Bummer...but that's baseball. Give the CC squad some credit in this one, their offensive reputation is well-deserved. They tagged one of the best pitchers in college
ball with his first loss this season. He wasn't quite as sharp as he has been, as evidenced by their taking advantage of a few balls he left up in the zone, but he pitched well enough to have won if our bats hadn't done the turtle thing again. Here's a couple of points to ponder:
*CC's pitcher had a game like the kid for F$U in the first Super Regional game. He kept the ball low in the zone pretty consistently and we didn't take advantage of the few he left up (see Peter Alonso especially). The in-game piece about Sully's plate adjustments was pretty good. Unfortunately, our kids didn't do a very good job with them. I guess he could have substituted 1-9 to get something going with our 50 win Gators.
*A point was made in an earlier post about bunting Reed in the first. Easy call to make after the fact, but not something a manager at this level is going to do with his two-hole guy at that point in the game, nor should he. Might should have bunted Buddy later in the game. And speaking of Buddy, he's no doubt a great athlete, but his misplay on the long fly lets me know he still needs a little polish. He's made that same play before in a game this season. The really good one's know where the wall is.
*One highlight for us was the 5 unassisted-3 DP by India. Looked like it was going to only kill the lead runner, but India threw a seed to first when he gathered himself and realized he had a shot to double up and get us out of the inning. Sully said sometime along that he knew India would play this year before he ever set foot on campus. The kid has showed us why.
*I'm not too big on cosmic happenings, superstitions, or whatever, but my mind went in that direction when I realized that Sunday's 2016 US Open Champion Dustin Johnson was a CC alum!
*Sully's best move: subbing Larson with Vasquez. Sully's worst move: Puk against the lefty batter. Really should have been a great move, but Puk has been pretty inefficient this season and his head seems to be located in another part of his body instead of on his shoulders. Still, you'd think the #6 overall pick in the draft could come in and blow the one batter he was going to face away. Potential...
*Tough to come out of the Loser's Bracket, especially when we turn around without Dunning, but it does add an element of excitement. Love to see the bats awaken, but the long-term cure for this will have to be, as has been discussed in earlier threads, with an emphasis on finding some guys that can be clutch at the plate. and BTW, where's Rivera's bat?
*Glad I'm not a "realist" who knows we'll never win anything with O'Sullivan. I can at least root for my team without the daunting feeling that every time we take the field, we're destined to lose (in some way or another). Really wish one of you guys in the know would tell me two things: 1) who can we get to replace this Irish bum we've got for a coach that will take us to the Promised Land (been waiting for this answer for some time now); and 2) what direction will the country be heading when Hillary replaces Obama?
I don't know about everybody else, but I'm pulling for us against TT. Remember, "There's no crying in baseball!"
