Wednesday Wildcat Wood 'n' Leather Update

“Good evening sports fans, and welcome to another edition of Tribe Talk.” Of course we are not members of the tribe, and that’s not the usual weekly picture for the update. It’s okay, you’ll get your serving of baseball updates, but first I want to give tribute to a great man of baseball, Bob Uecker. A former player and member of the 1964 World Championship St. Louis Cardinals, he started his career with his hometown Brewers and has spent the last many years as a radio commentator for the Brewers. But what I first remember him from is the baseball classic “Major League”. As Harry Doyle, he made a good baseball movie great with his one-liners and dry wit; as well as showing me what baseball play-by-play was supposed to be. Bob is going under the knife soon for major heart surgery, and he’ll be missing the next few months recovering, but we wish him all the best and as part of my tribute, I’ll be peppering this week’s update with Bob Uecker quotes that roughly relate to the rambling diatribe I’m on. If it’s quoted, Bob Uecker said it.
I personally agree with the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words, so with that in mind I’ll drop this picture to express how this year has been going for the Cats:

Hitting the bottle would be rather appropriate right now, the Cats are 23-17 and 6-12 in the conference. Not bad but for a team that started the season in the top 25 it’s unacceptable. With pre-season All-Americans on the team and a relatively experienced bullpen, things need to come together quickly if the Cats want to make it to Omaha. They traveled down to Auburn for a three game series this past weekend. “This post-game show is brought to you by….to hell with it” here’s the recap:

4/23 v Auburn (L 13-6)- Starter Logan Darnell (3-3) had a rough day on the hill, giving up a career high nine runs in six innings. Former freshman of the week Walter Wijas relieved him and promptly gave up two longshots and a double in his first seven pitches. A bright spot continues to be Junior Lance Ray’s hot bat, as he went 3-4 from the plate, all three hits doubles. Other than that it was a pretty unimpressive game, with the Tigers holding a comfortable lead for the entire game.

4/24 v Auburn- Rain delay, rescheduled for double-header Sunday

4/25 v Auburn (W 8-7)- A wild game that saw 10 lead changes and and comeback win that arrived in the eighth inning, but the Cats managed to hold out against the Tigers, despite leaving an SEC high 19 runners on base. Upperclassmen Keenan Wiley, Gunner Glad, and Chris Bisson all stepped up and contributed big numbers in the game. Bisson’s shoes were on fire in the first game, stealing four bases and driving in a run. A four hour game which was very exciting, but no other players stood out enough to make this recap. Sorry, this is a discriminating blog. Matt Little picked up the win on four innings of baseball in with five hits and two runs.

4/25 v Auburn (rescheduled) (L 6-5)- Weird tidbit: Due to the SEC travel policy this game was limited to seven innings and the Tigers used every bit of it to escape with a walk-off win. Starter Taylor Rogers (4-5) pitched all but one out of the game, earning six runs (five scoreless innings) but striking out six. OF Lance Ray’s bat woke up in the second game of the day, going 2-3 with three RBI’s. Wiley, Glad, Bisson, and Chad Wright and contributed for “One hit? One G**damn hit?”
“You can’t say G**damn on the air”
“Don’t worry nobody is listening anyway”

The Cats come back home to take on the Filthy Cardinals in Louisville tonight, with Jordan Cooper (2-3) getting the start. Let’s hope this is one series we can sweep. And if you’ve never seen Major League, go see it now. You have one week

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