Wednesday, March 13, 2013

HI NOTES: Midweek Marshmallows - Delicious or Damaging?

JACKSON STATE


♦ Alec Rash and Jace James were impressive in their innings against the JSU Tigers.  While RAsh is young and needs some seasoning, he obviously has the tools and the "stuff" to be a dominanct pitcher at this level and likely beyond this level.

The Jackson State pitching was pretty poor.  The starter's pitches were so slow that when he hit Shane Segovia with a pitch, the ball did not bounce off the batter, but merely fell to the ground.  Another pitch appeared to have so little speed that the wind grabbed it and sent it dancing away like a Whiffle-Ball.

The Mizzou offense managed 9 hits today, 5 of those in the 1-2/3 innings the starter was serving up softballs.

TRUMAN STATE



♦ Truman State, a Division II team playing in the MIAA, is currently 2-11 for the season, with a team ERA of 11.44 and batting average of .289. They've played Washburn (going 1-1 against them), SW Baptist (0-1), NE Oklahoma State (1-1), Central Missouri (0-2), and Nebrska-Kearney (0-3)

Mules Baseball scores 41 runs in sweep of Truman State (digitalburg.com)
The fifth-ranked Central Missouri Mules baseball team erupted for 41 runs and 43 hits in a doubleheader sweep of Truman State at Dodson Field on the campus of Southwest Baptist. The Mules won the opener 17-2 before winning the nightcap 24-3. ..

STATE OF MIZZOU

Is it helping the Tigers to play these two games during the week leading up to THE BIGGEST SERIES OF THE SEASON, POSSIBLY IN DECADES, this weekend against South Carolina?

Good: Today's game replaces one of the four games MU has lost due to weather.

Bad: Because Truman State is a D-2 team, the game DOES count in the 56-game maximum but will not enter into consideration in the RPI statistics. So it's generally an empty results game.

Good: Both of these teams provided fairly sure W's

Bad: The risk of playing a D-2 team is always that tiny little possibility that the opposing coach will decide to get attention by throwing his best pitcher against the big guys from the SEC ... and losing a game to a D-2 team would be pretty not good.

Good: Gives the Tiger hitters (currently hitting .229 as a team) live pitching/defense to play/practice against.

Bad: Hitting against half-speed pitchers like JSU's starter and whoever the Bulldogs select from their 10.64 ERA starting staff can actually throw the batting lineup's timing and approach off for days and even weeks. South Carolina's team ERA is 2.03.

Good: It gives Mizzou a chance to give several pitchers some innings against an opponent. Rash and James were able to continue their invisible-ERA pitching against JSU, and several pitchers may get innings today.

Bad: The Jackson State game was a continuation of the bullpen's difficulties. If the bullpen struggles against Truman State, that's not helping their confidence much. On the other hand, if they do well against Jackson State, the experience of defeating a bad D-2 team may not be all that helpful.

In the past Tim Jamieson's approach in situations like this has been that its better to play against a live opponent than to not play at all. Whether that theory holds true will be seen not in today's game, but in how well the team is prepared to face the Gamecocks in the SEC opener this weekend.

No comments:

Post a Comment