ORUTerry Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Torrence was pitching okay thru the first two innings; no hits and scoreless. Two errors by the second baseman, two hit batters, a double, walk, sacrifice hit, home and a homerun - and then an error on a bunt and it is 7 to 0 with two outs. Pitching change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 ORU loses 8-2. So ORU and SDSU are tied atop the Summit League standings with 4 conference games each to go. ORU plays Southern Utah and SDSU plays IPFW. SUU, IPFW and Western Illinois are each battling for the 4-seed in the Summit League tourney (with an outside shot at the 3-seed). As long as ORU takes care of business they will be the 1-seed and the conference champion. I'm not sure that there is much of a difference between NDSU (likely 3-seed), SUU, IPFW and Western Illinois. I suspect that NDSU and SUU are just slightly better teams than IPFW and Western. So maybe having the 1-seed isn't a huge deal except for the mental edge and the possibility that the regular season champion has the inside track to hosting the following year's Conference tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Outside of one pitcher having a single bad inning, we dominated SDSU this weekend. While anything can happen, I now feel really good about our chances for a record-setting 14th straight tournament championship in a couple of weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 great weekend for ORU baseball. things are looking up for the conf tourney. good to see winiecki finding his stroke and pickar on the right side of mendoza. torrence should have been unharmed in that inning, then who knows what happens. it will be interesting to see what coach walton goes w/ at second moving forward...tj bennett's better bat or spencer barnett's better glove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89rabbit Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Congrats on the series win. Your Eagles did what they needed to do. Happy to beat you guys at your place, something we hadn't done before. We left way too many runners on base to do better then we did for the series. See you in South Dakota for the League Championships. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89rabbit Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Outside of one pitcher having a single bad inning, we dominated SDSU this weekend. While anything can happen, I now feel really good about our chances for a record-setting 14th straight tournament championship in a couple of weeks. Oddly enough we might say the same thing. 7 runs in inning 3 of game one yesterday and 3 runs in inning 6 of game two yesterday. Game #1 of the series on Friday was a great game, we left too many men on the bases to win and the Eagles did what they needed to do to win. The other three games each were decided by one big and bad inning. See you in Sioux Falls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacAlum Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Sorry but that's a lot of misinformation. For one, all of those runs by ORU were earned, while none of the runs by SDSU were earned today. Not a single one. Also, ORU did it against SDSUs ace and reliever. Todays starter for ORU hadn't started since early last season. He was getting work after we took care of business Friday and twice Saturday. ORUs relievers did their job once again, that's really all I'm concerned about. Yep see ya in south dakota (possibly), in a real live ballpark this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89rabbit Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Sorry but that's a lot of misinformation. For one, all of those runs by ORU were earned, while none of the runs by SDSU were earned today. Not a single one. Also, ORU did it against SDSUs ace and reliever. Todays starter for ORU hadn't started since early last season. He was getting work after we took care of business Friday and twice Saturday. ORUs relievers did their job once again, that's really all I'm concerned about. Yep see ya in south dakota (possibly), in a real live ballpark this time. Fair enough. Of course OT is the one that said and I quote "Outside of one pitcher having a single bad inning . . . ", so whatever. Good luck next weekend. P.S. check the box score of game two of the series, 3 of ORU's runs in the 3rd inning were unearned. Sorry. Oh and our starter today, was pitching in high school and American Legion ball last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89rabbit Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Bottom line, your guys got it done when they needed to and our guys did not and ORU won the series. We are tied for the conference lead with 4 games left and you have the tie breaker. You are in good shape to get the #1 seed in the tourney and to host next year if you can take care of business. I will be very surprised if this year's Summit Championship doesn't come down to the two of us. I am very glad the games will be played in South Dakota. Once again I say congrats, you did what you needed to do. I am confident we will meet again. I hope we play up to our abilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Bottom line, your guys got it done when they needed to and our guys did not and ORU won the series. We are tied for the conference lead with 4 games left and you have the tie breaker. You are in good shape to get the #1 seed in the tourney and to host next year if you can take care of business. I will be very surprised if this year's Summit Championship doesn't come down to the two of us. I am very glad the games will be played in South Dakota. Once again I say congrats, you did what you needed to do. I am confident we will meet again. I hope we play up to our abilities. Thanks, 89rabbit. I appeciate your sportsmanship. I'm sure we'll play again in Sioux Falls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacAlum Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Lol ok man, whatever gets you through the night. Good luck in the tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I was really hoping for the sweep this weekend, and was pretty disappointed in the outcome of today's game. But on the way home I was thinking, this ORU team really hasn't dominated anyone this season - the only sweep we've gotten in conference came against the hapless Centenary Gentlemen. SDSU, on the other hand, came into the series leading the conference, and having won 28 of their last 32 games. While the sweep would have been great, SDSU is just too good of a team to go down without a fight, and losing today really isn't that surprising, given the inconsistency of this year's team. The fact that we won three and now have a very good chance of getting the one seed in the tournament and a return of the conference tournament to Tulsa next year was probably a