Arkansas Baseball

[MJ4H]

I'm writing a little bit on my MVP 06 College Baseball Dynasty. I'll post it here. Don't know if it will develop into a long term dynasty or not, but since I'm writing a bit anyway, I might as well post it here.

The set-up for this is I'm using personalized sliders, Varisty difficulty. I changed the name of most of the starters for Arkansas to their real names, even though they are not quite accurately modelled. It helps me to learn the team better. Anyway, onto the action.

[MJ4H]

Coach's Notebook

We are fared better against North Carolina in our mid-week series than I expected. I
really feel like the team has turned a corner. After starting the season 5-9, we have
improved to 18-10. Our only loss in the last 2 weeks has been the last game of the
series at Seton Hall (9-6).

This week has been particularly brutal. The 3 game sweep of North Carolina was a
Tuesday-Thursday series, and we have to travel to Knoxville for our weekend series with
#10 Tennessee.

Knoxville: Friday March 31st, 2006
Arkansas 18-10 vs. #10 Tennessee 15-11

Our starting rotation is thrown off slightly by the flurry of midweek games we've had
recently. We will be starting our number 2 starter, Charlie Boyce (5-1, 2.03) in the
Friday afternoon game. Tennessee will be starting a right hander, Jake Dowling (3-2,
4.06), so we will go with our standard line-up for this game with a couple of changes.
The catcher, Brian Walker will be sitting out at least one more game to recover from an
injury. We are getting tired at 3B (Blake Parker) and CF (Craig Gentry) but I would
like to try to get through this series and rest them in the mid-week series. Felix
Chow will be starting in place of Brian Walker behind the plate. This works out well
because Chow has been grumbling in email about playing time.

In Game #1, the first two innings go by with all zeros on the scoreboard. In the top
of the 3rd, a basehit, ground-out, and wild-pitch put a runner on third with 2 outs.
John Henry Marquart rips an 0-1 pitch past the pitcher and straight up the middle to
score the first run of the game. Boyce retires three straight in the bottom half, so
Arkansas leads 1-0 after 3 innings.
In the 4th, with one out, Danny Hamblin jacks a double into the gap in right-center.
He goes to third on a ground-out by Felix Chow, and up comes Blake Parker (.348).
Parker rips the first pitch over the head of the left-fielder, but he makes a
spectacular grab saving a run and ending the inning.

Tennessee finally gets a hit off of Boyce in the bottom of the 4th, and it is a 366 ft.
bomb over the left field wall. Otto Connor of Tennessee ties the game at 1. Boyce
recovers and closes the inning out easily. After 4 innings, it is tied 1-1.

Boyce cruises till the 6th inning, when he starts to labor quite a bit, giving up a
hit, then a wild pitch. With two down, a walk puts runners at 1st and 2nd. A visit to
the mound didn't go well, and I send out Anetsberger to start warming up in the
bullpen. Boyce is really starting to labor now, and Anetsberger can't be ready soon
enough. Boyce gives up a basehit to center, but a great throw in freezes all the
runners. The bases are loaded with 2 out. I decide here that Anetsberger is ready and
call him in to the game. Boyce always takes it hard, but I know he understands.

Anetsberger has performed well this season, and we really need him to come through
here. Unfortunately, he gives up a base hit to left and 2 runs score. He comes
through and gets a ground out next to get out of the inning. However, after 6,
Tennessee now leads 3-1.

The top of the 7th opens with some fireworks, as a base hit by Chow gets things
started. Blake Parker hits a double play ball to second, but a good take-out by Chow
holds the play to a single out. Craig Gentry capitalizes with a homer over the
left-center field wall, and just like that the game is tied at 3.

Tennessee leads off with a triple in the bottom of the 7th and scores a few pitches
later on a grounder to short, and after 7, it is Tennessee 4, Arkansas 3.

Arkansas goes 1-2-3 in both the 8th and 9th innings, and we lose for the first in a
week and a half.


Arkansas 3 8 1
Tennessee 4 4 0

[MJ4H]

I've discovered that nothing tastes good after a loss. Especially one in which you
outhit your opponents. Nothing we can do about it now, I guess. We just need to take
care of business today and win this series. This is not the series to try to get the
starting rotation back on schedule so we will ahead and start our number 3 guy today.
He's a lefty and about even with Boyce in skill anyway. his problem is endurance. We
usually have to go to the pen earlier than we'd like to when Ian Sage is on the mound.

