Tech makes it 5-2 after 6.
Myers starts it with an infield single, steals second and third, and scores on a throwing error on an infield grounder by McLeod.
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Tech makes it 5-2 after 6.
Myers starts it with an infield single, steals second and third, and scores on a throwing error on an infield grounder by McLeod.
8-2 Tech in the 7th on a 3-run bomb to right by Matulia.
McConnell led off with a double, Davis walked, and the runners moved up on a wild pitch before the HR.
Corona doubles to left and moves to third on a wild pitch. Myers walks to force another BYU pitching change with nobody out.
9-2 on a sac fly by Safford.
Nice job by Bates in relief after the start by Smith.
Tomkins on in the 8th to try to nail it down, and he retires the Cougars in order in the 8th.
Drost bomb to center to make it 10-2 Tech. Two hits and a walk in 5 PA. That's more like it.
Tomkins mows them down again in the 9th.
Tech 10-2 final
Myers is clearly our leadoff. Surely Burroughs can’t miss that. He’s the closest thing we’ve got to a Taylor Young at the plate.
Finally an all around good performance minus some unacceptable bunting performances and a couple more times that Burroughs should’ve called for bunts but didn’t… like usual for him.
I’m happy to be 2-2 after how things started. This was the only game that we played like the better team from start to finish.
Complete performance from just about start to finish. The pitching hiccup by Smith in the 2nd was limited to 2 runs after bases loaded nobody out. And to immediately answer back in the bottom of the 2nd to score 3 with just one hit was big.
Actually liked tonight's lineup best of the four with McLeod back at third and Bates in a relief pitching role.
I don't disagree about Myers leading off if for nothing more than Drost appearing to have more consistent power than Myers.
Out #1 at 3rd base was unbelievable call by our HC.
That was a bad one on HCLB.Originally Posted by PawDawg
Hegwood even had the play in front of him rounding second and should have been able to judge to stop at second even with the green light. The throw wasn't perfect and still had him dead at the bag.
Tells me something good about Safford...he does what his HC tells him to do which is part of baseball 101. It's been a while since LB made one of these calls. Glad it didn't cost us the game like it has in the past.
Now, lets see if we have coaches who can coach bunting 101.
It sure does appear that there is little-to-no prep work done for many of these productions. It seems more of a show up one minute before and wing it for the first 30 minutes to get things going borderline adequately. I expect it is a thankless and low budgeted job, and, as you said, so Tech.
There is ample data showing that sacrifice bunting is rarely the smart play at higher levels of baseball because of how it reduces the number of runs a team is expected to score that inning. The only situation where win expectancy increases as a result of a sacrifice bunt is when there is a runner on second with no outs in the 8th inning or later, and the game is tied. In other words, we should hardly be bunting at all, and never should have last night because we led the entire game.
Bunting for a hit is a little different, but that's something the overwhelming majority of players can't do at a greater rate than getting a hit while swinging anyway.
Thinking about bunting….
When I played, bunting in a “bunting” situation almost never worked out. However, we all knew how to bunt and practiced every day. Any one of us could bunt with any runner on second and no outs to get a man to 3rd in a 1 run game as you sort of describe. Power hitter and slow runner could execute it just like the faster runner and prototypical bunter. We almost never bunted a man over to 2nd and gave up the out at first just to get in scoring position.
Earl Weaver said if you play for one run, that's all you'll score in an inning. Weaver advocated for 3-run homers, and great pitching and defense.
That said, one of my finest moments...and very rare moments in baseball...was a suicide squeeze bunt I laid down to tie the score in a playoff game, our last at bat, one out, runner on third. We went on to win in extra innings 5-4. As I went up to bat, our coach called me aside, "Can you bunt?" I nodded yes. He said, "No, I mean REALLY bunt!" I nodded again. He says, "Okay, suicide squeeze on the first pitch." No pressure or anything...
(I was a .270 hitter...I don't think he trusted I would deliver the tying run by swinging away!)
What we were tying to do last night was move runners over into scoring position and we were not leading by much. A sac bunt is better than a pop up for an out. A sac bunt is better than a weak grounder for a double play. Any hitter can make the bunt work in favor of the team, including bunting for a base hit at times. Taylor Young was the prime example of how to make the bunt work in favor of his personal on base percentage as well as for the team and he did it from the right side. A lefty has two fewer steps.
Outs are the currency of baseball, and they are extremely valuable. In a sacrifice situation, you concede one of those outs for baserunner position. Sure, the advance in baserunner position is great, but because you traded an out for it, the cost is greater than the gain in terms of run expectancy.
Of course a sac bunt is better than a GIDP, but you're comparing outcomes. Signs are called based on expectation. When you tell the hitter to swing away, you don't know going into it that the guy is going to GIDP, but you have to be willing to take that risk because the percentages tell you there's a better chance of an even more advantageous situation than what the sac bunt would provide.
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