Bear Down Wildcats

Bullard hitting .175 but still playing hurt. Turley is at .231 and has been replaced in the field by Splain at 1B.

Nichols went 6.1 innings and gave up all 6 runs and his ERA is now above 4 but he is 5-2 on the year.

Utah has now lost 4 straight one run games in conference. Hopefully we start to be a bit more consistent in all facets of the game

Nichols also gave up 12 hits, 2 walks, and had a hit batter. Maybe some of it is the weird Easter week scheduling and Utah's ridiculous stadium sharing with a minor league team that required us to start at 10 am on a Thursday in 50 degree weather for their 800 fans. But that stat line had better improve or something's got to give.

Well, after our 2-4 "performance" against WSU and Utah (traditionally the two worst programs in the league), we've gone from the Pac-12 front-runners to unranked. Can't judge the Chip Hale/Dave Lawn tandem too harshly after just those six games, but it's a pretty bad collapse for a team returning a fair amount of talent from last year's CWS run. Speaking of the CWS, we'll be playing on that field this afternoon at 4 pm in a televised (FS2) game against Creighton. Don't know where their psyches are at, although they seemed pretty upbeat in a team photo for their Easter Sunday banquet. But that's just a photo. Really need to bounce back with a vengeance for a 21-8 Creighton team (which just swept St. John's on the road) lying in wait for one of their biggest home series of the year. Not to mention the upcoming weekend series with ASU. Rough stretch.

Good to see the Bat Cats get off the schneid.

Very happy with the result. I believe Creighton had us tied with a 2-hit shutout through 7, then we broke it open when they fell apart. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. My one big takeaway is the home plate ump. I'm very critical of Pac-12 officiating in general. This guy was close to perfect. Decisive, accurate, competent, quick, the whole bit. He looked close to a major league ump. The difference between him and the typical Pac-12 ump was stunning. If we'd have lost (which didn't seem unlikely through the first several innings), I'd say the same thing, as I was complimenting him the whole game. Clone that guy, or at least have him do training. It shows me that the concerns and complaints are real, when you see the right approach as a glaring contrast to what we're stuck with. And he's in the Big East, and we're in the Pac-12; it's ridiculous.

Going to be interesting tonight. These mid week games dig deep into the arms of these teams. What is very rare is a two game early in the week set of games. We used like 5 pitchers last night. Who can we throw that we wouldn’t need over the weekend against ASSU? This scheduling is stupid IMO

Cats win game 2 against Creighton 3-1

Watched both games and it was interesting seeing about 300 people (if that) in a 20k stadium.

Creighton had an impressive record coming in but our arms shut them down . Our offense wasn’t as sharp but overall it was good to get the sweep

We must have a series victory this weekend. It’s a must series win

Agree, and it has nothing to do with any rivalry stuff. ASU has lost 19 games; they're a mediocre team. We've already lost two straight weekend series to mediocre teams, and it's hammering any decent seeding hopes we've got. Regarding Creighton, I agree with you that it was head-scratching scheduling, and we'll see how we feel after the ASU series. But, I thought they juggled the pitching pretty well with two bullpen games. Obviously, Nichols, Irvin, and Murphy weren't used, and neither was Orloff or Netz. Only Christian, Arias, and Anthony Susac pitched as many as 3 innings in the two-game series, and the rest of the committee only pitched 1 or 2. If Nichols can give us a quality start on Friday, I think the staff will be in okay shape. The thing I worry about is having these guys on the road for 7 or 8 straight days. That's tiring for anybody, and it usually takes a few days to get over it, preferably over a weekend. Only we're playing ASU over the weekend. Oh well, they're young, and if you want to make it big in baseball, you'd better be able to deal with the travel.

Big series starting.

Cats walk off in the 10th with a no doubter home run. Bear Down!

Fuck ASU

That was the best way to end a rivalry game.

Davis is electric. That was a no doubter HR against the win. He brings a lot of mustard to the yard as well and ASSU might not have appreciated his little dance. Tonight’s game should be fun to watch

ASU pitcher Blake Pivaroff was looking down after last night's game.

An ASU coach told him, don't feel bad Blake. There's a lot of parks that ball wouldn't have been out of.

Oh yeah? Name one.

Yellowstone

414 against the wind. More ASSU bull$hit. F those guys.

Very few ASU fans in evidence, outside of the expected row of families and friends directly behind their dugout. But, I am, in fact, a magnet. So I invevitably had one in front of me demonstrating the classic signs of histrionic personality disorder, which stems from low self-esteem for various reasons. In any event, it was poetic justice that the Chase Davis walk-off rendered the Conor Davis boo-answering big moment homer moot by overshadowing it in a loss.

The 4.2 IP by Nichols was disappointing, as was the slow hook when he'd obviously lost it and gave up a couple of easy runs with wild pitches and runners on third. So now our sore-armed pitching staff turns to Chandler Murphy to give Irvin another day's rest. Hopefully, a little less craziness tonight. Let's just grind out a nice, boring, decisive win.

Why in the world is Pac 12 prioritizing Stanford's spring football game over our baseball game?

AZCatGirl wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 5:09 pm Why in the world is Pac 12 prioritizing Stanford's spring football game over our baseball game?

Football is king.

Poor umpiring.

Poor replay angles.

The conference management is so crappy.

I’m watching on the app. I’m cool with the broadcast.

The Case Davis HBP call was bullshit, BTW.

The replay angle on the play at first was stupid.
It wasn’t a good angle the first time, but they use it again.
The live shot was a good angle but they didn’t use it as a slo mo replay.


The HBP was a bad call but the ump makes it worse by ejecting Hale.

