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This reliever for SLU is shutting us down. Litman has pitched 4 innings and only given up 1 hit and 1 BB.

Mezzenga hit it to the warning track in the deepest part of the park but that was it. Tie game going into 7th.

Capomaccio been solid in relief for Gophers.
 

Me and my big mouth. Soon as I said that: double, HBP, HR.
Gophers down 2-5 now. Ugh.
 

Gophers fall 6-3.
Litman came in relief for SLU and pitched 4.1 shutout innings, only give up 2 hits and 1 walk. The Gophers bats went completely silent.
Capomaccio threw 3 innings of relief and did alright, but he surrendered the big 3-run HR that blew the game open. Unfortunate because otherwise he looked pretty good.
Novotny got pulled after 4 innings and 83 pitches. Wish he could have gotten stretched a bit longer so it wouldn't have strained the bullpen too much.
DeLuga and Dauman got mop-up duty in the 8th and 9th when the game was getting out of reach.

Mezzenga had the hot bat today, getting 3 hits and 2 doubles but unfortunately he was the only Gopher to register more than one hit.

I gotta admit, I'm pretty disappointed in this result. Saint Louis is not a very strong team. The goal of this series had to be a sweep with 2 wins as a minimum. There is no margin for error now for Saturday and Sunday.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Gophers fall 6-3.
Litman came in relief for SLU and pitched 4.1 shutout innings, only give up 2 hits and 1 walk. The Gophers bats went completely silent.
Capomaccio threw 3 innings of relief and did alright, but he surrendered the big 3-run HR that blew the game open. Unfortunate because otherwise he looked pretty good.
Novotny got pulled after 4 innings and 83 pitches. Wish he could have gotten stretched a bit longer so it wouldn't have strained the bullpen too much.
DeLuga and Dauman got mop-up duty in the 8th and 9th when the game was getting out of reach.

Mezzenga had the hot bat today, getting 3 hits and 2 doubles but unfortunately he was the only Gopher to register more than one hit.

I gotta admit, I'm pretty disappointed in this result. Saint Louis is not a very strong team. The goal of this series had to be a sweep with 2 wins as a minimum. There is no margin for error now for Saturday and Sunday.
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Completely agree very disappointed. Saint Louis isn't good. We got off to a good start and then went dead. Some baserunning mistakes again. I feel like sometimes the coaching staff is way more focused on development than results early in the season and sometimes it just isn't smart. Heading into the 7th in a tie game you should have had either Wietgrefe or Clausen ready to go. When Capomaccio gives up the double and hit batter back to back and there was a mound visit I was like great Wietgrefe is coming on and he is devastating against lefties but no they don't make a move. Feel like a few games have gotten away from us because of game management/coaching this year. Look at the UCSB first loss when we took the lead both me and my brother said gotta go to Clausen or Semb(didn't know he was hurt at the time) for the 7th instead they went back with Dauman and he immediately gives up a tying bomb. New Mexico game had multiple with a couple bad sends like the Counsell one, some strange steal decisions that kinda halted innings, not walking the guy that hit the go ahead homer to get Clausen a right/right matchup. Gotta be better from the coaching staff on down, improvement is great but you need results too especially against bad teams.
 


Same guy is streaming today.

Gophers get two infield singles and a walk in first but run ourselves out of the inning AGAIN by getting picked off twice. This is unacceptable.
 


DarrenTheGreek said:
Same guy is streaming today.

Gophers get two infield singles and a walk in first but run ourselves out of the inning AGAIN by getting picked off twice. This is unacceptable.
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I've said it before but for as quick as Bateman is he isn't a great baserunner and takes some unnecessary chances like he did there thinking he had the pitcher timed up. Its 2 on 1 out and a 2-1 count you don't need to try to take 3rd there. Perry getting picked at 1st by the catcher might be even worse although hard to take much from that one with the camera not picking it up.

St. Louis responds with a 1 out single and a hit batter and wild pitch followed. Malec got a strikeout but with 2 outs a 1-2 hanging slide was hit into right for a 2-0 lead.
 

