Gopher Baseball 2019

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As Goldy said earlier, the umps behind the plate determined the winner of the game today. Wide strike zone when the gophers were batting and tiny zone when the gophers were pitching. I haven't heard or witnessed the Gopher coaching staff complain about the strike zone the way they did the past two games. Thoresen, Fredrickson, and Schulze were the victims of terrible calls the past 2 games which will be reflected in their stats this weekend. Hopefully next weekend the strike zone will be called consistently for both teams in N.C. The pitch that Wilson watched go by to end the game was 5-7 inches outside into the other batters box. I've never seen Casey as pissed as he was today. I hope Anderson can load up the non-conference season next season with games at U.S. Bank Stadium getting these teams from the south to come to Minneapolis after the FINAL FOUR took away 10-15 home games this season.
 

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Slow start for the Gophers that really turned into a game of missed opportunities. Patrick Fredrickson had good stuff but constantly had runners on and was in trouble. Some positives Gophers really hit the ball hard today, maybe coming around a bit at the plate? Few guys could still be a little more aggressive hunting the fastball. Nick Lackney had a good outing with no runs, walks, or hit batters. Just too many missed opportunities with multiple runners on in the 6th, 7th, and 8th and the biggest miss the bases loaded 1 out opportunity in the 8th when it was a 3-2 game but a double play ended the threat. 2nd game should get started a 2:30 or so.
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A big first inning from NC State did the Gophers in as Sam Thoresen struggled again. Was behind in counts a lot as it seemed like he was really picking instead of trying to let his pitches work and challenge guys. Then he left some balls up and NC State has a really good lineup that will make you pay. One interesting thing was Max Meyer went almost 5 innings in relief throwing around 70 pitches seemed like 14 and Ty were maybe stretching him out a little. Maybe a move to the weekend rotation is in his future? Guys really don't seem too far away from breaking through. Despite the results I thought the guys looked better then last weekend and that is what you want to see. Now eventually you have to start getting wins but we have played some really solid teams and I think the wins will be coming.
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Not good to start off the season 2-7, especially when there are not many good wins to be had once the Big Ten starts. Hopefully, they can still partially salvage the non-conference portion of their season.
 


Kind of wonder if the coaches are thinking that Meyer's skills are wasted at closer if the team isn't going to be consistently ahead at the end of games?
 

Gophers flat out blew one today losing 5-4 after giving up 3 runs in the 9th. Gophers built a 4-0 lead going to the bottom of the 6th with a solid approach at the plate and some clutch 2 out hits. Josh Culliver had a really good start going 5 shutout innings before back to back singles along with an error in right field on the 2nd single allowed a run to score and ended Culliver's day. Gophers went to Jeff Fasching who quickly allowed a infield single and single to right field to load the bases. Brett Schulze came in to end the threat retiring the next 3 in order and only allowing a 1 run to score on the groundout keeping it 4-2. Schulze got through the next 2 innings but with a pitch count right around 40 and throwing a inning yesterday he didn't get a chance at the 9th. With Max Meyer being extended yesterday and unavailable the Gophers brought in Sam Thoresen and he had a couple close pitches go against him leading to walking the first 2 batters. The Gophers turned to Nolan Burchill to try and salvage things but he quickly made things worse throwing a wild pitch allowing both runners to move up. A sac fly cut the game to 4-3 and brought up NC State's top hitter Evan Edwards who had 3 hits already on the day. Even with 1st base open the Gophers opted against putting the go ahead run aboard and pitched to him. Edwards doubled off the wall in right field to score the tying run. Burchill induced a foul pop up to 3rd base for the 2nd out but a single down the right field line ended things. Lots of decisions I'm sure the coaching staff is kicking themselves for right now. Using Max Meyer in a game where you were down 6 yesterday and not having him for today and bringing back Thoresen who you have to figure doesn't have a whole lot of confidence right now with how his season has started are the big 2 that stick out to me.
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WoodburyTim said:
Kind of wonder if the coaches are thinking that Meyer's skills are wasted at closer if the team isn't going to be consistently ahead at the end of games?
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He better be starting next weekend otherwise there was no reason to extend him yesterday and ultimately cost yourself a win today by not having him available.
 

This loss seems to fall on the coaches. The Gophers have lost games about every way imaginable.
 



Gopherlife said:
Not good to start off the season 2-7, especially when there are not many good wins to be had once the Big Ten starts. Hopefully, they can still partially salvage the non-conference portion of their season.
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Some very solid teams in the B1G this year especially Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan and the Gophers do face all of them. It is a very disappointing start and they should have won a few more than they have so far but every team they have played so far is pretty good and that will continue with Oregon State, San Diego, and Washington next weekend along with a Seattle team Monday. Then you have Long Beach State who is winless the next weekend but might be the only team to face a tougher early schedule than us with weekend series at Florida and Ole Miss already and a midweek game with San Diego. They have a midweek with Michigan, a series against TCU, and a midweek against UCLA before facing us.
 

