So, do you think Coach's thinking is: "I can't start Harrison, because I've got to have somebody for middle relief--and he's just about it?"
I say start Harrison as our 3rd starter--that's 3 really good starters by the numbers. And baseball is supposed to be a stats/data driven game. Let Stevens be first man out of the pen for middle relief, followed by LBJ and Olivarez. All 3 of those middle relievers will have to go 2-3+ innings as needed. Nixon's still our closer, despite the struggles he's had this year. If we just do that alone, I'd favor us to win our regional, unless we're in Knoxville. Morehouse will have to be our 4th starter. He's probably better than most teams' 4th starter, but he's just not a weekend starter type--yet...
I think your third game can start with him but he goes until he cant and its a very short leash. Any inning that starts with a walk should result in pulling any pitcher not named Hansen or Gordon. Almost always, the leadoff hit or walk ends up scoring.
Kinda late in the season for that. I just know what they are doing is not working.
Its not ideal but they have no choice, they still HAVE to get guys innings, pitchers don't get better by sitting out games. Coach is going to have to find a way to get Stevens in games so he can work on whatever the issue is, he had it once, don't know what the problem is but I feel like he can get it going again and we need him to and it would be great if he got it right before the playoffs. He also needs to get other pitchers in games that we've seen fail before, they just need a very short leash.
I say all that cause we may fail some, have to be patient and not get too wound up when and IF the wheels fall off against these last 5 opponents. Whats critical is getting at least Stevens and Nixon back.
They have 5 games plus the conference tourney to do this. We get them back and we will be the toughest team in the country to beat. I can't wait, I'm pulling for them and how sweet would the run be if it happens.