Bork's AB with bases loaded and one out was not pretty. He worked the count well but all his foul balls were defensive swings designed to stay alive. He took two pitches right down the middle with two strikes...once the ump gave him a break but second time he was rung up.

Bateman walked next to score a run for us. Still haven't hit the ball out of the IF save for a fly out in the first.

Down 1-2 after 2
 



DarrenTheGreek said:
Bork's AB with bases loaded and one out was not pretty. He worked the count well but all his foul balls were defensive swings designed to stay alive. He took two pitches right down the middle with two strikes...once the ump gave him a break but second time he was rung up.

Bateman walked next to score a run for us. Still haven't hit the ball out of the IF save for a fly out in the first.

Down 1-2 after 2
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I think Borks time as a regular is running out. May get some time against lefties but he’s struggled.
Malec hangs a slider with 2 outs and the Billikens homer for a 3-1 lead. That pitch has been pretty flat today.
 

1-3 after 3.
In every inning Malec has got the first guy out but then SLU manufactures something.

In every inning we get our leadoff guy on but can't get a clutch hit.

Been frustrating. But still a ways to go.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
I think Borks time as a regular is running out. May get some time against lefties but he’s struggled.
Malec hangs a slider with 2 outs and the Billikens homer for a 3-1 lead. That pitch has been pretty flat today.
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Agree. Get Neels some ABs at this point.
 

I agree, Bork shouldn’t see the lineup ever, neels is a way better hitter, heck I’d throw Fritcher in there before him. Malec was very disappointing in my opinion. He was 86-88 mph with his fastball, I remember when he was a senior in hs and he was 90-93. That seems to be a trend with some of the pitchers on the staff. Bateman should have the Red light on the base paths, he has hurt us more than helped. Think the coaches need to make smarter decisions not only with the lineup but also with bullpen decisions and steals. Clausen should be the number 1 guy out of the pen, instead they have Hauser and Dauman, I just don’t get it.
 



Left them loaded again in the 6th. Our hitters really are dumb sometimes. The pitcher just walked Neels on 4 straight and Bateman has a 2-0 count and you got after a pitchers pitch on the outside corner for the lazy flyout.
 




Goldy Gopher said:
Last weekend is looking like it was a mirage, this is bad bad baseball.
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What's frustrating is there are positives. The walks are way down. The pitching seems better....but we are giving up hits back to back. The hitting has been ok....but we can't string anything together.
We can't get any semblance of a rally going and on defense once it seems we are in a groove we give up a string of hits.

Wish I had the answers.
 

Down 5-0 after 5. Klassen goes just 3+ allowing 3 runs on 3 hits while walking 5 and striking out 3, also had multiple wild pitches. I know the "stuff" is great but not sure you can keep starting him.

Certainly didn't expect to be staring 0-7 in the face as we open the US Bank homestand. If we don't beat Milwaukee Tuesday it is a very real possibility we are 0-11. Definitely looking like we need to blow this thing up.
 

Will never understand how this whole thing went south so fast. Not like we lost our coach and were starting over. Pretty shocking actually. Don't see 14 staying around if this continues.



Everyone had to deal with COVID
 

TNGophfan said:
Will never understand how this whole thing went south so fast. Not like we lost our coach and were starting over. Pretty shocking actually. Don't see 14 staying around if this continues.



Everyone had to deal with COVID
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If he truly wants what is best for the future of Gopher Baseball than his decision should be easy.

I believe this is the last year of his current contract anyway. Either it is easy and Anderson decides to retire or Coyle is forced to be the "bad guy" and not renew the contract.
 

Was really looking forward to Cambria Classic next weekend but now giving serious consideration to using the money for Big Ten hockey tournament tickets. I really love college baseball but I don't need to watch us lose 0-15.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Was really looking forward to Cambria Classic next weekend but now giving serious consideration to using the money for Big Ten hockey tournament tickets. I really love college baseball but I don't need to watch us lose 0-15.
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Shocking how awful this program has become the last couple years. #14 should have hung up the cleats a year ago. Time for new blood. No reason this program isn't competitive; especially without the Badgers having a program
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Was really looking forward to Cambria Classic next weekend but now giving serious consideration to using the money for Big Ten hockey tournament tickets. I really love college baseball but I don't need to watch us lose 0-15.
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Maryland/Vandy and Maryland/Ole Miss should be solid games. Not sure Nebraska is gonna be that competitive and it will be some kind of miracle if the Gophers results aren't absolutely embarrassing.
 

