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Post by wildcatter on Apr 15, 2015 11:09:17 GMT -6
Proud of the baseball squad and the fight they've put up this year. I think we've seen some solid contributions from young guys and sophomore players improving like Draper and Crippen. We still have the occasional blow out but we have lost a lot of close games to quality teams that last year smoked us. I hope the up-tick in production continues and the guys finish out the second half of the season on a positive note.
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Post by wildcatter on Apr 15, 2015 11:10:00 GMT -6
Granted, this is mostly based off me following live stats of games and some of the free live broadcast.
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Post by acutrackfan on Apr 15, 2015 12:00:51 GMT -6
I know the record is terrible, but I agree with you - this baseball team is truly not that far off from being a solid team. The overall record of 8-25 is pretty depressing, BUT ACU is 3-14 in games decided by 2 runs or less. Think of that - an 11 game swing. If that stat is reverse to 14-3, this team has a record of well over .500. Baseball has probably played as tough a schedule of any Wildcat team. They are getting contributions from a lot of young guys. With ACU needing to recruit the high schools much more to meet D-I entrance standards, this team is having to build largely from the ground up and I think with a few breaks, the 'Cats could be well over .500 as early as next year.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 15, 2015 16:25:15 GMT -6
Stats: Last year Draper .309, this year .269 Last year Crippen .223, this year .267. Last year Hall .265, this year .238. Last year Beasley .240, this year .235. Last year Eager .294, this year .294. The only holdover Cat who has a better average this year than last is Russell Crippen whose batting average has risen 44 points but whose HR production is down and strike outs have already equaled his 2014 record. The quality of the schedule is a little below (easier) the level of last years schedule, so I'd say we are trending backwards. Just my opinion. The close games are encouraging but the big losses to conference rivals is disheartening. And of course we still have Sam Houston, SFA and UIW who give us fits as well as conference series with New Orleans and Northwestern State. I was looking for a big jump in consistency this year but been discouraged not only by our overall record but also by the close losses to some folks we should be better than. We've played 33 games and only have 53 extra base hits (41 doubles, 7 triples and 5 HR's). We have absolutely -0- power at the plate. I was led to believe that with the change in the bat specs this year (or was it the ball) that we'd be seeing lots more power in college ball. Not so our team. Not trying to be negative ninny but I don't see improvement. But I'll keep looking. Tyler Eager is having a solid year.
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Post by wildcatter on Apr 16, 2015 9:11:36 GMT -6
Stats: Last year Draper .309, this year .269 Last year Crippen .223, this year .267. Last year Hall .265, this year .238. Last year Beasley .240, this year .235. Last year Eager .294, this year .294. The only holdover Cat who has a better average this year than last is Russell Crippen whose batting average has risen 44 points but whose HR production is down and strike outs have already equaled his 2014 record. The quality of the schedule is a little below (easier) the level of last years schedule, so I'd say we are trending backwards. Just my opinion. The close games are encouraging but the big losses to conference rivals is disheartening. And of course we still have Sam Houston, SFA and UIW who give us fits as well as conference series with New Orleans and Northwestern State. I was looking for a big jump in consistency this year but been discouraged not only by our overall record but also by the close losses to some folks we should be better than. We've played 33 games and only have 53 extra base hits (41 doubles, 7 triples and 5 HR's). We have absolutely -0- power at the plate. I was led to believe that with the change in the bat specs this year (or was it the ball) that we'd be seeing lots more power in college ball. Not so our team. Not trying to be negative ninny but I don't see improvement. But I'll keep looking. Tyler Eager is having a solid year. I don't really care about batting average but I think Crippen is important because he can develop some power, the kid looks solidly built and so the more confidence he gets at the plate through collecting hits and gathering good at bats the more the power will come naturally. We also lost our top 3 hitters from last year and losing Grudz... really hurts because he was a true freshman that decided to go to JUCO and move on from ACU. Definitely pessimistic outlook if you ask me. Last year by this time we had only won 12 games, this year we have 8 wins. 7 of those wins came against Texas College, Arlington Baptist University, and UIW. We also lost to A&M 2-20 and to Tech 2-19. A loss is still a lost I get that, but I also realize how young the team is, and I'm proud of how they have performed against the more prestigious and established programs...shows me that confidence is building.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 16, 2015 12:16:52 GMT -6
It is good to look for and see the positives. Not sure what you mean about not looking at batting ave. That has always been the #1 stat in baseball.
