I feel your pain Buckeye. Has happened to my son more times than I'd like to remember. Had one a few weeks ago where he gave up 4 in one inning. There was one blooper to short center and the rest were ground balls that found holes. Ugh... So frustrating.
Consultant posted:Buckeye,
does the coach teach "up and in". Hershirer said "change location, change speed"
Bob
Up and in...down and away....curve ball, fastball....lol. It didn't matter....it really was like he said "they just stuck their bat out". Heck, one was on a check swing that just cleared the first baseman and dropped 2 inches inside the line. Other than the double that was hit ok, the other 5 hits were just balls that made contact and could easily have been 5 outs. I guess some days you get all the breaks...and today he didn't. Again, he actually threw pretty well....probably had a half dozen swinging strikes...and another half dozen foul balls.
I feel for you. My son came in with bases loaded not outs. The starter had already given up a single, 3 doubles and hit a batter. We were up by one. Facing Air Force @ Colarado Srings. 42 degree weather. Son got maybe 10 warm ups in the Bullpen. First pitch, coach calls for a slider. throws a get me over. Grand slam! This was the 2nd game of a double header. 6 home runs already in the first game. Son stays in the game to get 8 outs. Game suspended to travel back. Innings still not on the books
Buckeye, I was at the Bowling Green - Wright State game your son started. He had a nice start. Obviously it was pitch everybody a little day for both teams, as BG had 7 pitchers with no one going more than 2 and WSU had 4 pitchers- no one with many pitches. Your Son really only had one bad pitch. I was impressed with how hard he threw. One specific pitch really caught my attention, Big pop in the glove on a chest high fastball. GAS! Nice win for BGSU
Friendly reminder that conference play offs , conference tournaments, and regional playoffs are coming up fast...
It is a chance to see a lot of competitive baseball condensed into a few days time.
If a parent or HS player wants to check out a certain team or conference its a great time to see the best of that conference or region. Teams are usually hanging around stadiums between games, its a great opportunity to chat with players, observe coaches, etc.
Some D2 notes.
I know the PSAC playoffs should be outstanding this year. There should be at least 4 top 25 D2 teams playing, Millersville is currently #1 overall. They will be worth the price of admission by themselves. There is one regular season weekend remaining with a couple of playoff spots up for grabs. The last spot in the East has 3-4 teams in the running.
The SAC conference playoffs start this Friday in Kodak Tennessee, I would pay to watch the Torres kid from Tusculum pitch, he has an outstanding season going.
So check out your local schools websites and go see some great baseball in the next 3-4 weeks.
Over the weekend, on Saturday, my son's D2 team clinched their regular season conference title 
. It was their 17th straight win. Pretty big accomplishment. His team has been to the College World Series 7 times winning it once and this is only the 3rd time they have won their conference regular season title and their first since 2008. Unfortunately, they had a big celebration party that night and their 17 game win streak was snapped in a 10-9 loss on Sunday. They still wound up with a 39-11 overall record, 23-7 in the conference.
Son has not had the best of seasons, but has been an integral part of this team for 4 years. Being on a winning team is definitely more fun than if they were losing. Over his 4 years there, the team has won 144 games so far. Not too bad.
Senior day was Sunday and there were a few tears, but not as many as there could have been since we still have the post season to look forward to. Conference tournament starts next week and it's a pretty good bet his team will make the regionals.
Still hard to believe that his journey is coming to an end. As has been stated here MANY times, enjoy every minute, it will be over before you know it.
chefmike7777 posted:Buckeye, I was at the Bowling Green - Wright State game your son started. He had a nice start. Obviously it was pitch everybody a little day for both teams, as BG had 7 pitchers with no one going more than 2 and WSU had 4 pitchers- no one with many pitches. Your Son really only had one bad pitch. I was impressed with how hard he threw. One specific pitch really caught my attention, Big pop in the glove on a chest high fastball. GAS! Nice win for BGSU
Just saw this....sorry for the delay. Thank you. That was a big win....unfortunately we just have no consistency. Took 2 of 3 vs Ball State then lost all 3 vs NIU. We're at FSU this weekend (makeup for losing Akron) while everyone else is playing a MAC series. Going to take some work the last 2 weekends to make the MAC tourney....but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
MMM1531 - I wish your son's team luck in the conference tournament. Looks like W-S (son's former team) probably won't be at the Atlantic Regionals. Despite finishing 1st in the CIAA regular season they lost in the CIAA tournament - losing twice to Chowan on championship Saturday. Chowan earned the automatic bid to regionals (1st time ever for them). There's still a chance for W-S to get an at-large bid but I don't see it happening. They have not had a spectacular season - currently are 29-21 overall with 4 games to play - two with Mount Olive and two against Bluefield State.
On the other hand the JuCo my son is an assistant coach (student assistant) for has done very well down the stretch. They are currently 37-14 overall and 14-3 in the conference. Last I checked they were 2nd in the region with the final conference series this coming weekend.
Disclaimer: Brag post! Our son's JUCCO team is going to the regionals for the first time since 1961. They have a coach who has completely turned the program around in four years. If any of you are looking for a JUCCO program in a strong conference, with strong academics, message me!
PHCC secured the #1 seed for the Region 10 D2 JuCo tournament with a double header sweep (11-7, 14-4 (6 innings)) of Southeast Community College (Wytheville) on Saturday. Completed the series sweep with a win today. A couple of firsts for PHCC - first time for winning the regular season crown and the #1 seed for the tournament. Also the first time PHCC won 40 games in the regular season.
