 

It was 4-4 and Conner had what seemed to be a great chance in the bottom of the 7th (I'm pretty sure it was the 7th might have been the 8th). Leadoff single by Fogle and rather than bunting him over, the #2 hitter was allowed to swing away and hit into a FC. The next batter hit a double that would have scored a runner from 2nd but did not score the actual runner from first. With R2 and R3 with one out Conner couldn't get a run across.

 

I don't keep a book and missed a few batters but I counted three E3's, three E4's, and one E6.

 

Conner has put up runs in previous games vs. middle-of-the-road pitching, including Thursday night's game vs. HC...so I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw Tiberi on the mound to start for HC Friday.

 

In last week's game vs. Cooper they faced Dunn and Thompson. Though Dunn is young he throws pretty well, and of course Thompson was even better. I believe Conner scratched out 2 runs in that game. Someone please correct me if that's off.

 

Last night (Friday) HC pitched Tiberi and Fuller, and then closed one inning with #7 who I don't know. I was pleasantly surprised that Conner hit a few balls hard the other way during the game, as Tiberi and Fuller both stuck with fastballs more than I would have called given the situations/counts they were in.

 

So while Conner's defense deserves some criticism, the offense deserves some praise as they did pretty well vs. some good pitching Friday.

Bluetip, I believe I wrote about Conner's defense playing suprisingly well to start the season.. I was definately proved wrong after the second game vs Holy Cross. It was prettty pathetic... errors across the infield besides third base.

 

I agree that the hitting by both teams was superb... And what was Conner doing in the bottom of the 7th? Single by Fogle to lead off, Roberts comes up and doesnt bunt! Why??!! Roberts is a strong bunter and would have easily moved Fogle over. Instead, Roberts gets out. Liechty smashes a double down the line. They intentionally walk Ryle to load the bases. Then the Cougars cant push a run across... Dumb coaching IMO. But its still early!

Gotcha CM, I'm with you then on your observations. From what I've seen from Conner's coach the last 2-3 years he's used bunting quite a bit. I could see a hit-and-run in that spot but I was pretty surprised he was just hitting away with the winning run on first and no outs.

 

It's early in the year so maybe coach wanted the kid to have a chance to swing away there. It's probably no big deal in the long run.

 

The defense, on the other hand, is a bigger issue. Footwork, preparation, concentration, anticipation, soft hands....I didn't see a lot of what I've tried to teach in the past.