WKU Baseball: Opening Thoughts in the Aftermath of Opening Weekend
It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I’ve been around a lot of sports in my day, and still I cannot come to any other belief…
It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I’ve been around a lot of sports in my day, and still I cannot come to any other belief that baseball is the best sport. Unfortunately for WKU fans, that means the best sport will also be the most up-and-down team, as the WKU baseball squad has been through a very rocky near-decade.
That rocky trend continued this weekend, as the Tops dropped two of their first three games in Memphis to the Memphis Tigers, garnering their only win in the first of a Sunday doubleheader.
But, it wasn’t all bad. Here are some quick — and I mean quick because this is box-score reacting — takeaways from opening weekend.
Good start for the offense
The Tops outhit Memphis in the first two games of the series and, despite being blanked in that first game, offense in baseball can flow just like in basketball — sometimes you have to keep shooting to make shots. Well, in this case, you have to keep hitting to score runs.
Unfortunatley, while this is a good “big-picture,” takeaway, it’s a bit less impressive on the micro level. Only one player — outfielder Colie Currie — logged multiple multi-hit games, and he went 0-for-5 in the opener.
It goes without saying, but the offense needs to find a way to be more clutch as well — the Tops left 24 men on base, including 12 in the opener.
Yes, I know baseball is a marathon and these problems might be non-existent next week, or even tomorrow in the game against Belmont, but gotta take what you can get after three games, right?
Bullpen looks good
Take away the three runs allowed by Malcolm Grady in the series finale (who took over for Troy Newell after an outing of just 0.2 IP and four runs already across), it was a good opening weekend for the bullpen.
The Tops’ relief corps allowed just seven earned runs (four if you don’t include the aforementioned Grady outing) in 19 innings of work this weekend. The only thing worrisome here is if the bullpen is asked to be used that much regularly.
Overall outlook: Optimistic
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but even after going 1–2 this weekend, I’m pretty optimistic about what this season can be for the Tops. I’m not expecting anything earth-shattering, don’t get me wrong, but a win against Belmont tomorrow and a series win against NIU this weekend and the momentum should be high in that clubhosue.