Murakami 2020-02-22

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GoBows2014
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Murakami 2020-02-22

Post by GoBows2014 »

Miraculous? Tenacious? Gritty? Still searching for the best way to describe an improbable win at Murakami tonight. Sloppy and lucky might cover it. *somehow* the 'Bows managed to stretch their early 4 run lead all the way to the end for a 4-3 win, Jeremy Wu-Yelland closing the last couple innings.

It was a beautiful night for baseball, almost no breeze, no Manoa Mist all night, cool and clear for all nine innings. The 'Bows got on the board early, thanks to some early miscues by the Washington State Cougars. We got a run in the 1st, another in the 2nd, and two in the 3rd. So we're up 4-0 early and apparently on cruise control. But then the bats for the home team went cold, and Cougars kept coming.

They were putting runners on in every inning, then finally broke the ice with a two run 8th. Trap was going to the pen again and again. We probably saw 4 or 5 middle relievers that didn't last more than a batter or two. Cougars seemed to get better in the middle and late innings, while the 'Bows seem to fade. We were playing error-free ball in the first half of the game then started to get lazy, our runners getting picked off base (a big problem this year, but with many freshman and CC transfers, you can expect some. We have lost *many* runners early this season, this really needs work). Defense was a bit porous, no DPs and some plays like a Boston Chopper 2 hop to short that should have been charged hard and wasn't became the out that wasn't in a crucial 1 run game with runners already on.

Pretty soon it is a 4-3 game and 'Bows are hanging on for dear life! We go through pitcher after pitcher, they are putting men on every inning and we are *barely* get out of every inning without giving up that precious tying run.

Long and short of it, we came out with a win, but it wasn't pretty. That club from Washington State is relentless, and 'Bows better get their act together (and energy levels up for innings 5-9) or we won't luck out like we did tonight.

BTW, pitcher for the Cougars, AJ Block out of Bellevue, Washington? Heard rumors he was 17th round draft pick for the bigs last year? He did not look that strong as we were hitting him early, but *he* got stronger as the game went on, fanning most of our best hitters easily in the later innings, and nearly went the distance. 'Bows still have lots of work to do if we are going to be competitive in the Big West, but last game of 4 tomorrow at Murakami, 1:05 PM.

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Re: Murakami 2020-02-22

Post by ubercow »

nice report. btw, at first glance of the post title from the main page, I thought something happened to les himself, the reference to the stadium didn't hit me until a sentence in.

GoBows2014
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Re: Murakami 2020-02-22

Post by GoBows2014 »

Tks, ubercow. Didn't realize the topic might be misleading, mahalo for the input

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