Meyer will start Friday night against Oregon State. Fredrickson will start Saturday against San Diego. Sunday/Monday starters could be the key to the rest of this season because then they visit Long Beach and Pepperdine before the conference season begins at Penn State. Culliver and Schulze have been solid and sharp for the most part.
 

Game notes list a Meyer, Fredrickson, Culliver, and TBD rotation for the 4 games this weekend.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Game notes list a Meyer, Fredrickson, Culliver, and TBD rotation for the 4 games this weekend.
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I don't know about Meyer as a starter. I get that if they keep getting behind, you are keeping your gun in the holster, but I question if he has the stamina to go long enough on the front end. Extend him on the back end if the game is close.
FWIW. Adley Rutchsman's dad told me that his son thought Max was the best pitcher in the country. Apparently those two really hit it off as teammates on the All Star team last summer. Starter for the Beav's will be Kevin Abel ,who won four games as a frosh in the CWS last year. 91-92 fastball, but with a ++ changeup and a great 12-6 curve. There will be some scouts watching. Oregon State will have a radio broadcast, but they have a fill in guy until Mens Basketball is over and he is terrible. The regular guy, Mike Parker is excellent.
 



Welp. Meyer running out of gas. 2 run bomb by Adley R.
 

Meyer's first career start was against the 4th ranked defending national champs. He went 6 innings, 8 strikeouts, 0 walks and 4 hits (1 thru 5) despite the defense committing 5 error so behind him.

I hate to second guess the coaches but how the heck has he not been in the rotation before now?
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Meyer's first career start was against the 4th ranked defending national champs. He went 6 innings, 8 strikeouts, 0 walks and 4 hits (1 thru 5) despite the defense committing 5 error so behind him.

I hate to second guess the coaches but how the heck has he not been in the rotation before now?
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Trying to allow him to impact a couple games in a series vs one game. The problem is he will perhaps give 5-6 innings of dominant pitching, then you go to the pen with only Schulze being a proven commodity. So last night they pretty much went all in for victory and pitched two of the top three guys. If the big redhead does not give them a long quality start today, they are in for a long weekend. They had an opening with OSU pitching their #4 starter.
I'm starting to wonder how much the program is going to miss coach Rob. Five errors is bad and down in Surprise it was evident that Koz does not have the hands of Vavra and he is overthrowing on some routine throws to first. He has a rocket arm, but does not need to throw all out on every play. I wonder why they have not tagged Schulze as a starter?
 

Ughh. Disastrous 2-9 start. Pretty much forces us to win B10 to make NCAA's.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Meyer's first career start was against the 4th ranked defending national champs. He went 6 innings, 8 strikeouts, 0 walks and 4 hits (1 thru 5) despite the defense committing 5 error so behind him.

I hate to second guess the coaches but how the heck has he not been in the rotation before now?
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I don't fault the coaches at all for using him as closer last year and into this one, but I agree with the Greek here that he needs to be in the rotation this year. Having the dominant arm in the rotation is gonna make us tough to beat in a series. He was great yesterday and only gave up a HR to a potential top 5 pick.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Meyer's first career start was against the 4th ranked defending national champs. He went 6 innings, 8 strikeouts, 0 walks and 4 hits (1 thru 5) despite the defense committing 5 error so behind him.

I hate to second guess the coaches but how the heck has he not been in the rotation before now?
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Staff liked the way Lackney, Stevenson, and Thoresen pitched this fall and thought at least one of them could fill a rotation spot and they would still have a dominant closer to finish things. I think they knew if they needed to Max could make the move and after the rough start to the year for many of the pitchers it was time to make that move.
 

beavergopher said:
Trying to allow him to impact a couple games in a series vs one game. The problem is he will perhaps give 5-6 innings of dominant pitching, then you go to the pen with only Schulze being a proven commodity. So last night they pretty much went all in for victory and pitched two of the top three guys. If the big redhead does not give them a long quality start today, they are in for a long weekend. They had an opening with OSU pitching their #4 starter.
I'm starting to wonder how much the program is going to miss coach Rob. Five errors is bad and down in Surprise it was evident that Koz does not have the hands of Vavra and he is overthrowing on some routine throws to first. He has a rocket arm, but does not need to throw all out on every play. I wonder why they have not tagged Schulze as a starter?
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Gonna need guys like Stevenson, Lackney, Fasching, Duffy, Horton, and maybe some others to step up in the bullpen. I thought both Stevenson and Lackney pitched as well as they had all year last weekend out of the pen. Gophers missed a couple opportunities to add on to the 1-0 lead last night and it came back to bite them. The 2 strikeouts in a row with Wilson on 3rd I think in the 4th was the big miss. Freshman Zack Elliott getting the start at short today while Kozicky is in left field.
Schulze started as a Freshman and was really good especially the first half of the season but struggled down the stretch that year. I wonder if part of it is they think is stuff doesn't hold up as well after a couple times through the order.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Gonna need guys like Stevenson, Lackney, Fasching, Duffy, Horton, and maybe some others to step up in the bullpen. I thought both Stevenson and Lackney pitched as well as they had all year last weekend out of the pen. Gophers missed a couple opportunities to add on to the 1-0 lead last night and it came back to bite them. The 2 strikeouts in a row with Wilson on 3rd I think in the 4th was the big miss. Freshman Zack Elliott getting the start at short today while Kozicky is in left field.
Schulze started as a Freshman and was really good especially the first half of the season but struggled down the stretch that year. I wonder if part of it is they think is stuff doesn't hold up as well after a couple times through the order.
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I was surprised Gambrell got the back to back K’s. Great stuff but tends to have meltdowns under pressure.
Loved having the lockdown closer in Max. Too bad someone did not step up.
Massey, the frosh from IL, looked like a keeper in AZ.
 