We are approaching a mid-week with no games, and we desperately need it. Looking at
the reports on fatigue, most of the lineup is in need of rest. We will go ahead and
use our standard lineup today and tomorrrow, and try to just get through it. Brian
Walker will be back in at catcher even though he could really use the rest.

The Hogs lead off the game with 2 straight singles. Chris Hollensworth smashes one
right at the shortstop who catches but stumbles forward and does a sommersault with the
ball as he catches it. By the time he rights himself, everyone is safe. The scorer
scores it as an infield hit and just like that the bases are loaded for power hitter
James Ewing. Ewing taps one to first and the first baseman can't quite handle it. A
run scores and everyone is safe. Hamblin, another power-hitter, also comes up with the
bases loaded and nobody out. Hamblin pops up to shallow right, but not deep enough to
score the run. 1 out and up comes the catcher, Brian Walker. Walker strikes out on 3
straight tough pitches, and Blake Parker comes up with 2 out. He lines one into
center, which scores just one run. Gentry flies out to end the inning, but Arkansas
opens with 2 runs. Should've been more.

In the bottom of the 2nd, three straight singles loads the bases for Tennessee. Sage
will neeed to pitch out of a jam to preserve the lead he's been given. A grounder to
2nd base scores a run, and it is 2-1. The next batter pops it up on the infield on the
first pitch, so Sage needs one batter to get out of the jam with minimal damage. He
gets just that as a little dribbler is picked up by the first baseman, Hamblin, who
flips to Sage covering to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 3rd, with 1 out, 2 straight singles put 2 men on base, but Sage
gets a double play to get out of the inning.

In the bottom of the 6th, Sage is getting hit pretty hard and starting to get visibly
tired. He has gotten some good fielding, so no damage has been done, but the hitters
are onto him. We have a solid reliever in McLelland ready to go by this time, so in he
goes. McLelland coaxes a grounder out of the batter for the third out in the bottom of
the 6th and we head to the 7th with Arkansas still leading 2-1.

McLelland seems to be on stride on the mound, so my feeling is that we will ride him to
the house from here. His pitches are smooth and the Tennessee batters are not getting
to them.

Tennessee gets the tying run aboard in the bottom of the 8th with a 2 out single.
McLelland is still blowing up batters with 94 MPH fastballs and pulling the string all
over the place. Looks very comfortable. We will go with him probably the rest of the
game. However, my style is to go ahead and warm up and emergency reliever for the 9th,
so I put the closer, Flowers, to work. McLelland gets a grounder to 2nd and the
trouble is over for one more inning.

Insurance runs would be great in the top of 9th, and John Henry Marquart comes through,
following up a 1 out infield single by Jake Dugger (who beat out a long throw from a
diving 3rd baseman) with a bomb over the right field wall. 4-1 is a lot more
comfortable than 2-1! Tennessee gets out of the inning with no further damage, and
it's on to the bottom of the 9th!

As I've mentioned, I'm still feeling good with McLelland out there, so we will send him
to the mound. Flowers is already warm and ready if he should falter, though.
Tennessee lines the first pitch into center for a base hit. The runner promptly steals
second to get into scoring position. The first out of the inning comes on a grounder
to 2nd, but this moves the runner over to third. 1 out and a runner on third, now.
The next batter pops up to the first baseman and we are one out away. A grounder to
third on the very next pitch ends it on a perfect throw across to first!

Arkansas 4 12 1
Tennessee 1 8 0

[MJ4H]

It's Sunday and we have the rubber game of our series with Tennessee coming up. The
good news is that our ace, Nick Schmidt (7-1, 1.47), will be taking the mound. Schmidt
has gone into the 8th with a no-hitter twice this season already. The rest of the team
places a lot of confidence in Nick. The rest of the lineup will be standard. A lot of
tired legs today, but we have the mid-week open this upcoming week, so we will be
trying to get through this on Schmidt's back.

No real action through 4 innings other than Schmidt striking out 5 batters and one
Tennessee batter getting a hit with a bunt in the second inning. In the 5th inning,
Danny Hamblin leads off with a double to right-center, and Craig Gentry lines one down
the 1st base line for a single to follow. This puts runners on the corners with nobody
out for Jake Dugger. Dugger promptly strikes out. John Henry Marquart is next up and
he laces one into left, scoring Hamblin easily. David Hum crushes the first pitch
immediately following 411 feet over the right-center field wall, and just like that, it
is 4-0. Hollensworth follows with a double, and suddenly the Tennessee pitcher is
struggling a lot. Ewing grounds to first moving Hollensworth to third as Tennessee
starts warming up a reliever. A liner to the 2nd baseman strands the runner at 3rd and
gets Tennessee out of the inning.