significant accomplishment for this team. If we can win four next weekend, today's loss becomes pretty insignificant. It's actually pretty amazing that we're in a position to win the conference in spite of the fact that this is the least dominating and least consistent team we've seen at ORU in quite a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I was really hoping for the sweep this weekend, and was pretty disappointed in the outcome of today's game. But on the way home I was thinking, this ORU team really hasn't dominated anyone this season - the only sweep we've gotten in conference came against the hapless Centenary Gentlemen. SDSU, on the other hand, came into the series leading the conference, and having won 28 of their last 32 games. While the sweep would have been great, SDSU is just too good of a team to go down without a fight, and losing today really isn't that surprising, given the inconsistency of this year's team. The fact that we won three and now have a very good chance of getting the one seed in the tournament and a return of the conference tournament to Tulsa next year was probably a significant accomplishment for this team. If we can win four next weekend, today's loss becomes pretty insignificant. It's actually pretty amazing that we're in a position to win the conference in spite of the fact that this is the least dominating and least consistent team we've seen at ORU in quite a few years. My concern is the errors and the inconsistency. They seem to step up when the challenge is great. Beating Wichita State, taking the 1st 3 of 4 from a hot SDSU team, going toe to toe with Arkansas and Texas, etc. So, I expect them to step up in the conference tournament. But at the same time, we have dropped a game to every other team that will be in tournament, so the other teams will have confidence that they can beat us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 TheEagleman came into this weekend hoping beyond hope that ORU could win 3 of 4 and tie SDSU for first place in the Summit....so, despite the loss today it was a good weekend for the GoldenEagles and unless we screw up against pathetic SUU at home next weekend....the regular season title is ours to lose....it's possible the T-Birds could beat us a game because of ORU's consistancy in being inconsistant....but really, no reason we shouldn't sweep....that may be necessary but IPFW are no slouches as they proved against us a few weeks ago....The Mastadons could certainly win a game in Brookings....all in all, I am glad that we have first place in our own hands to lose because of the tiebreaker being head to head play.....if you had told me a week ago that we would be tied with the Jacks on Sunday night...I would have taken that result in a New York minute!.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 TheEagleman came into this weekend hoping beyond hope that ORU could win 3 of 4 and tie SDSU for first place in the Summit....so, despite the loss today it was a good weekend for the GoldenEagles and unless we screw up against pathetic SUU at home next weekend....the regular season title is ours to lose....it's possible the T-Birds could beat us a game because of ORU's consistancy in being inconsistant....but really, no reason we shouldn't sweep....that may be necessary but IPFW are no slouches as they proved against us a few weeks ago....The Mastadons could certainly win a game in Brookings....all in all, I am glad that we have first place in our own hands to lose because of the tiebreaker being head to head play.....if you had told me a week ago that we would be tied with the Jacks on Sunday night...I would have taken that result in a New York minute!.... Well said, Eagleman! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 This has been one of the - if not THE - worst defensive teams I have seen in decades at ORU. Plus, we simply have not advanced runners well this year, whether by bunting, stealing, hit-and-running, starting baserunners in obvious "swinging" situations, etc. We've played for the "big inning", which a LOT of times has not occurred this year, leaving an amazing number of runners stranded on base. All that being said, we still appear to be good enough to win the Summit League tournament, if SDSU is the best the league has to offer. The Jackrabbits remind me a lot of previous league contenders/pretenders such as Valpo and Southern Utah: all hitting, little pitching. And we appear to own the one starter and one reliever they consider their "aces". Regardless of who wins the tournament in Sioux Falls, I think a #4 seed in a very tough regional awaits the Summit League champion, and a "2-and-BBQ" is very likely. Simply not a strong year in the conference this season... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 I was at the game on Sunday for about six innings. The SDSU batters were very patient at the plate and made contact. I assume they were trying to run the pitch count up. ORU's starter (Torrence) pitched well for two innings - and then the wheels fell off. He hit 3 (?) batters, gave up a walk, double and homerun - and did not get any help from his defense; specifically the second baseman who botched a slow roller that should have been an easy out. Wonder why Walton kept Torrence in the game so long - especially since this was his first pitching assignment since early March. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 This has been one of the - if not THE - worst defensive teams I have seen in decades at ORU. Plus, we simply have not advanced runners well this year, whether by bunting, stealing, hit-and-running, starting baserunners in obvious "swinging" situations, etc. We've played for the "big inning", which a LOT of times has not occurred this year, leaving an amazing number of runners stranded on base. It's a difference in perception, I guess, but I've thought OVERALL this team has played pretty well defensively - when they do have defensive problems, they seem to come in bunches, though, as they did yesterday, and as we saw up at WIU. There is probably a lot more to evaluating defense than just looking at the number of errors, but in that regard this team, in errors per game, is the best of the past four. You have to go back to the teams of 2007 and before to find teams that commited fewer errors. I ran a few numbers on this, and I might post them later if I get time. I've thought that our biggest problem has been at the plate. It's seemed to me like all season long we've struggled to get guys on base, and when we do, we struggle to advance them. I'm sure that there is a stat that could tell me if I'm right in that, but I'm not sure which one it would be. The last few games that seems to be improving a bit, though, and hopefully we'll finish strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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