Through two games we're hitting .172 as a team. Anu and Kessler are hitless with Collett having one hit. That in 22 at bats combined. Just 4 hitters have averages over .200.
Kentucky at TCU (Sat)
- Thread starter Comebakatz3
- Start date
Some positives though...
Through 4 innings Hazelwood was strong. Only gave up 1 hit and had 3 strikeouts. Struggled to start the 5th, and gave up a walk or two. Still, like to see that he kept their hitters off balance.
In relief, I believe it was Stupp that came in for Hazelwood in a tight spot with 2 on and no outs. Stupp, a freshman, shut the door on TCU in that inning. He then worked another solid frame before finding his own struggles. He put a couple on base in the bottom of the 7th with no outs. UK turned to its experienced closer to try to shut the door, and unfortunately, Coleman crapped the bed, by hitting a batter, getting an out, giving up a 2 run single, getting an out, and then giving up a 2 run double.
Alex Degen. The dance machine danced his way through the Horned Frogs going 1.2 innings and racking up 4 strikeouts while facing 5 batters. No walks and no hits. Keep it up big guy!
Ramsey - I am going going to give him a positive. I don't think he is a Friday ace, but he was fairly serviceable. Without the 2 errors (and I am calling them 2) in the first inning he has a decent outing. Probably goes further because he wouldn't have had to work as hard in that first inning. Has to cut down on the walks, had 4 in 4 innings, but other than that it wasn't too shabby.
Hunter Rigsby - A pretty solid outing in relief in game one. Gave up one walk and a hit in 1.2 innings of work, but held the opponent scoreless and did his job.
Cam Hill - Hitting .500 and has both of UKs RBIs. Coaches apparently don't trust Cam to hit lefties, so they have taken him out in both of the first games with runners on when he is facing a lefty. It has not paid off either time. However, Cam is hitting 1.000 with runners on.
Schultz - I am going to give him a positive for his approach at the plate. Has a double and a triple in the series so far. In fact, he has 2 of the 3 extra base hits. Defense has been very poor and leaves a whole lot to be desired. Has two errors through 2 games, but still, his offense is at least not doing horribly.
Through 4 innings Hazelwood was strong. Only gave up 1 hit and had 3 strikeouts. Struggled to start the 5th, and gave up a walk or two. Still, like to see that he kept their hitters off balance.
In relief, I believe it was Stupp that came in for Hazelwood in a tight spot with 2 on and no outs. Stupp, a freshman, shut the door on TCU in that inning. He then worked another solid frame before finding his own struggles. He put a couple on base in the bottom of the 7th with no outs. UK turned to its experienced closer to try to shut the door, and unfortunately, Coleman crapped the bed, by hitting a batter, getting an out, giving up a 2 run single, getting an out, and then giving up a 2 run double.
Alex Degen. The dance machine danced his way through the Horned Frogs going 1.2 innings and racking up 4 strikeouts while facing 5 batters. No walks and no hits. Keep it up big guy!
Ramsey - I am going going to give him a positive. I don't think he is a Friday ace, but he was fairly serviceable. Without the 2 errors (and I am calling them 2) in the first inning he has a decent outing. Probably goes further because he wouldn't have had to work as hard in that first inning. Has to cut down on the walks, had 4 in 4 innings, but other than that it wasn't too shabby.
Hunter Rigsby - A pretty solid outing in relief in game one. Gave up one walk and a hit in 1.2 innings of work, but held the opponent scoreless and did his job.
Cam Hill - Hitting .500 and has both of UKs RBIs. Coaches apparently don't trust Cam to hit lefties, so they have taken him out in both of the first games with runners on when he is facing a lefty. It has not paid off either time. However, Cam is hitting 1.000 with runners on.
Schultz - I am going to give him a positive for his approach at the plate. Has a double and a triple in the series so far. In fact, he has 2 of the 3 extra base hits. Defense has been very poor and leaves a whole lot to be desired. Has two errors through 2 games, but still, his offense is at least not doing horribly.
Really really need it. If for nothing else, we need it to build our confidence up. Had a poor season a year ago, and starting off 0-3 against a team that is probably middle of the road in the SEC can certainly rattle the confidence of the team. Finish on a high note going into 15 winnable home games can certainly change the outlook for us. We could conceivably go to Vandy in the first weekend of SEC play at 16-2 with wins over TCU and Tennessee Tech (both teams that have made deep tourny runs lately), and 3 wins over UNC Wilmington, which played in the tournament last year. Won't be easy, but it would most certainly change the way we look at things this year. We'd already be more than halfway to the win total of a year ago before we ever start league play.
So, a win would be huge. I'm not convinced we get it. Bats have to wake up. We will see what happens come 1:30 though.
I think the fan base needs the confidence boost as much as the team. Like has been said, so farnit seems like we picked right back up from '19.
I just want to see improvement this year to be satisfied. I know where the rest of the SEC is this season. Im not expecting miracles. But we have got to be competitive. Glad you highlighted the hitting above...thats been my big gripe these two games. Bring the sticks!
That is where we are supposed to shine. We bring back Collett, Hill, Schultz, Curtis, Shelby, Daniel, and Kessler. That is 7 of our 9 hitters that are returning. So, you would think that they should be improved and that hitting should be our strength. You add to that a JUCO All American type that is known for having a great bat in Anu and then a freshman that the staff raves about as having massive potential. You would think that the bats would be alive and that they were holding up the pitching. The opposite, in large part, has been true. Pitching has held up the games and defense and hitting have in large part let the pitching down. Hopefully this is just a bad start and not really an indication of what we will see against top pitching.
However, my big concern is that I don't know how strong the psyche of this team is. It could be easily broken by getting swept the first weekend. I don't think they will lay down, they didn't last year, but if you aren't playing with confidence then it is reflected in everything you do, and it can be contagious among an entire team.
Thats what I thought. I didnt expect us to be bombing dingers left and right but to at least be competitive at the plate.
Its two games so I'm not going to lose my mind over it. But it doesnt embue confidence thus far. I thought pitching was going to be the problem.
Its going to be just like the Reds last year
![[laughing]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/laugh.r191677.gif "Laughing [laughing]")
Im willing to be patient but I want to see some measurable improvement before I jump off ship.
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