BBALLMAN congrats to CSU for not only winning the Peach Belt regular season but also the Tourney. Great accomplishment. I really hope I can make it to the regional.
Thanks coach!!! Very exciting year. Believe it or not, I just came here to post the accomplishment. We were fortunate enough to secure the #1 seed in the Southeast Regional as well, so the kids are all VERY excited about playing the regional at home.
Going into the PBC tournament, we were the #1 tournament seed and Lander was the #2 seed. In the Regional picture, Lander was the #1 seed and we were the #2 seed. That championship game had some big implications. How often do you have a conference championship with the #1 & #2 Regional seeds playing for the top spot? I wouldn't think very often, so it was pretty cool.
If you are able to make it to the Regionals, let me know! We'll have to meet up. I probably won't be down there Thursday since we have a bye, but, I'll be there for remainder of the time. Thanks again!!
Princeton becomes the first team to punch it's ticket to the dance. What a turn around: last season was the worst in Princeton's 150 year old history - only one D1 team won fewer games last year than the Tiger's 7 wins.
One of our poster's son pitched the CG final and when he trudged off the mound for his final home game of his career his Princeton squad team was down 1-0. And that is why a team plays to the last: multiple lightning bolts later and Princeton walks off with a 2-1 win and the NCAA ticket.
My son coaches at Belmont Abbey they will be the #3 seed in the regional and play Catawba in their first game. That is one tough regional. I have seen every team in that regional play this year. When Mount Olive is a #7 seed you know it's tough. Good luck to your son and CSU. My grand daughter's birthday party is this coming weekend and I will get hammered if I miss that. So I will settle for the video. It should be a great regional.
My son is a volunteer coach (student assistant) for PHCC - a JuCo he once played for. PHCC entered the NJCAA D2 Region X tournament as the #1 seed. They defeated New River 12-2 (5 innings) in game 1. A 6-1 loss to Wake Tech knocked them to the loser bracket. They rebounded with a win vs Southeast (Wythville). Next game was against last years regional champ, Catawba Valley. After spotting 4 runs to Catawba in the first inning, PHCC clawed back with 3 runs in the 7th to tie and then 2 more runs to earn a hard come-from-behind victory. This put them facing Wake Tech again who had lost to Brunswick. Again Wake Tech got out to a early lead, but PHCC fought back tying the game in the 8th. WT took the lead in the top of the 9th, but Patrick Henry wasn't done. PH tied the game on a sacrifice fly and then won the game on walk-off HR.
This put them in the championship game vs Brunswick (#2 seed) where they would have to win two to advance to the WS (was also told that if PH won game 1 and game 2 was rained out PH wold advance to the WS due to being the #1 seed). Brunswick got out to an early 8-0 lead (seems to be a habit for PH in this tournament). PH cut the deficit to 3 (8-5) by the 5th, but Brunswick's bats were too much for Patrick Henry's now depleted pitching staff. PH added a few more runs but just could not hold Brunswick back. Final score was 22-9.
This was PHCC's best season ever finishing 44-16 with 40 wins coming in the regular season.
Congrats to Brunswick. I wish them success in the NJCAA D2 WS.
Coach, I agree, this will be a tough region to come out of. And the PBC seems to be on a down year, only 3 teams made it. 
Not uncommon for 4 PBC teams to be in the mix. Last year was an anomaly as all 3 conferences had unranked teams win their conference tournaments for the automatic bid. Some REALLY good baseball teams didn't even make the regionals last year.
I don't have any first hand knowledge of the other regions in the country, but I'd be hard pressed to believe that there are tougher regions than the southeast and the south in D2 baseball...
Yeah curious why SE was only 7 teams... Suppose it would be "hard" to pick between PB's George College, CC's Erskine/N. Greenville, or SAC's Newberry/Carson-Newman. Certainly a tremendous advantage for CSU to get that first round bye.
Another mild surprise is/was SNHU winning their tournament, but FPC getting #1 seed even after falling in their conf tourney at their own place...
Goosegg posted:Princeton becomes the first team to punch it's ticket to the dance. What a turn around: last season was the worst in Princeton's 150 year old history - only one D1 team won fewer games last year than the Tiger's 7 wins.
One of our poster's son pitched the CG final and when he trudged off the mound for his final home game of his career his Princeton squad team was down 1-0. And that is why a team plays to the last: multiple lightning bolts later and Princeton walks off with a 2-1 win and the NCAA ticket.
That was one of the craziest endings to a big game that I've ever seen.
I think this is the first year the SE has had 7. I know in previous years it's only been 6. Erskine, NGU, Newberry and Carson Newman are all worthy. CSU has a huge advantage with the bye and playing at home. But then again they earned it with a tremendous season.
Yes coach, it is the 1st year any region has had more than 6 teams. I don't know the exact makeup right off hand, but I know some regions remained at 6, some have 7 and some have 8 this year. Another worthy team was Georgia College in the PBC. Before we beat them in the tournament, they were on a 12 game win streak and played some of the toughest competition in the country, including a 3 game series with Tampa early in the year.
Yes, it is a HUGE advantage to not have to play that 1st round game and play at home. While other teams are traveling, we can get some practice in. Our pitchers know the mound, kids can go home between games and we get to save a pitcher. Which is real big for us since our weak spot (until the tournament last weekend) has been our pitching.
Looking forward to a good, competitive tournament. I'll tell you this, there will be some good baseball played down in Columbus over the next few days. If anyone is in the area, they should stop by for a game or two. With the quality of teams down here in the Southeast, there is no shame in playing D2 baseball...