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Notes on the night...

Robertson had a good BP hitting many liners to LCF, a good sign how his night will go.

Evans took BP but used some other bat, maybe wood, or something light because it only went thump and not ting when he connected. Maybe it has something to do with his injury???

#18 (trying to be PC here) was seen only in shorts and t-shirt, no throwing

Heyman had perfect throw downs to 2nd all night long. The other catchers had many throws as well but Heyman was the sharpest with good velo.
Peterson had another great night going 5 innings, giving up only 2 hits, 1 run the HR, no walks, with 9 strikeouts. His HR was a 3-2 fastball over the heart. The other hit was a double from Guy on another 3-2 pitch.

The best pitch by Peterson was his brilliant curve facing Wilson in his 3rd inning of work. I forget the count but Peterson crossed up Wilson as he was either swinging early or maybe squaring to bunt. Either way Wilson saw the pitch heading for his head and ducked to get out of the way. As you would think, the ball made the hard turn and fell off the table right over the plate into Heyman's glove. All Wilson could do was hug his bat while he watched it go by right in front of his face. The ump gave a very casual strikeout call as he felt bad for the hitter. It was like the ump was motioning there's nothing more I can do to help you. Take a seat. Peterson is going to make plenty of SEC hitters look really bad this year.

The final line score was
Orange 1 run on 3 hits with no errors.
Blue 3 runs on 9 hits with no errors.

Just about every Blue hitter had 1 hit. Heyman was the only player with 2 hits, both singles. Robertson had the big hit HR of the night off of Smith.

Peterson, Slater, Neely, Jones all pitched very well. That was a great sign for things to come. Only Grayson started rough giving up the 2 run HR in 1 inning of work.

One last note, Garrison did a great job catching for Jones in the 6th and 7th. Jones threw more than several in the dirt in the 7th where Garrison stopped every one. This was the same inning that Blue got the first two runners on and Jones had to rely on his curve and slider to get thru it. Without Garrison that could have turned into a big inning for Blue.

 

I felt, after watching the outburst in the park, this was a result of players getting tired of facing each other. Classic case of the same batters have been seeing the same pitchers either way. Yes the two of them went over the top on both sides and we have to hope they hit the locker room and hugged it out. As long as they put it to rest its unlikely Slater will pitch any more live action before Friday, at least not to Thomas. I was a little surprised the coaches let them sort it out themselves and no pause in the action before the next pitch.

 

After a good showing at scrimmages this weekend, the team is settling in to their positions quite well. OF might still be a work in progress but we have prime players ready to step up if needed. The rotations on the mound seem to be falling into place. Although I noticed Cags did not pitch this weekend. Unknown at this point what the practice schedule is for this week but I wonder if he being held out because of his last outing which was a mess.

Friday can't get here soon enough. I think the one thing I'm looking forward to is seeing how well the starters hit against somebody else's pitching for a change. Guys like Cags, Heyman, and Kurland need a good challenge to get there juices going and I expect to see them get off to a hot start. Then you throw in a surprise freshman or two in Yost or Brookins and see how they handle it. Lastly you wonder if Brody Donay gets a hold of one and sends it over the batter's eye how the crowd reacts to that one.

Then of course we get to see all the freshmen pitchers come thru with Peterson leading the way on Saturday. On Friday we should see a lockdown effort by Fisher, then Slater, and Neely to close. But the last two days could see several freshmen after Peterson in Jones, Satin, maybe McNeillie for a short stay, Philpott, Smith. Whitmer, and Menendez, in no particular order. Sully has plenty to look at.

 

No one knows for sure. My best guess will be Robertson on CF and the freshman Yost in RF. Yost has been hitting well and can cover pretty good ground in the OF. Many of us like Guy in CF which might put Robertson in RF but I don't think Guy's bat has been steady enough for the opening day start. I'm sure Guy will play some the first weekend but remains to be seen. If Guy plays it will not be in RF because every day at practice he is always in CF.

As for Evans, he is still wearing the wrist wrap/compression glove on his right hand. He has been allowed to take BP and play in the OF but no live action. My guess they don't want him taking another shot to the same wrist on any inside pitches for now. It's unknown when he will be cleared for full duty.

One other OF to look for is the freshman Brookins. He has primarily played in LF as Shelnut's backup but he is also pushing for playing time from good results at the plate as of late.

Side note...
Donay came here as a C/OF and might get limited opportunity at an OF position down the road but so far he mainly plays C or 1B and could easily be the DH on days Cags is at 1B and Heyman is at C.

 

IN the 3rd photo you can see Evans second from the left wearing the wrist protector. He looks better than last year body wise so there's not much else holding him up by the looks of things.

 

Wow that's news. I don't think anyone has seen that from him at a scrimmage. Wonder how much it was wind aided.