NighthawkVol
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In the 8th inning, Tennessee was down 3-1 and I thought I would wait until the game was over and compose a post about my thoughts on the game. The gist being, it might not have been the outcome we wanted, but I liked the way the team competed tonight.
My thoughts at that point were:
The defense was MUCH better. Yes, Lindsey dropped that toss in the 1st, but it didn't end up hurting us and we made some great defensive plays, as well. Ahuna made two great plays off the top of my head. Moore's scoop and shovel was beautiful. And Lindsey even picked off a runner.
The pitching was really good. Lindsey gave you all you can ask. Cam bounced back well. And this was before Burns came in. I'll get to that.
Where we struggled, of course, was hitting. And that's concerning. But we did have a lot of hard hit balls right at guys. And Vanderbilt...which is a fantastic baseball team...made some outstanding defensive plays. Keep hitting the ball hard and the hits will come.
But the main thing is, we competed. The vibe from the team just felt different. They went out and played baseball the way they're capable of playing. No base-running nonsense. No looking lost on defense. We went out and competed nose to nose with a top 5 team in America, against their Friday starter and just came up short. I can live with that. Keep doing that, and the wins will come. At the time I had all these thoughts, Maldanado was on the bump for Vandy. He'd given up 1 run all season. He's an automatic door-closer. Nice effort, but we lost. Maybe tomorrow.
Then the 9th inning happened. Tears hit that home run and I had no idea it had happened because, like everyone else, I had to wait for my feed to come back. He knocked the snot out of that ball. But then Denton struck out. With Ahuna batting, I told myself, "don't start believing. You're just setting yourself up for disappointment." Then Ahuna K'd. Then I saw that Dreiling was pinch hitting and y'all know he's my dude. So I still didn't believe we were going to win, but I wanted to see him at least get a hit and keep it going. I was ticked after the BS strike 2 call. Then boom. I have no idea how he golfed that home run out, but I was ecstatic. I jumped up, scared the cat who had fallen asleep lying against my leg, and shouted loud enough for the neighbors to hear (my wife is out of town).
When Dickey hit that ball off the wall to lead off the Bottom 10, I thought it was gone. But I was certain we'd end it that inning when it turned out to be a double. No such luck. Fortunately, Chase Burns looked like 1985 Doc Gooden. And when Merritt gunned down the leadoff hitter for Vandy trying to stretch a single into a double, I just thought it was our game. Didn't realize he'd also hit the walk off.
So many good things happened involving guys who needed good things to happen in areas in which we needed good things to happen. Merritt getting both a huge HR and defensive play, Burns pitching the way he did, Ahuna playing great defense, the TEAM playing great defense....but mostly this team showing so much GUTS and perhaps learning that if they keep pushing the rock, good things will happen. Even against he best closer in the SEC. This win so huge psychologically. I think/hope our season just turned. Now let's just get one more this weekend...a sweep would be magnificent, though. Vandy has used up their best starter and best closer. They have to face Dollander and Beam the next 2 days and we still have Halvorsen, Kirby, Combs, Joyce, Russell, etc. available out of the pen. I like our chances.
My thoughts at that point were:
The defense was MUCH better. Yes, Lindsey dropped that toss in the 1st, but it didn't end up hurting us and we made some great defensive plays, as well. Ahuna made two great plays off the top of my head. Moore's scoop and shovel was beautiful. And Lindsey even picked off a runner.
The pitching was really good. Lindsey gave you all you can ask. Cam bounced back well. And this was before Burns came in. I'll get to that.
Where we struggled, of course, was hitting. And that's concerning. But we did have a lot of hard hit balls right at guys. And Vanderbilt...which is a fantastic baseball team...made some outstanding defensive plays. Keep hitting the ball hard and the hits will come.
But the main thing is, we competed. The vibe from the team just felt different. They went out and played baseball the way they're capable of playing. No base-running nonsense. No looking lost on defense. We went out and competed nose to nose with a top 5 team in America, against their Friday starter and just came up short. I can live with that. Keep doing that, and the wins will come. At the time I had all these thoughts, Maldanado was on the bump for Vandy. He'd given up 1 run all season. He's an automatic door-closer. Nice effort, but we lost. Maybe tomorrow.
Then the 9th inning happened. Tears hit that home run and I had no idea it had happened because, like everyone else, I had to wait for my feed to come back. He knocked the snot out of that ball. But then Denton struck out. With Ahuna batting, I told myself, "don't start believing. You're just setting yourself up for disappointment." Then Ahuna K'd. Then I saw that Dreiling was pinch hitting and y'all know he's my dude. So I still didn't believe we were going to win, but I wanted to see him at least get a hit and keep it going. I was ticked after the BS strike 2 call. Then boom. I have no idea how he golfed that home run out, but I was ecstatic. I jumped up, scared the cat who had fallen asleep lying against my leg, and shouted loud enough for the neighbors to hear (my wife is out of town).
When Dickey hit that ball off the wall to lead off the Bottom 10, I thought it was gone. But I was certain we'd end it that inning when it turned out to be a double. No such luck. Fortunately, Chase Burns looked like 1985 Doc Gooden. And when Merritt gunned down the leadoff hitter for Vandy trying to stretch a single into a double, I just thought it was our game. Didn't realize he'd also hit the walk off.
So many good things happened involving guys who needed good things to happen in areas in which we needed good things to happen. Merritt getting both a huge HR and defensive play, Burns pitching the way he did, Ahuna playing great defense, the TEAM playing great defense....but mostly this team showing so much GUTS and perhaps learning that if they keep pushing the rock, good things will happen. Even against he best closer in the SEC. This win so huge psychologically. I think/hope our season just turned. Now let's just get one more this weekend...a sweep would be magnificent, though. Vandy has used up their best starter and best closer. They have to face Dollander and Beam the next 2 days and we still have Halvorsen, Kirby, Combs, Joyce, Russell, etc. available out of the pen. I like our chances.
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