Not much has changed after 8 innings, either. The score is still 4-0 Arkansas, and
Schmidt is still retiring almost everyone in sight. Through 8 he has 8 strike outs and
has allowed 2 hits. He doesn't seem to be tiring much, either, so there is a strong
likliehood of a complete game here. Right now the plan is to see how he fares in the
8th and then warm-up the closer, Flowers, regardless for the 9th. This is always my
policy, warming up the closer for the final inning whether I think he will be needed or
not. I would like to get Nick the complete game, though.

Schmidt gets through the 8th win absolutely no trouble, striking out the first batter.
I go ahead and send Flowers out to start throwing, but I doubt I'll need him. Schmidt
has made nearly every Volunteer batter look foolish this afternoon, and I don't expect
that to change in the 9th.

Schmidt coaxes two straight grounders to short to start the inning. Otto Connor rips a
base hit straight up the middle (it even hits the second base bag) and then steals
second base on the next pitch. However, Schmidt gets a pop-up to Hamblin at first base
just in foul territory to end the game. A nice complete game 3-hitter for Schmidt!

Arkansas 4 11 0
Tennessee 0 3 1

[MJ4H]

As Monday rolls around, we are expecting to see our team debuting in the top 25 poll
after such a strong showing against a highly ranked team. We are a bit disappointed to
see our debut is only at #25, but it is exciting to see the recognition anyway.

Monday morning means time to set the recruiting schedule for the week. We are
starting to get a better idea of who is interested in playing for us. Some of the
players we are looking at that we feel are also taking a long look at us are:

CF Gavin Hayden
Gavin is from New York and appears to be skilled in contact, speed, and throwing.

CF Bobby Tully
Bobby is from South Dakota and is a strong fielder that is also pretty fast. It seems
like he has a large upside, also.

1B Kevin Rollins
Kevin is from Maine and is very well-rounded but seems to have the potential to be
great.

SS Dave Fry
Dave is from Tennessee and has a terrific arm. Not quite as much up-side as we'd like
to see.

LF Frank Melancon
Frank is from New Jersey. Average abilities and an iffy future push Frank down on our
want list.

We have a lot more on our target list than this, but these are the ones we feel
strongly about landing. For this week, we will just try to touch base with all of
these folks. Next week we will expand our net a bit and try to get a few more players
interested. Frank just gets an email, though.

April 7, 2006
Vanderbilt Commodores(12-17) at #25 Arkansas Razorbacks(20-11)

After a nice week off, we are ready to hit the field again. Vanderbilt is one of
weaker teams in the conference so we will be hoping for a sweep at home. All our
fatigue problems have been swept away and we are able to reset our pitching rotation so
that we open with Nick Schmidt(8-1, 1.30), our #1 starter.

No fireworks in the first inning, but in the top of the second, A grounder to the third
baseman, Blake Parker, is thrown away past the first baseman allowing the lead-off man
to get down to 2nd base. However, Schmidt easily negotiates the remainder of the
inning and we stay scoreless.

Chris Hollensworth leads off the bottom of the 4th with a triple. He scores easily on
a sacrifice fly by Ewing and Arkansas leads 1-0. Hamblin reaches on an error with 2
out and is later plated by two consecutive bloop singles to give Arkansas a 2 run
advantage and runners at the corners with 2 out. A line drive to 1st ends the 4th
inning.

David Hum knocks in another run in the bottom of the 5th with an RBI double and a 3-0
lead. Ewing knocks in Hum with a single, and the game is beginning to get out of hand.
Hamblin follows with a double and 2 more runs come across to score before a couple of
hard hit grounders finally end the inning. A 6-0 lead looks very nice at this stage of
the game, especially with Schmidt on the mound and a rested bullpen.

By the top of the 7th inning, Schmidt's breaking pitches are starting to hang a little
bit more than I'd like and some velocity is coming off of his fastballs. I decide to
go ahead and send out Anetsberger to warm-up. Schmidt has no trouble in the 7th, but I
go ahead and bring in Anetsberger to start the 8th.

Anetsberger, disappointingly, gives up two straight base hits to start the 8th. Two
straight grounders to third base retires two straight lead runners, and a pop-out to
left field ends the inning for the Commodores.

Anetsberger makes a huge mistake with the first batter of the top of the 9th and hangs
a change-up high and over the plate. It is crushed over the right field wall and the
Commodores are on the board. He retires the rest of the side without too much trouble
and the game ends at 6-1.

Vanderbilt 1 7 2
Arkansas 6 12 1