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Post by wildcatter on Apr 16, 2015 13:04:50 GMT -6
I'm not concerned about batting average in regards to my argument.
I said I was proud of how the team was competing after the terrible start. We have as many wins in conference this year as we did for all of last year.
I understand base hits and average count for something, but that one stat bears no weight on my opinion of the team improving and competing well against nationally ranked teams.
Metrics and analytic's are always going to weigh against the eye test in baseball.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 16, 2015 13:19:54 GMT -6
OK.
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Post by bogeyman on Apr 16, 2015 13:36:26 GMT -6
OK.
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Post by bogeyman on May 2, 2015 15:58:59 GMT -6
Girls sweep their final series. Guys take first 2 games from UNO. Maybe we'll see more of this next year. Girls have pitching help on the way. Hope the guys have help on the way.
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Post by bogeyman on May 7, 2015 19:26:58 GMT -6
Anyone know what happened to Kevin Sheets?
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Post by bogeyman on May 14, 2015 20:30:42 GMT -6
Extra inning walkout win tonight. Heath Beasley HR. Needed more of those. Maybe next year.
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Post by WildCatToothDoc on May 15, 2015 9:49:47 GMT -6
Extra inning walkout win tonight. Heath Beasley HR. Needed more of those. Maybe next year. A walkoff win is awesome. I go to church with his dad. Cant wait to see his reaction Sunday. Way to go Cats!
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Post by acutrackfan on May 15, 2015 13:35:02 GMT -6
I know the record is still not very pretty and after UIW, we finish with a trip to Arizona and finish with games against Arizona, Ariz St and Hawaii. But, I still think this team is showing signs of being competitive over the long haul. Last year, ACU was 18-36 for the season, but only 6-18 in the SLC. We picked up some cheap wins against Arlington Baptist, who are in the NCCAA - they are not even NAIA level. We won 2 games against NJ Tech, which a D-I school, just barely. We lost games to D-II East Central and McMurry.
This year, our record is 14-35 overall, but it is a much more competitive 12-16 in the SLC. On the schedule, the Arlington Baptists and East Centrals of this world have been replaced by TCU and Texas Tech. We have played a 100% D-I schedule. I know the hitting has been abysmal this year, but that has improved once we got into the conference schedule. Pitching has been pretty good all year. We have also changed tje recruiting philosophy pretty drastically -- much higher reliance on recruiting HS kids and trying to develop them. Next year will be year 3 of that philosophy change and I think that is the year we will see the most benefit from that change.
I was at the most recent TCU game in FW. We looked pretty solid during much of the game. TCU is a really good college team. They pitcher was a flame throwing giant (6-7, 255) and he almost let ACU back into the game late with his wildness. I saw some sparkling defensive plays for ACU, plus a few gaffes. I actually came away from the game with a better feeling about this team.
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Post by acutrackfan on May 22, 2015 13:54:16 GMT -6
I felt good about the loss to Arizona State - 4-1 to a #12 team in the U.S. is not that bad. Once again the bats were largely silent, but we were in the game all along. Then, the first Arizona game was one of the few times all year than we did not look like we belonged on the same field. Our pitching got battered, we could generate no offense, we apparently made errors and mental blunders. That game was pretty depressing - it made us "look like" a team that has almost 40 losses. I hope the team bounces back tonight against the same Arizona Wildcat team and plays a solid game and washes the tasted of that sad-sack loss out of their mouths.
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