Dallas Baptist Patriots April 1, 2009

An easy game, right? A lookover game. Yeah.

I got there early and took a lap around the campus. I have been edging on sick and taking medications but I am getting over it. A three mile walk helped.

I was surprised to see Abel Gonzales starting. I expected Reckling or Benak. Maybe they will start this weekend. The DBU lineup has some strong leftys. That may be why Abel.

Abel was strong for two innings. He threw his first non-strike pitch at the end of the second inning. Eight strikes in the first and three outs, with one strikeout. It was eight or so strikes in the second before a ball, then a second ball. But he got through that one without a base runner.

But I think he got tired in the third. He gave up a few hits. But he also got no support in the field. There were two infield errors and one other drop by the catcher on a throw home that would certainly have beaten the runner for the third out. So he gave up six runs but by my calculation none of them were earned. He was finally relieved after giving up a three run blast. It was a tremendous line drive over left field. Mark Haynes got the last out.

Rice got two back in the 4th on a two run home run to the deep right field power alley. Balls hit there seem to just carry and carry. That was Mozingo.

DBU got two more back off Evers in the sixth. Evers walked one and hit Enos. Enos got hit twice by slow curve balls. It looks like he moves up and leans into them. The last one looked like it might have been a strike if it had continued on the path it was on. But Rice did not always help him in the field either. The second run scored on a grounder to third. The runner had third did not hesitate to run home. It was not a force at home but it looked like a good bet that the ball would easily beat him home. Maybe because of the last time Seastrunk had a chance to tag a runner did not turn out so well Rendon chose to take the out at first. But that allowed the eighth run to score and made it 8-2.

However Rice scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Rice is starting to hit. Some guys seem to have their hitting shoes on Holt, Mozingo, Hague. Gonzales-Luna is still hitting line drives everywhere. Even Fuda is getting into the act. Sultzbaugh continues to be mired in his slump. He has one bad at bat after another. Everyone hopes he will get it straightened out. But Rathjen has been no better.

The last two runs scored on an ole play by the DBU first baseman. When I was in little league 40 years ago my coach would always yell "get in front of it!" He always explained if you miss it, it hits you and you still have a chance to make a play. The first baseman could easily have moved over and got in front of it. It was not that hard hit. So it never touched the glove. As a result the batter got a hit and credited with two RBIs. That brought us with 8-6. The DBU fans had to be pretty worried. The DBU team had to be worried too.

But nothing happened in the 7th. Meanwhile after Ever was relieved by Travis Wright the Patriots were held down convincingly. Where has this guy been? Wright came in as mop up in the Memphis loss last Friday and pitched effectively. Wright did it again last night retiring eight in a row with four strikeouts. He was relieved by Jordan Rogers after walking a man in the ninth. Wright looks to be sneaky fast with a little drop curve. Perhaps his very slow pace on the mound gets batters impatient. Wright is hitting spots using the whole strike zone. Anyway if he keeps being effective he will get more time.

So in the eighth DBU brought in a different pitcher. The previous guy had been pretty effective but his ERA seemed to imply he was not considered one of their better pitchers. So they brought in the setup guy. He quickly got into trouble. So the manager brought in their closer. This guy has four saves. I don't think anyone else has save for DBU. But Chris Haney could not get anyone out either. He allowed the runners he inherited to score. He capped it off by giving up a no doubter three run home run to Brock Holt. It hit off the scoreboard in right. So that made it 11-8. Rice has come back to lead in their last at bat. A nice stat.

Wright walked the first batter in the ninth so Graham replaced him with Jordan Rogers. Graham certainly has changed his philosophy about pitching since I first started watching. He used to much prefer to allow a new pitcher to start an inning. Now he is willing to pull a pitcher during an at bat. Earlier Haynes was relieved with two outs and no one on. I suppose he was being saved for the weekend. Graham would probably say he is simply coaching the players he has. I can't argue with that.

Before Graham had a lot of starters. One would got five or six innings. The next one would finish. Now he is using many pitchers are short relievers. They are not expected (or trusted) to go more than two innings or maybe 30 pitches.

So Rogers got the first two batters and the crowd got excited. But superstar hitter Enos got a double down the left field line to get people a bit worried. Runners on second and third. The runners accurately understood there was no point in risking an extra base since these two runs only helped if the next one after them scored. So the runner on first made no effort to go home. The batter-runner followed him into second base.

But the next hitter popped out to end the game and earn Rogers a save. Wright gets the win. He was the pitcher when Rice came from behind and he certainly deserved it. He has come from being a squad player to a man who will be expected to contribute in the future.