In one of the worst stories of the off-season, the ultra-popular Stan Hyman, the eight-year head coach of the Leathernecks, died from a short two-month battle with leukemia in September.
Talk about sudden… and sad too. It wasn’t until Thanksgiving weekend that WIU finally announced that Central Michigan assistant Mike Villano would take over the rudderless program. The former pitching coach of the Chippewas has never been a head coach. Everybody should pull for a smooth transition for the ‘Necks.■ Sooner baseball blows out Western Illinois (OUDaily.com)
OU did not rely on the long ball to manufacture runs with the Oklahoma gusts blowing out to left-center field, but rather bunting was its biggest weapon. The Sooners laid down three infield bunt singles to get runners on base and executed four sacrifice bunts to move them over.
The reason why bunting was as successful as it was Friday was because OU was facing a left-handed pitcher and because of how the Leathernecks’ defense was aligned, junior second baseman Danny Black said.
“The push bunt is always an option,” Black said. “In their case everyone was collapsing on the ball every time, so it made it kind of easy for us to get it in the right spot. They kept doing the same thing so we were exploiting them.
■ The Leathernecks' season got off to a stutter of a start, due to an odd scheduling conflict on opening weekend, according to WesternCourier.com
"We were set to play three games at Alabama State; however, after talking with their coaches we found out they had a scheduling conflict at their stadium with high school games, so the likelihood of getting all three games in was not good," said Western Illinois first-year head coach Mike Villano.
■ Longhorn hitters find confidence in midst of struggles at the plate (The Daily Texan)
With seniors Kyle Lusson and Russell Moldenhauer in charge, the Longhorns decided it was time for a change in their at bats and confidence. The time had come for their offense to steal a page from the pitching staff that allowed seven runs in three games this weekend.
“We got together and talked about the lack of confidence we showed yesterday and that we wanted to be like out pitching staff,” first baseman Tant Shepherd said. “They come out every day and know they are going to do good and throw strikes. Today, we relaxed and tried to just hit a good pitch.”
They figured it out as a team, and it started in the bottom of the fifth against Missouri on Sunday
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