tmh8286 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Too tired to post tonight - may try to post some thoughts tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a pic from late in the second game. I've been taking my camera to every game lately, but didn't tonight, and a friend took this with his phone. Shows the scoreboard after the ninth inning. Perfectly symmetrical score, nine frames of zeros: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 TheEagleman will be intersted in your take, TMH....Gonzalez and Neubauer must have really been dealing....two big wins yesterday for ORU but SDSU kept pace with us....still dead even with the Jacks so we probably will have to win two more vs. SUU....likely another DH tomorrow because the weather in Tulsa today appears to be nasty.....keep me posted....I am headed to the Phillies-Texas Rangers game tonight where T-showers are also predicted and Roy Halladay is pitching...could be a long night.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 It would have been nice for the Rabbits to have lost that 14 inning game last night against IPFW. ORU won two gutsy games Thursday night. Nice to see us have the mental toughness to outlast the Thunderbirds. Just need to win the next two games and the Summit League championship games will return to Tulsa next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Weather report for Tulsa - POURING!!! The rain is HAMMERING the roof of my study as I type this. I know our field recovers from rain remarkably quickly, but if it does this for very long or very much I don't see how they could get a game in today. We'll have to see. The first game started at 4:30, and I headed over late, but WOULD HAVE gotten there by the seventh or eighth inning. Instead I found myself mired in graduation traffic trying to get to the Mabee Center. Later I found out from Mrs. TMH that it was BROKEN ARROW graduation. She works for BA schools, and in a meeting yesterday they were told that BA is up to 1200 graduates and has outgrown the Mabee Center! They are looking into the BOK Center for future graduations. My youngest will graduate from BA next year - we'll see if his graduation is at the BOK. But I digress . . . After sitting in traffic for a full thirty minutes while the game raced on, I finally pulled into ORU - Domo and Tree were working as traffic cops! I finally reached the drive to JLJ just as a wild pitch allowed Elder to score from third to win the game!! Marvelous . . . The second game was interesting - neither team could score. Gonzalez pitched brilliantly, but he got no run support from the offense, which put great pressure on him, I think. ORU was connecting with the ball, but were hitting RIGHT AT the SUU fielders every time. Great job of pitching by SUU's Neubauer. Gonzalez pitched cool as a cucumber through the ninth inning, when he gave up a walk, a hit, and a wild pitch. With runners at second and third, and the runner on third charging, a sharply hit ball to Cam Schiller was cleanly fielded and thrown home, and Bennett Pickar applied the tag out. It was an incredibly exciting play, executed perfectly. That would have given SUU the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth and REALLY put pressure on ORU. The next SUU batter up was Bo Cuthbertson, the top hitter in the Summit League. Walton opted to give him a free pass, and loaded the bases with two outs. Gonzalez was able to get the next batter to line out to Elder in left. A scoreless bottom of the ninth took us to extra innings. Matt Rush came in in the tenth to close the game out. Rush has developed into a top-notch closer - very fun to watch. He has a unique delivery, doing a little "bob" before he goes into his pitch. Three-up-three-down for Rush, setting up for a base hit by Elder as the lead-off batter for ORU in the bottom of the tenth. Then a sac bunt by Schlehuber moved him into scoring position. Cam Schiller was great at the plate against TCU Tuesday night, driving in all four runs, and was the hero again last night, with a base hit that drove in Elder with a walk-off single. The way this game went, it was a VERY exciting half-inning. In one of the great inconsistencies of baseball, after such an outstanding performance by Gonzalez, allowing only three hits, no runs and striking out ten batters, the win goes to Rush. Actually Rush got both wins yesterday, in spite of only pitching an inning in each game. BTW - with interruptions it's taken me an hour and a half to finish this post - still pouring rain outside. Doesn't bode well for a game this afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 It would have been nice for the Rabbits to have lost that 14 inning game last night against IPFW. ORU won two gutsy games Thursday night. Nice to see us have the mental toughness to outlast the Thunderbirds. Just need to win the next two games and the Summit League championship games will return to Tulsa next year. I have to admit feeling an certain level of frustration in both games yesterday. I felt like, with the top seed in the tournament hanging in the balance, and this being a time to send a message to other conference teams that ORU is ready to win, we needed to really dominate yesterday. We were playing one of the lower ranked teams in the league at home. But that didn't happen, and it was disappointing. That said, I was extremely happy with the WAY that ORU won both games. As you said, Terry, they showed guts and mental toughness to hang on for both wins. I'm hoping that sometime this weekend this team can show us a dominating win - but maybe that's just not the way they play. Winning squeakers may be the modus operandi of this ball club. I'll take the win either way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Winning both close games in walk off fashion does show a lot of heart and guts by ORU....that being said, it's still a lot easier on the nerves if we just blow out these lower level Summit teams....but SUU is still playing for that #4 spot in the tournament...just one win yesterday would have helped their cause greatly but now they are going to need help....WIU has the grasp on the last spot....so it appears ORU will face NDSU or WIU in round 1 next Thursday at Sioux Falls....we should know for sure by Saturday night..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacAlum Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 Thanks for the great recaps on the games. Maybe playing these tight games lately will benefit us in the tournament and beyond. Cam Schiller's night: Started the scoring with a 2-run single. Sac fly to tie the game in 8th inning of 1st game at 5-5. Throws out go-ahead runner at home in 9th of 2nd game. Walk-off double to win Game 2. He's been on a tear ever since the NDSU series (last 20 games)-- he's batting .408 (31-76) with 28 RBI and 5 HR's. Not bad for a guy hitting about .260 before then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Schiller, Rush and Gonzalez have been ORU's big stars over the past month....we are gonna need more of that from them over the next 10 days!.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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