UK vs Wright State....

[Black Diamond Cat]

First pitch now slated for 4:30 pm. Cats are 7-5 and have won 5 straight, Raiders are 7-4 and have won 4 straight. Brad Schaenzer gets the start, he has pitched very well so far this season.
This is another real solid team that the Cats are facing, WSU has made 2 straight trips to the NCAA tourney, and even though they have a new coach, they went 3-3 vs Clemson and South Carolina on the road to start the season.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Not sure if I like that Schaenzer is starting or if I would prefer Thompson. This game is one of the bigger ones in the young season. With that in mind I can understand going with some experience, which as pitched well, but Thompson has just been extremely impressive in my opinion. Thoughts?

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Both pitchers have been impressive early on. Thompson shows great poise for a true freshman, and Brad has been lights out. We will see Thompson tomorrow against Cincinnati no doubt.
I could see Thompson starting today, but like you said, I guess they are going with the more experienced pitcher today.

 

[Derek Terry]

Schaenzer looked great the top half. Struck out two and got a groundball out at first.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Brad already filling up the strikezone, so you have to love that. What I really like about this is that we seem to be finding two guys who look to be very capable mid-week starters, and possibly could be weekend starters, and IMO, when you get to the post season you need 3-5 very reliable starters in case you get a loss early in the conference or regional tournaments.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Carson with a very nice little hit the other way between third and short. Really liking that he's emerged as a senior.

Edit: Then he stole a base!

 

[Comebakatz3]

UK up 1-0 after a White single and a Reks fielder's choice. Reks then steals second. This team is never ever afraid to run. Love it.

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Good start, 2 hits, 2 stolen bases, 1 run. Going to the 2nd.

 

[Derek Terry]

Schaenzer has struck out four of the first six he's faced. Two balls put in play were weak grounders to first.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Brad gets two more strikeouts in the second and we're already heading to the bottom half. I'm already having remorse about criticizing the decision to start him over Thompson.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Making them pay for a walk with a good sac, and a single up the middle to score the Becker! Good job again by Carson. Then White doubled down the line! Those two are becoming deadly!

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Cats have 3 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the 3rd...... so far !

 

[Derek Terry]

Wright State's first hit comes on an infield single. Looked like Heady didn't have a good read on the ball.

 

[Derek Terry]

Schaenzer strands a runner on third. His scoreless streak is up to 13.1 innings. Cats lead 4-0 going to B4.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Huge game here winning 10-0

 

[CatsFanGG24]

Will be a big win - probably best of the season so far. Wright split w/Clemson and Carolina 3-3

 

[Derek Terry]

Gotta be honest, Wright State has not looked good at all tonight.

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Gotta be honest, Wright State has not looked good at all tonight.

They had been impressive coming in to todays' game, but they are getting smoked tonight !

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

UK gets 5 more in the 7th, Conner Heady with a solo HR to lead the way 15-1 Cats !

 

[Comebakatz3]

Heady is up and down but he's seeing the ball much better this year. What could he do with 3 years under Mingione? Lol

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

FINAL : Kentucky 15 Wright State 1, Cats now are 8-5 on the season. A trip to Cincy ( 4-6 ) awaits the Big Blue tomorrow.

 

[sluggercatfan]

FINAL : Kentucky 15 Wright State 1, Cats now are 8-5 on the season. A trip to Cincy ( 4-6 ) awaits the Big Blue tomorrow.

Three of us gonna be there...anybody else?

 

[Comebakatz3]

I may take my vacation this year to Lexington and go to a weekend series and Keeneland, but I'm not sure yet.

 

[CatsFanGG24]

Really enjoyed playing at UCs field circa 2009 - cool setup, as the field is below street level and the stadium is kinda built into the little nook. Ball seemed to fly as well, expect the Cats to hit a big fly or 2.

 

[Comebakatz3]

By the way, UK jumped 39 spots in the RPI with yesterday's win. They have dropped down to 69.

 

[CatsFanGG24]

They are playing really good ball. Even if most wins have been against poor teams, you still would expect to give up a few more runs than they have, and its not easy scoring as much as they have.

I was discouraged after the first week or so...they have pulled it together nicely.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Well the good thing is that they have not gotten beaten badly and they have beaten teams badly. Wright State has been to the NCAA tournament for 3 years in a row and we just beat them 15-1. They are a team that took 2 of 3 against Clemson on the opening weekend, and went 3-3 against USC and Clemson to open the year. Their starter last night was an experienced redshirt senior who started 12 games a year ago and had a 3.00 ERA. Most of the pitchers we faced last night were returning players. I think Wright State has lost a lot of their offense from a year ago, but what was impressive was that UK stacked up so many runs.

I'd love to play UNC again and see how we fare against them now. I think the guys are really seeing the ball a whole lot better and we might be able to take that series from them, and definitely wouldn't get swept.

 

[CatsFanGG24]

Seemed to me some old habits were at the plate early - very passive, too much taking in good counts (Henderson coached team stuff) and after White returned something clicked at the plate...whether it be them following his aggressive approach, them getting into more natural spots in the lineup bc of his return etc, but it has been impressive.

Could also give some credit to your boy Marcus Carson - him in the leadoff spot has been very successful.

 

[Comebakatz3]

I think having White back really has helped a ton. Having one very good hitter can really help others around him, and when those others hit well it permeates up and down the lineup. I think having Mahan down near the bottom really helps him. Plus having Heyer/Becker follow him really helps because Heyer has some big time power and Becker is on fire hitting almost .400. So, pitching carefully to Mahan isn't easy when you have those guys following. Then Squires and Heady are pretty big at times. Both hitting pretty well, Heady has two home runs on the year at the bottom.

Still, for me the biggest deal is that we fired, "one of the top pitching masterminds," (direct quote from MSU bio) and moved onto Belanger whose pitching staff now has an ERA of 2.65 against some pretty solid competition. This with a pitching staff that had only 1 total weekend start a year ago and that is almost entirely relying on newcomers out of the bullpen. I think Henderson was pretty darn good at getting some talented pitchers, but I think he struggled at putting together an entire bullpen. It appears, so far, that Belanger is much better at putting together a complete bullpen, even though we still have work to do.