Scum went from leaking a bit of oil to leaving the pan in the middle of the road.

14-3 in the 7th.

Nice!

Fuck ASU

Crappy ass commuter/on-line school. Went to all 3 games. Complete domination today. No joy in Innovation World today. They used to be good. We passed them 10 years ago, and today they're crap.

Always glad to get that crap out of the way. People (old-timers) put way too much stock in the rivalry series, dating back to the 60's and 70's when it was for all the marbles in the WAC; but, that's not the case anymore. No doubt the Phoenix/ASU media will play it as a "2-2 tie for Territorial Cup Points", but that's bullshit. GCU beat us in a negligeable mid-week game with their umps, too. We won the conference series, which is all that matters, and we stomped the shit out of them today. Had a conversation with some old ASU dude who tried too hard to explain that "ASU used to be good", which is all you need to know. Time to move on. 4 non-conf with Nevada, a solo with GCU, @ USC, Oregon St, @ Oregon, then the Pac-12 Tournament, which should rotate, and not be in the 100-degree + temps of metro Phoenix. We looked pretty good today, and the hitting's coming on, but still concern about pitching issues and defense.

We have one @New Mexico St this week which is a bit weird. Maybe we fly to El Paso and drive to las Cruces or we are busing there and back?

Winning this series was important if we wa t to be a top 16 team. Those series losses to Utah and WAZZU really plummeted us down the rankings. We need to get to 40 wins and probably at least 18 wins in the conference to host that first round

The best you can do is a three hour flight to El Paso (through Phoenix), followed by a one-hour drive to Las Cruces. Plus all the messing around at airports. Or it's a four hour drive on a pretty luxurious bus from right outside Hi Corbett or McKale to the hotel or ballpark, so that's my assumption. Not a thing to look at the whole way, so do school work, watch a couple of movies, or sleep. We really seemed to hit a wall against Utah and WSU, whether from injuries or whatever. Hopefully the 14-4 Sunday Fun Day was a bit of a springboard to get back on track in every phase of the game. If we get Netz back, the starting pitching improves, and the players lock in for the stretch run, I think we can do some business with the remaining schedule. My projected math says we'd need to win at least a couple of games in the new Pac-12 Tournament to get to your 40 win level.

40 wins and at least an 18-12 conference record usually allows us to host a regional as a top 16 seed. Right before the Utah series we were at #5. Amazing how far we can fall yet LSU, who hasn’t beaten anyone OOC is #22 ranked snd moving higher

If Berry and Cooper had not transferred, this team would be in the top-10. I watched the LSU game against Missouri and Cooper looked really good. Having a lefty like him come out of the bullpen would be so big. Btw, his looks have changed. He has put on some weight. Guess he really likes the living in Baton Rouge.

Yea Berry is killing it at LSU. I believe he leads the league in HR’s. Seems JJ wanted Berry, Cooper, Irvin, Susac and Davis from our roster(maybe another arm or two). He got two of them.

It’s one thing to jump ship for more money but it’s a whole other level to raid your former program. Just not a fan of Johnson anymore

You know this is going to happen,
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/ba ... acketology

So here's where we play tonight:



Doubt they'll have anything like a crowd like that, but whatever. It's hard to get mid-week games with our geography, so we'll take 'em where we can get 'em. Meanwhile, can somebody explain why, after 10 years back at Hi Corbett, we can't get awnings like that down the first and third base sides? We currently have shade for about 200 seats. For our annual 10 day games, I conservatively estimate that sufficient shade would result in 1,000 more fans for the day games. Some people prefer the sun, field proximity, and going after foul balls, while some prefer shade and breezes, which would include me. Our sunk cost overheads are fixed. But, between admission and the 300%+ markup on concessions, you'd come close to paying off the investment in one year; definitely two. After that, it's pure profit and a better gameday environment. It should be a no-brainer.

So many needed upgrades at HiCo are needed. Need a beer garden down both fouls lines. Need some suites at the top of the grand stands behind first and third base. Need chairbacks all the way to the end of the dugouts.

I get 2020/Covid put us in a hole and that the $hitty TV contrac TV is killing us. Still, we have great fans and great tradition. These upgrades are not the expensive and would be repaid quickly in increased attendance.

Oh and to Irish post above. LSU is not an 8 seed but they will get preferential treatment and I agree, the committee would love to Pitt us against them. F Jay Johnson and LSU

$16 for a beer and a dog at Hi Corbett. $13 for a tall boy!

Jefe wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 3:51 pm $16 for a beer and a dog at Hi Corbett. $13 for a tall boy!

You sure you’re not at Wrigley?

Wow, he ended up scoring. 7-3 in the 6th. We left the bases loaded though and really could have put them away in that last half inning

Damn too bad it isn't next week when I'm actually going to be in Las Cruces

O’Tremba came up with bases loaded twice. First time he didn’t deliver. Second time he hit a grand slam. Cats up big 15-5 in the 9th

By the way, grass in the base path looks weird.

azcat49 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 25, 2022 1:34 pm Yea Berry is killing it at LSU. I believe he leads the league in HR’s. Seems JJ wanted Berry, Cooper, Irvin, Susac and Davis from our roster(maybe another arm or two). He got two of them.

It’s one thing to jump ship for more money but it’s a whole other level to raid your former program. Just not a fan of Johnson anymore

Fuck Jay Johnson. Berry being an Arizona kid leaving is also pure unadulterated bullshit. His sister will play softball at ASU now too. I’m over them.

Also we made Jomboy yesterday.

Could he not have ran home there? The catcher was snoozing

O’Tremba is now hitting .402 after going 13-for his last 19. He was 4-4 tonight. That is incredibly hot