At the Mother’s Day game

Pretty well played in all areas. Our guys are playing some ball.  There were some really outstanding defensive plays and our hitters keep pounding the ball.

Wow, did not know about that. Our guys are well coached, especially the hitting coach. The Cats hit to all fields and do a great job of hitting the ball where it is pitched and not trying to overcome the pitch -- which causes a lot of strikeouts. There were some defensive plays I did not think could be made and they pulled them off. Really impressive.

We are a top flight offensive team. Nearly -0- holes in our offensive line up. We can put a line up on the field where 8 of our 9 players are long ball threats. We lead the conference (or in the top 3) in every major offensive category. Our weakness is pitching. Nearly every starter hits a wall in the late 4th or early 5th inning putting a tremendous amount of pressure on our relievers. We nearly wore out Tanner Riley in the 1st half of the season (he's getting some rest now). We lead the conference in giving up walks. We're high on wild pitches and hit batters. We really need for these guys to step it up. I guess I should be worried about our fielding since we are last or close to last in the league but I'm not. We average about 1.5 errors per game which has caused 45 unearned runs (one per game ave.). 22 of our 62 errors are by 2 players (Dickson-C and Randle-SS) and they get more chances than anyone else (other than Geiser at 1st base and his chances are easier). Add to that most of the season we've had at least 2 freshmen infielders and sometimes 3 on the field at the same time. I wouldn't trade Dickson (soph) or Randle (fr) for any position players in the conference. Shore up the pitching and we're set for the foreseeable future. Fun team to watch.

Bogeyman has some insightful knowledge of baseball and stats, that's for sure. In a few words, we need two or three middle inning pitchers and two closers, one of which, for sure, simply slams the door. We may have these needs on the roster but they need to gain experience and more dominance. At least those double digit scores seem to be gone. Watching today, I got the feeling we struggle with location given the count and previous pitches during an at bat. When the pitcher sets the pitch up and then hits his target and speed, he got the strike out, but when he did not, they often hit the ball pretty hard. But that is baseball and the difference between all stars and just normally good players. We do have a weak batting average at one spot and I kept thinking a drag bunt might change things up. The low inside pitch seems to get to him.  And I certainly agree with Bogey, our catcher (Dickson, who bats leadoff of all things) can run well and likely should be all conference. Eager may have graduated already but if so, I hope he pursues a Masters and plays next year with all the young players we have. He made a remarkable catch in the outfield and boy is he a hitter -- but one of several! Tatrow, Cruz, and Dickson have great form and good eyes -- but we have five guys hitting over .300! I really enjoy good baseball. If they keep this up and clean up the next two series, this team will indeed be memorable.

Ahhh. I forgot about the stupid points system. UNO only has one series left at Lamar. They’ve played 6 more games. 
SELA has series at AMCC and HBU. They’ve played 2 more games. 
... of course we play at Sam and Stephen.

So both teams are ahead of us only because they have played more games. However, we probably can’t overcome the two cancellations at HBU and finish in the top 2. We will need to win 2 more games than both of them. Sam needs to win 2 more games than us to pass us in the standings. 

**Edit** we only need to win one more game than SE.