I have been following this team since the mid '70's, I have seen enough. It is time for a complete overhaul of the staff. Pitching has been horrible since the loss of Oakes and interestingly the defense, fundamentals and baserunning has sucked since Fornasiere retired.
 

So we're all speculating on what happens at the end of the season, but what's next for 2023? We still have 3 months and 40+ games of baseball.

Here are some ideas:
-Move Holetz into the weekend rotation in place of Klassen. Simply put, you can't have your starter walking 2 guys per inning. What's more? He's only striking out 1 guy per inning with that fastball. There's at least 5 pitchers right now on the squad that equal or exceed that.

-Groom either Wietegrefe or Capomaccio for a starting pitcher by having them go against Milwaukee on Wednesday and maybe your mid-week starter going forward.

-Keep Malec and Novotany in rotation for now.

-Stop going to mop-up duty for the time being. I don't care what the score is, Dauman should not be leading the pitchers in game appearances....and I don't say this to pick on Dauman. He's not the reason we're 0-7 but just an observation that your leader in pitching appearances needs to be one of your top arms.

-Do we have a closer? I keep hearing it might be Clausen but it's hard to know since we never get there. With that said, change your bullpen rotation to start playing to win the game in the 6th inning.

-I'd like to get Weber Neels some more at-bats. Yes, very limited sample size but that .538 OBP is screaming to be utilized more.

-Swenson is really struggling at the plate and with 0 walks, his OBP is in the gutter. Not sure what is going on there. I'm not advocating benching him but maybe his spot needs to be lower in the order.

-Next guy that is picked off a base is automatically benched.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
-Next guy that is picked off a base is automatically benched.
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Now this is a good idea. And I don’t care which player makes this mistake; bench them.

This approach will cause fewer stolen bases because players (base-runners) will become more tentative, but it is of better value to the team to not give away at-bats and potential hits.
 

Elsewhere in Big Ten Baseball

Iowa 5-1; L vs Sam Houston, W vs LSU, W vs K-State….Good weekend for Hawkeyes. That LSU win will be HUGE for NCAA discussion

Penn State 4-2; Followed up impressive opening series against Miami by going 3-0 against Northern Illinois and Monmouth. Good start for Lions.

Michigan 4-2; Got 2 wins against Fullerton. Not bad. Busy week coming up with games Mon, Tue, Wed. Schedule gets REALLY tough for Michigan next week. (Fullerton, Irvine, UCLA, TCU, TxTech, Louisville)

Purdue 5-3; Split 2-2 against NJIT. I don’t think Purdue is very strong. They have played NOBODY yet.

Illinois 4-3; took 2 of 3 at Southern Miss. That’s a nice weekend!

Michigan State 4-3; Followed up their solid opening weekend with a letdown. Went 1-2 against SC Upstate, Gardner-Webb and Presbyterian College. Not great.

Nebraska 3-3-1; Swept South Alabama. We’ll know a lot more about Nebraska after the Cambria Classic.

Maryland 3-4; went 1-2 at Ole Miss. Nothing wrong with that but you gotta think they’re disappointed in being under .500 at this point after starting out ranked in t15.

Indiana 3-4; went 1-2 at Texas. Never game up more than 5 runs. Considering they’ve played 6 of their 7 games at Auburn and Texas they have to be feeling good.

Ohio State 3-5; Letdown this week for OSU. Lost 2 to Grand Canyon and split with Gonzaga.

Rutgers 2-4; Went 1-2 this week against George Mason, Ball State and Boston College. Disappointing start for Scarlet Knights, who were on the edge of being ranked.

Northwestern 0-6; Lost 3 games to Gardner-Webb, Presbyterian and SC Upstate.
 



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