Gators played a brisk 4 inning scrimmage on Friday afternoon. Blue Lineup: 1- Langford CF 2- Halter 3B 3- Evans RF 4- Riopelle 1B 5- Shelnut 2B 6- Fabian SS 7- Prevesk LF 8- Alvarez C 9- Arroyo DH SP- Coppola Orange Lineup: 1- Robertson CF 2- Kurland 2b 3- Caglianone DH 4- Rivera SS 5- Thomas 3B 6- Heyman C 7- Schiekofer RF 8- Talbott LF 9- Lastres 1B SP- Neely
Top 6 (First inning played) Neely pitching Lankford 6-3 Halter HR to right field Evans 6-3 Riopelle Single to Right Center, stole second Shelnut BB Fabian Called K 1 Run 2 Hits 0 Errors 2 LOB Bottom 6 Coppola pitching Robertson Swinging K Kurland 2B to right center Caglianone F5 Rivera Called K 0 Runs 1 Hit 0 Errors 1 LOB Blue 1 Orange 0
Top 7: Prevesk F9 Alvarez 1B to left Arroyo HR to right, now 3-0 Blue Langford F9 Halter K swinging but reached first on wild pitch Evans 1-3 2 Runs 2 Hits 0 Errors 1 LOB Bottom 7: Thomas 1B to center Heyman 1B to left center, Langford with strong throw to get Thomas at third Schiekofer 1B, Heyman to second Talbott K swinging on 95mph heat Lastres - sharp grounder to left of SS who forced Schiekofer at second 0 Runs, 3 Hits 0 errors 2 LOB Blue 3 Orange 0 Neely 2 IP, 4 Hits, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 2 K, 1 BB Coppola 2 IP, 4 Hits, 0 Runs 3 K, 0 BB - high of 96MPH to low of 79MPH
Top 8 - Finnvold to pitch, Tejeda to first base for Lastres Riopelle HR to right field on 3-2 pitch of 84MPH Shelnut 4-3 Fabian BB Prevesk F7 after Fabian stole second Alvarez 1B to right center scoring Fabian Arroyo reached on E4, Kurland went to his left and ball bounced high off grass cutout and hit him around face area, Alvarez to third Langford F4 2 Runs 2 Hits 1 Error and 2 LOB Bottom 8 - Nesbitt to pitch Robertson bunt 1B down third base line fielded by catcher but throw to first was late Kurland K swinging on 89 MPH, Robertson stole second Caglianone F8 in deep left center, Robertson tagged and moved to third Rivera 4-3 0 Runs 1 Hit 0 Errors 0 errors 1 LOB Blue 5 Orange 0 Finvold 1 IP, 2 Hits, 2 Runs 2 ER, 0 K, 1 BB
Top 9 - Jameson to pitch Halter 1-3 on 93 MPH pitch Evans F8 Riopelle BB, stole second Shelnut BB Fabian K swinging 0 runs 0 hits 0 errors 2 LOB Jameson 1 IP, 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 K, 2 BB - threw as high as 93MPH Blue 5 Orange 0 Bottom 9 - Nesbitt remains the pitcher Thomas BB Heyman 6-3, Thomas advances to second Schiekofer 1-3, Thomas to third Talbott swinging K 0 runs 0 hits 0 errors 1 LOB Final Score Blue 5 Orange 0 Nesbitt 2 IP, 1 Hit, 0 R, 2 K, 1 BB
Tell me if this could be true of Finnvold: He gets hit well in scrimmages because our batters know what to expect of him. In games batters who've never seen him have trouble with his style. I'm polling the gang. What do you think?
Yes I believe its around 1 for the scrimmage start time but I think they will be out there warming up before noon.
Great job @bturner623 and thanks for all the extra info. Sounds like Coppola is back to his normal and Neeley has some rust to shake off. I'm real happy to hear Robertson beat out a bunt and then stole second. Sounds like everyone on blue got a HR except for Langford. What a slacker! I should be out there on Tuesday when these arms pitch again. Hope to meet you if you are there.
Langford will be under immense pressure to repeat 2022. He will be the focus of the lineup for all teams. Will be very interesting to see how he handles it.
Good point and adds to the curiosity if Sully leaves him in the leadoff spot. If teams are going to key on him, obviously, why not put another high quality hitter right before and after him to increase the pressure on getting thru the order. Even though I prefer Langford batting second or third I still believe Sully keeps him first because of his success there last year. If Halter gets off to another good start I'd go Halter, Lanford, Caglianone and Riopelle. With Cade Kurland off to a great start he could see a high batting spot in the mix as well.
My take. The harder you can throw the more likely you can get away with lack of precision with location. A power pitcher might have well over a 10 mph difference between a fastball and a change up. Just the change in speed will fool many batters so change up mistakes are often outs or strikes. Four seam mistakes with a hitter sitting dead red are mostly bad news for the pitcher most of the time, though. Maybe a bit of an exageration but I don't know if a pitch 10 mph slower than Finnvold's fastball would even make it to home plate unless it was an eephus pitch. But a pitcher can be effective at slower velocities. Knuckleball pitchers are a different and I won't bring them into the discussion. They need to fool batters with changing eye level and location (up/down and inside/outside). That being said I think that Finnvold needs pinpoint control to be effective and when he has it he gets batters out.
Completely agree Lurk. Plus everyone is remembering Finn in post season baseball when emotions are jacked up-the OU hitters were geared for 93-98 and playing in the moment of Regionals. Finn’s control was on point that game. They had never seen him. In current practices, well it’s practice—and our hitters are very familiar with Finn’s pitching. Add this to what you said and the picture gets a lot more clear.
Made me think that Sully might have been calling the game in the hitter's favor. I wasn't there to see every pitch.
