I want to start by saying that I am not sure that I can really do a great job posting a report card for this week. I wasn't able to watch as much of the games, and basically couldn't watch anything on Saturday. So, I am just going to give a basic over view.
Murray State -
Pitching - F
There is just simply no way it is excusable for us to give up that many runs to Murray State. Veterans continue to fail us on the mound while, surprisingly, the young guys continue to do fairly well. Rough day for Hagenow, but I think they took him out a bit early as well. Not sure why that happened, hopefully it was just because they felt he didn't have the best stuff and not because something was bothering him. Still, Ramsey giving up 4... I just don't know how you can pitch him in anything and feel comfortable with him out there.
Offense - B+
I am not giving it the full A, because I just feel like we should be able to string together more hits. 5 home runs is exceptional, but we also could basically only score if we had home runs. This is kind of nitpicking, but just my own little preference for offense.
Coaching - D. Just on the decision to play Ramsey in and of itself.
Missouri (Game 1) -
Pitching - A
Excellent. Had just the two runs given up. Rigsby struggled at the end of the game and you don't want to see that, but he is still getting his feet on dry land in some ways. So, I am giving him a bit of a pass still.
Hitting - A+
This is the type of performance I want to regularly see. Almost everyone hit and we hit together. We strung together hits and walks to score runs in bunches. We didn't rely on solo home runs or things like that to get runs. We hit a ton of baseballs where they weren't.
Coaching - B+
Still not sure I like the Anu decision. Obviously didn't hurt us in this one, but we'll get to that more later.
Missouri (Game 2) -
Pitching - B
Hazelwood didn't seem too sharp, but we held them to 4 runs, so that is pretty solid. Holt Jones continues to be excellent. Harney was someone that was very well trusted and maybe that continues, but he gave up the lead late and that really hurts, and why the score is lower.
Hitting - C
We scored 5 runs and for that I give them some good credit, but we did so on just 6 hits, getting out-hit by the worst team in the league 8-6. Only 5 players got hits. That just, standardly isn't going to cut it.
Coaching - ?
I didn't watch or listen to enough to know. Cam Hill clearly showed his value in the game late though. So, I think it should give the coaches more to think about on whether Anu continues to start in left or what.
Missouri (Game 3) -
Pitching - C
This is a harsh grade for pitching given that we only gave up 5 runs, but we get it because the bullpen. Otherwise, it is an outstanding pitching performance from UK, and especially from Lee. Actually felt like UK coaches took Lee out too early. He was doing well, IMO, and while he was struggling he could have at least gotten another inning.
Hitting - F
Three runs against this pitching staff is just not very good, and way worse when it is a loss. Again, outhit by the worst team in the league (9-6). A good thing overall is that we didn't strikeout a huge amount (6), but still... have to hit it where they ain't and string together hits and we couldn't do that.
Coaching - ?
I don't think it was good, but I didn't see enough to be totally sure. Again, Anu playing defense is frustrating.
Overall, this doesn't look so bad if we win either the Sunday Missouri game or the Tuesday game. We lost both and went 2-2 this week. That, IMO, is bad. I think both of those games are winnable games that you shouldn't let slip away. A week we should have gone 4-0 and we went 2-2. I can excuse one hiccup had we gone 3-1, but it is hard to excuse 2 hiccups.
Moving forward... hitting will be a concern. We hit just .261 this weekend and that was despite having an amazing hitting day on Friday. Estep, Ritter, and Harmon all hit under .200 this weekend. It is a small sample size, but this was the weakest SEC pitching staff, by far, so it raises concerns moving forward. We would have hit .224 as a team were it not for Kessler's .714 over the weekend. So, mad props to Kessler, but also... not ideal... especially considering that Kessler had 5 hits and 0 RBIs (3 runs though).
Murray State -
Pitching - F
There is just simply no way it is excusable for us to give up that many runs to Murray State. Veterans continue to fail us on the mound while, surprisingly, the young guys continue to do fairly well. Rough day for Hagenow, but I think they took him out a bit early as well. Not sure why that happened, hopefully it was just because they felt he didn't have the best stuff and not because something was bothering him. Still, Ramsey giving up 4... I just don't know how you can pitch him in anything and feel comfortable with him out there.
Offense - B+
I am not giving it the full A, because I just feel like we should be able to string together more hits. 5 home runs is exceptional, but we also could basically only score if we had home runs. This is kind of nitpicking, but just my own little preference for offense.
Coaching - D. Just on the decision to play Ramsey in and of itself.
Missouri (Game 1) -
Pitching - A
Excellent. Had just the two runs given up. Rigsby struggled at the end of the game and you don't want to see that, but he is still getting his feet on dry land in some ways. So, I am giving him a bit of a pass still.
Hitting - A+
This is the type of performance I want to regularly see. Almost everyone hit and we hit together. We strung together hits and walks to score runs in bunches. We didn't rely on solo home runs or things like that to get runs. We hit a ton of baseballs where they weren't.
Coaching - B+
Still not sure I like the Anu decision. Obviously didn't hurt us in this one, but we'll get to that more later.
Missouri (Game 2) -
Pitching - B
Hazelwood didn't seem too sharp, but we held them to 4 runs, so that is pretty solid. Holt Jones continues to be excellent. Harney was someone that was very well trusted and maybe that continues, but he gave up the lead late and that really hurts, and why the score is lower.
Hitting - C
We scored 5 runs and for that I give them some good credit, but we did so on just 6 hits, getting out-hit by the worst team in the league 8-6. Only 5 players got hits. That just, standardly isn't going to cut it.
Coaching - ?
I didn't watch or listen to enough to know. Cam Hill clearly showed his value in the game late though. So, I think it should give the coaches more to think about on whether Anu continues to start in left or what.
Missouri (Game 3) -
Pitching - C
This is a harsh grade for pitching given that we only gave up 5 runs, but we get it because the bullpen. Otherwise, it is an outstanding pitching performance from UK, and especially from Lee. Actually felt like UK coaches took Lee out too early. He was doing well, IMO, and while he was struggling he could have at least gotten another inning.
Hitting - F
Three runs against this pitching staff is just not very good, and way worse when it is a loss. Again, outhit by the worst team in the league (9-6). A good thing overall is that we didn't strikeout a huge amount (6), but still... have to hit it where they ain't and string together hits and we couldn't do that.
Coaching - ?
I don't think it was good, but I didn't see enough to be totally sure. Again, Anu playing defense is frustrating.
Overall, this doesn't look so bad if we win either the Sunday Missouri game or the Tuesday game. We lost both and went 2-2 this week. That, IMO, is bad. I think both of those games are winnable games that you shouldn't let slip away. A week we should have gone 4-0 and we went 2-2. I can excuse one hiccup had we gone 3-1, but it is hard to excuse 2 hiccups.
Moving forward... hitting will be a concern. We hit just .261 this weekend and that was despite having an amazing hitting day on Friday. Estep, Ritter, and Harmon all hit under .200 this weekend. It is a small sample size, but this was the weakest SEC pitching staff, by far, so it raises concerns moving forward. We would have hit .224 as a team were it not for Kessler's .714 over the weekend. So, mad props to Kessler, but also... not ideal... especially considering that Kessler had 5 hits and 0 RBIs (3 runs though).
