IU @ Illinois, Game 3: IU a rubber match no-show in a run-rule 15-1 loss...

[ptrich]

RHP Gavin Seebold will be on the mound with Stadler behind the plate. Seebold has an ERA of 6.99 and a WHIP of 1.61 in 37.1 IP. He has 27 Ks to 18 BBs and an OBA of .282.

The batting order is Taylor, Dickerson, Hanley, Cerny, Malamazian, Moore, Koskie, Denny (DH), and Stadler.

The IIlini will counter with LHP Regan Hall on the mound with an ERA of 6.91 and a WHIP of 1.46 in 27.1 IP. He has 16 Ks to 6 BBs with an OBA of .304.

It's 61 as I post this and mostly cloudy skies. It's windy with the wind SSE at 16 mph and gusts to 25 mph.

T1st:

Taylor opened the game by reaching on a throwing error.

Dickerson grounded out with Taylor moving into scoring position at 2nd.

Hanley walked on a full count to put runners at 1st and 2nd and one out.

Cerny hit into a DP to retire the side.

B1st:

After going 0-2 on the leadoff batter, Seebold hit him to put a man on.

A full count walk put the first two batters on and Seebold is having control issues to start the game.

After a mound visit, Seebold seemed to settle down and got a big K for the first out.

After getting ahead of the next batter, he walked the bases loaded on a full count.

A double to the gap cleared the bases with the Illini taking a 3-0 lead and Seebold doesn't seem to be long for this game. It's a good thing we have a well-rested bullpen, but we aren't out of the 1st and have dug ourselves a big hole early on. Unlike the Illini, we couldn't come up with a DP to get out of our jam.

A throwing error by 3B put two runners on. A groundout ended the inning.

End of 1st: Illini 3 IU 0

 

[ptrich]

T2nd:

Malamazian flied out and Moore grounded out for two outs. Koskie doubled to put a runner in scoring position but Denny grounded out to retire the side.

B2nd:

Seebold faced the 9 thru 2 hitters, and the leash has to be very short on Seebold.

Mercer has stayed too long with Seebold has he loaded the bases with three straight singles and then hit a batter to make 4-0 and no outs. We will really have our work cut out to get out of this hole, but it's early in the game and hopefully our bats warm up.

After a mound visit, Mercer didn't pull him and a double cleared the bases and Mercer finally relieved him with LHP Grant Holderfield with an ERA of 5.79 and a WHIP of 1.66 in 18.2 IP. I would have taken Seebold out after he gave up the leadoff single considering how the first inning went, but Mercer was obviously being stubborn in leaving him out there to get hit hard again in the 2nd. We need for our bullpen to bear down here and hopefully we get our bats hot.

Holderfield gave up a single to score another run to make it 8-0.

A K and groundout ended the inning.

End of 2nd: Illini 8 IU 0

 

[ptrich]

T3rd:

Stadler and Taylor both grounded out. For the 2nd straight inning, IU got a two-out double with Dickerson in scoring position, but Hanley flied out to retire the side.

B3rd:

Holderfield faced the 9 thru 2 hitters, and he got the leadoff hitter on a groundout.

The Illini were at the top of the order and Holderfield put two runners on with back-to-back full count walks.

A single brought in another run to make it 9-0 with runners at 1st and 2nd and one out.

Another walk loaded the bases with one out. Back-to-back Ks ended the ininng.

End of 3rd: Illini 9 IU 0

 

[ptrich]

T4th:

It's the middle of the order up with Cerny leading off against a pitcher that was struggling going into this game until he saw the Hoosier batters. IU went down meekly in order on two flyouts and a groundout.

B4th:

Mercer brought in RHP Aydan Decker-Petty with an ERA of 5.56 and a WHIP of 1.24 in 11.1 IP, and he faced the bottom of the order.

A leadoff double put a runner in scoring position. A groundout moved the runner to 3rd.

Another groundout scored a run with two outs now. A single put another runner on and he stole 2nd.

A foul out ended the inning.

End of 4th: Illini 10 IU 0

 

[ptrich]

T5th:

It was the bottom of the order up for IU and the body language of the team says let's get on the bus and head home.

Koskie grounded out and Denny doubled to get into scoring position. All three hits so far have been doubles for IU but IU has not been able to get that clutch hit to drive the runners in.

Stadler flied out for the 2nd out with Denny taking 3rd and the top of the order up in Taylor, and Taylor flied out to strand Denny at 3rd. What a sorry game so far.

B5th:

D-P faced the 3 thru 5 hitters and he walked the leadoff hitter on a 3-1 count. A triple drove in another run to make it 11-0. IU is on their way to a well-deserved run-rule loss with coaching, hitting, pitching and fielding all playing a role in this disaster.

A double and single drove in two more runs to make it 13-0 and a runner on 1st with no outs. A dropped foul ball by Stadler got him an error, which is the 2nd error of the game on IU although it doesn't matter at this point.

An infield pop out got the first out.

A single and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out.

Naturally, a full count walk brought in another run to make it 14-0.

Mercer went to the bullpen and brought in LHP Brayton Thomas with an ERA of 7.71 and a WHIP of 0.64 in 4.2. Thomas' last appearance was kind of weird to me in that he struck out the side in the 8th inning and then proceeded to load the bases without a hit in the 9th inning.

With the bases loaded and there being one out, Thomas is probably going to give up at least another run barring a K or a ball kept in the infield, and he did just that by getting a DP grounder to end the inning.

End of 5th: Illini 14 IU 0

 

[ptrich]

T6th:

It was the 2 thru 4 hitters up and Dickerson grounded out. Hanley grounded out and both he and Dickerson went down on just two pitches. Cerny Kd as IU went down in a hurry in this inning. We are making a struggling (coming into this game) starter look like the reincarnation of Cy Young.