Well, Max coming in to pitch the 9th today would have probably meant a win. Two walks = another loss. Meyer has the mental makeup to deliver with the perfect pitch mix for the role.
 

Oof this team just finds new ways to lose and has dug themselves a huge hole already. Really don't know what is wrong with this team right now. I thought they had turned things around a little at the plate last weekend but they've been terrible this weekend. Another 13 strikeouts today with just 6 hits although 5 walks and 4 Gophers were hit by pitches. Again execution situationally was lacking. Gophers got rallied in the 7th with a Eli Wilson double, a sac bunt, Riley Smith single, Max Meyer single, and Andrew Wilhite double to take a 5-4 lead but still had 2nd and 3rd with just 1 out. 14 brought Eddie Estrada off the bench and you got the sense the Gophers really needed to add on in that situation. Estrada struck out looking on just 4 pitches and Andrew Hmielewski flew out to right to end the threat. Nick Lackney was really solid in relief today but a leadoff walk followed by a 1-2 single to start the 8th spelled trouble. Lackney retired the next hitter on a sac bunt before the Gophers brought in Jake Stevenson. Stevenson quickly attacked the first hitter he faced striking him out on 4 pitches but somehow the hitter reached first base. It was a looking strikeout and it turns out Wilson dropped strike 3 and didn't tag the runner or throw it to 1st but instead back to Stevenson and then the hitter took off to 1st and evidently made it safely. The next hitter walked to tie it up. Stevenson followed that up with a 3 pitch strikeout but then almost fitting for how this team has played this year a 4 pitch walkoff walk followed. Very frustrating as a fan right now and I can only imagine the coaching staff and players feel the same way. Feels like nothing is really going right at all for this team right now.
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beavergopher said:
I was surprised Gambrell got the back to back K’s. Great stuff but tends to have meltdowns under pressure.
Loved having the lockdown closer in Max. Too bad someone did not step up.
Massey, the frosh from IL, looked like a keeper in AZ.
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I liked Massey too watching him against DBU. I was surprised when he didn't pitch at all last weekend.
 

Will be interesting to see the infield lineup today after the disasters the past two games at shortstop and second base. Hope to see Smith back at second to solidify that position. Maybe Elliott can calm down and be the shortstop the Gophers need him to be because Kozicky should be in the outfield the rest of the year. The biggest key will be who comes out of the bullpen the next 2 games. Horton, Duffy, and Kapala haven't pitched since Surprise 4 weeks ago. Thoresen has been given a long leash but has been ineffective due to control problems and hasn't been able to change speeds. Massey and Horton pitched well in Surprise but haven't seen the mound since. Culliver needs to have a good performance today and then it will be very interesting to see who gets the start tomorrow against Seattle. Lackney and Stevenson have struggled as starters with control issues of their own and tried to close out last night's disaster.
 

Hope to see Horton and Massey get an opportunity in the final 2 games tonight and tomorrow.
 

Season is in free fall. The Final Four has really put them in a bad situation.
 

After a 7-5 loss to Washington last night where a late Gopher rally fell short the Gophers finally pick up a win with a 3-2 win over Seattle. Cole McDevitt had 3 hits and a couple RBI including the go ahead hit in the 9th. Sam Thoresen pitched 5 solid innings giving up just 1 run and walking 3(2 in the 1st inning) and striking out 5. Hopefully finally breaking through with a win after so many close games can get this team going a little bit.
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2 in a row for the Gophers as they pick up a 6-2 win over Long Beach State tonight. Max Meyer made sure the Gophers were not losing tonight. On the mound he didn't allow a hit until the 7th inning and overall went 7.2 innings allowing just the 1 hit while walking 2 and striking out 9. He also had 3 hits and 3 RBI. Eli Wilson had a couple hits and 2 RBI while Cole McDevitt and Riley Smith also picked up 2 hits.
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Meyers dominating stuff last night. Looking forward to locking down opening night in series after series.
 

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