Texas Tech

Its been a while since I have gotten to post, I got caught up with a little thing called school. Since I last posted, the Tigers have played very well. Although the 14 game win stream just came to an end in Minnesota, I expect it to pick up this weekend again in Lubbock, TX against the Raiders. The Raiders are 12-11 (2-4) this season. Last year the Tigers swept the season series in Columbia. The Raiders have given up 44 runs in their 4 Big 12 losses, losing 12-1 to Texas A&M and 22-6 to Texas in two of the biggest losses. 

Expected starters for the Raiders

Nathan Karns (1-2 12.10 era)

A.J. Ramos (1-2 5.93 era)

Chad Bettis (3-1 3.69)

Closer-Zach Stewart (1.06 1-o and 3 sv). He is the only person on the team with a save so it would seem fitting that he is the closer. 

Line-up

This Raiders team is not much of a power team (23 hrs, 11 of which have been hit by Roger Kieschnick). They have however hit 61 doubles but only three triples, so they donrt seem to have much speed. They are 33-41 in the stolen base department with Willie Rueda (13-14) and Tanner Rindels (8-10). Those two are their 8th and 9 hitters which seems very surprising.  Their top two guys in the line up, Chris Hall (.330 18 runs scored and 13rbis) and Joey Kenworthy (.307 27 runs scored 12rbis) have four stolen bases between them. Roger Kieschnick is tearing it up so far. He his hitting .340 with 34 rbis, 9 2b, and is even 4-4 in the stolen base department.  If the Tigers can avoid getting hurt by him, it sounds like they should be able to handle this line up.

Weekend Wrap up/rankings

The Tigers had a great weekend against a very bad Indiana St team. Crow, Berger, and Gibson were all very dominant in their outings. It was great to see them all pitching well. Rick Zagone  came into game one of the double header and struggled again. It looks like Ian Berger has been moved up into the number 2 spot of the rotation and taken Zagone's part in the rotation. A game was added Saturday to make up for the missed Western Illinois game. Im guessing Zagone will probably game two of the double header or on Sunday. The weather is suppose to be shaky on Saturday as of right now, so it should be interesting to see if they can get two games in. 

Rankings

Baseball America-4

CBN-17

NCBWA -18 (wasnt updated as last check)

USA Today-11

Early issues:

So far the only issues that I have noticed with the Tigers is the inconsistent bullpen and base running. Scooter Hicks has looked good as the closer with one bad outing at UCF along with Ryan Allen. On Sunday however the bullpen gave up seven runs after Berger left the game. Kelly Fick rebounded from a rough outing in the first game to having a good one in game two getting out of a tough jam. Its a young bullpen, so I assume with experience that they will improve. The base running has always seemed to be an issue with the Tigers. Sunday pinch runner Rex Meyr over ran third base on a ball that didnt leave the infield and Ryan Lollis got thrown out at second once or twice trying to stretch a single into a double.  

What I think best Tiger line up looks like 

Austin Holt

Kyle Mach

Lollis 

Priday

Senne

Coleman

Folgia

Gray/Pietroburgo

Curt Calvert

Early preview: Toledo comes in this weekend averaging around 10 runs a game. More to come later this week on them.

Indiana St weekend preview

Mizzou will have its home opener Saturday. I read on mutigers.cstv.com that the series has been adjusted. ON Saturday they will play one game on Saturday instead of two. The Saturday game will now be at 2pm. On sunday they will play a game at 1 and then game 2 should begin around 4pm.

Expected rotation

Crow-Saturday

Zagone-Sunday Game 1

Gibson-Sunday Game 2

Dont be surprised to see Ian Berger out of the bullpen at some point Sunday if Gibson struggles or even just to get Berger some work with no mid week game.

Indiana St. Sycamores (1-5)

Starting Rotation this weekend (according to athletic site)

Michael Manus (0-1)-Saturday

Brian Oliver (0-1)-Sunday game 1

Micah Spencer-Sunday game 2 (2.84) Was named MVC notable pitcher on Monday.

They are on a three game losing streak after getting swept against Mississippi St last weekend. According to the site and box score, it looks they could have won two of the three games. They lost 6-4 on Friday and lost in 11 on Sunday 6-5 after leading 5-3 through 9. Looks like a team despite its early season start that will battle.

Projected lineup-Just based on what I have researched so far, there hasnt been a consistent line-up.  I guess the manger is searching for that right combination to get some offense sparked. 

Hot hitter-Chris Schmidt hitting .407 11-27, second on the team with five rbis. 

Dont forget to set your clocks forward Saturday night you dont miss the games on Sunday!

Game 4

The Tigers bounced back very nicely today against Cal Poly with a 6-3 win after a tough loss against USD yesterday afternoon. Kyle Gibson pitched well for the most part. He got into a little trouble in the first inning giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. Listening to the game, none of the hits sounded like they were very hard, just all happened to be placed in the right spots.  During his 6ip, Gibson was able to get out of some of the trouble he got himself into. After Gibson was taken out, the bullpen came in and pitched very well, 3ip, 0 walks, and 1 run allowed. Offensively, the Tigers were a little more patient today. Austin Holt and Jacob Priday both had 2rbi's each. Priday hit his second homer run of the year as well. Aaron Senne also drove in a run as well. The other Tiger run was scored on a past ball. 

The Tigers are scheduled to play Tuesday against Western Illinois, but the current weather forecast is not looking good for baseball. I expect somewhat of a pitcher by committee type deal. The Tigers have a 4 game series coming up next weekend so I would imagine they would want to have Ian Berger available for one of those games. 

If you dont have an all sports pass, the ticket is only a dollar. So come on out and support the Tigers. 

Current Record: 6-2,#5 ranking 

Game 3

Tigers just lost their second game of the season. Rick Zagone struggled in his second outing of the yaer. He went five innings and struggled with his control today, giving up 5 runs, 4 earned. He pitched very well for a while and then hit a wall in the 6th. The bullpen also struggled somewhat. The offense struggled today with San Diegos pitching. A lot of strike outs from the Tiger hitters. This was a game the Tigers could have won with better pitching and better at bats. RBIs today from Priday, Lollis,and Steve Gray. The Tigers can still have a good weekend if they beat Cal Poly tomorrow. Kyle Gibson is the expected starter and pitched very well in his last start. Note: Scooter Hicks pitched again today, Jamieson said he is not sure if he will use Hicks tomorow. Tomorrows game is at 1pm central time.