B6th:

Mercer brought in RHP Henry Brummel with an ERA of 11.12 and a WHIP of 2.65 in 5.2 IP in what may be the final visit to the mound by a pitcher in this game. It was a good start for Brummel as he Kd the first two batters.

Moore committed his second error of the game on a fielding error to put a runner on.

A single put runners on the corners with two outs. Another single brought in a run and after getting the first two batters on Ks, Brummel is having trouble getting that elusive third out. The run was unearned.

An infield pop-out ended the inning.

End of 6th: Illini 15 IU 0

 

[ptrich]

T7th:

IU can't wait to get to the bus to put the total stench of this game behind them. Malamazian helped out with that by grounding out to start the inning. Oliver came in to pinch hit and flied out for the 2nd out.

DeMarteno came in to pinch hit and he homered to prevent the shutout. Denny flied out to end this disaster as the Illini starting pitcher went the distance and will probably be the B1G Pitcher of the Week. After the handshake line, IU players probably ran for the bus rather than walking to it.

Final: Illini 15 IU 0

 

[82IU]

They need to walk home! VBG.
82

 

[ptrich]

They need to walk home! VBG.
82

Maybe if they run out of gas on the way back, it will get them to evaluate how poorly they played in that game while waiting for gas. You name it, every aspect of the game was poorly played and I include Mercer's coaching who didn't handle the Seebold situation well at all.

 

[ptrich]

Death, taxes, and an IU loss in the Sunday rubber match game. At least that is how this season has gone. The stench of this game can be smelled all the way back to Bloomington and every aspect of this game was poorly played by IU, and Mercer's handling of Seebold at the start of the game was IMO about as poor as you can get from a coaching standpoint.

Seebold pitched well in his last outing but it was clear in the first inning that he had control issues and he struggled to get out of the first inning before giving up three runs.

Mercer stayed with Seebold to start the 2nd inning, and I would have allowed him to face the leadoff hitter and see how things went, but he gave up a leadoff single. I would have gone to the bullpen at that point.

Mercer stayed with Seebold in the 2nd and watched him give up three straight singles and then a hit batter to drive in a run with NO outs. Mercer visited the mound but left him in there and he then gave up a bases clearing double to the next batter with there being NO outs, and Mercer finally relieved him after giving up 8 runs in his 1.1 IP start.

Seebold is a much better pitcher than what we saw today, but Mercer inexplicably stayed with him too long and this is not the first time he has done that with a pitcher this season. You would be hard pressed to find a coach that would stay with a starting pitcher that long in the 2nd inning without getting even that first out, especially after the 1st inning.

In a hole of 8-0 early on, it dictated how the bullpen was going to be used the rest of the way.

IU was outhit 15-4 with the 4th IU hit a two-out solo homer in the final inning of the 7th. The three hits earlier in the game were all doubles with the runner left stranded in the inning.

DeMarteno's solo homer in the 7th was the only highlight of the game for IU.

IU used five pitchers in the game and they all gave up earned runs with the exception of Brayton Thomas who pitched an 0.2 inning with a clean slate and he came into the 5th with the bases loaded and one out, and he induced a DP ball to end the 5th with no further damage done.

After no errors in the first two games, IU had three errors in the game with Moore having two of them at 3B. Stadler got the 3rd error after he dropped a foul ball. The Illini had one error.

 

[ribbont]

RHP Gavin Seebold will be on the mound with Stadler behind the plate. Seebold has an ERA of 6.99 and a WHIP of 1.61 in 37.1 IP. He has 27 Ks to 18 BBs and an OBA of .282.

The batting order is Taylor, Dickerson, Hanley, Cerny, Malamazian, Moore, Koskie, Denny (DH), and Stadler.

The IIlini will counter with LHP Regan Hall on the mound with an ERA of 6.91 and a WHIP of 1.46 in 27.1 IP. He has 16 Ks to 6 BBs with an OBA of .304.

It's 61 as I post this and mostly cloudy skies. It's windy with the wind SSE at 16 mph and gusts to 25 mph.

T1st:

Taylor opened the game by reaching on a throwing error.

Dickerson grounded out with Taylor moving into scoring position at 2nd.

Hanley walked on a full count to put runners at 1st and 2nd and one out.

Cerny hit into a DP to retire the side.

B1st:

After going 0-2 on the leadoff batter, Seebold hit him to put a man on.

A full count walk put the first two batters on and Seebold is having control issues to start the game.

After a mound visit, Seebold seemed to settle down and got a big K for the first out.

After getting ahead of the next batter, he walked the bases loaded on a full count.

A double to the gap cleared the bases with the Illini taking a 3-0 lead and Seebold doesn't seem to be long for this game. It's a good thing we have a well-rested bullpen, but we aren't out of the 1st and have dug ourselves a big hole early on. Unlike the Illini, we couldn't come up with a DP to get out of our jam.

A throwing error by 3B put two runners on. A groundout ended the inning.

End of 1st: Illini 3 IU 0

Well, that's disappointing, to say the least.

 

[Bucket Getter]

Sick of this team. And this staff. Ridiculous.

 

[GolfHacker1]

We comin’

 

[ptrich]

We comin’

Yeah. We will be in Iowa City after next weekend. Good luck trying to get a handle on IU's team except that you won't know what to expect with them. They can be dominating and then look like they never played baseball before.

 

[ptrich]

I thought I would add that Mercer said in a pregame interview yesterday that they expect Buhr back shortly. With Vogel still getting back to pitching shape where he left off last season and he appears close to that, and the return of Buhr, our middle relief situation will look much better going forward. Maybe we can start using Gilley as a starter again and not as a middle reliever.