@ the Huskers tonight, @ ORU this weekend

[LetsGoRabbits]

Big games for the Jacks
Not sure how good the Huskers are, but it appears they are solid. they do have a win over Vanderbilt this year, which would seem to always be a good win. they got pretty roughed up by the hawkeyes. we also lost 2 at iowa
they did appear to handle northern colorado who beat us twice, but it appears to me that was a turning point in our season. it seems the jacks have improved pretty much in every area since then, with the pitching getting much better the last few weeks. huskers dropped 2 of 3 to UNO who we swept very convincingly

anyway, i would say any time we can matchup with our immediate neighbors the games carry a little more weight

then we go to ORU. UNO has pushed them a little in recent years and the bison were good last year and seem to be again, but ORU is pretty much the unquestioned king of Summit league baseball. ORU and the Jacks are currently the top two teams in the league (Jacks have moved from 4th to 2nd with our 10 game win streak, also moved our record to .500, which is a little more unusual than you would think)

ORU is 14-1 in the league
Jacks 10-5
it appears that the Jacks are the best offensive team in the conference, but you could certainly argue that it is still ORU. it is close either way. BUT ORU definitely has the BEST pitching in the league!! their team ERA is more than TWO full runs better than any other team

so we will see can the Jacks hitters, who have been rolling, stay HOT against ORU pitching
if the Jacks could sweep the eagles they would be just one game behind in the league. certainly, no wise person would assume you could sweep the eagles on the road, but the jacks are definitely playing with confidence

after that the jacks only have 3 home games left
the week after ORU we play a 4 game series on the road against Purdue
then we finish the home season with 3 against N Colorado
then on the road for one with the gophers and 3 with the Bison to end regular season play (Jacks and Bison are currently tied in loss column with 5 losses)

trying to be wise and mildly reasonable......
i will NEVER say NEVER, but sweeping the eagles is very unlikely
but i dont think we are totally stupid to hope for taking the series. i believe we have ONLY ONCE beaten them in a series in Tulsa and i could be wrong on that. and we have not taken more than a few series from them regardless of where they have been played

so going into a series and thinking there is even a reason to hope for a series win says we are having a solid year. i will leave it at that for now


EDIT
oops- i said we lost 2 to iowa. we lost 3. but 2 of 3 were close games, losing by 1 and 2. hawkeyes beat huskers by at least 5 all 3 games

[LetsGoRabbits]

question for those more familiar with Jacks traveling

what is the most likely travel mode for this week?
is it bus to lincoln then fly to Tulsa and fly home??
bus to lincoln bus to tulsa fly home?
or all bus or all fly?

seems like kind of a lot of time on the bus to bus all the way both ways but i feel like that is not out of the realm of possible

i guess i am asking because it feels like there was kind of a, Hey lets stop in Lincoln and pick up a game with the Huskers on our way to Tulsa conversation. If that is accurate, it suggests bus all the way to Tulsa

anyway NOT particularly important, but i am curious and i feel like the traveling is often underestimated or overlooked as a challenge to our athletes who also have classes and homework and tests to deal with and i dont know if any of our teams spend as much time on the road as the baseball and softball teams do.

[salemjack]

It’s baseball… I’m sure they are taking a bus for everything…

[LetsGoRabbits]

It’s baseball… I’m sure they are taking a bus for everything…

your answer suggests that the type of travel utilized is dependent on which team is traveling

that may be true?? i do not know, do you?

that would suggest that, most likely the FB team, MBB, and WBB get to fly and probably everyone else is traveling by bus. this has probably been discussed before. i remember some conversations about travel, but i will not pretend to really KNOW anything

thank you for your response

[LetsGoRabbits]

there is a link to listen to the game on gojacks
and if you go to the huskers site, there is a link to watch on Big 10 network. it appears you can watch the game for about 10 bucks. that is the price for a one month one school pass. i think many here are also fans of either the hawkeyes or the huskers or the gophers, so most of you probably know all about that. and if you happen to already have a subscription to Big 10 network then you are already set to go

[salemjack]

your answer suggests that the type of travel utilized is dependent on which team is traveling

that may be true?? i do not know, do you?

that would suggest that, most likely the FB team, MBB, and WBB get to fly and probably everyone else is traveling by bus. this has probably been discussed before. i remember some conversations about travel, but i will not pretend to really KNOW anything

thank you for your response

Each sport has their own budget. Let’s just say baseball doesn’t have much… that’s why I don’t hold it against Bishop when we struggle. Can’t expect to run the conference if you don’t invest in it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LetsGoRabbits]

Each sport has their own budget. Let’s just say baseball doesn’t have much… that’s why I don’t hold it against Bishop when we struggle. Can’t expect to run the conference if you don’t invest in it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thanks for the info Salem! i did not realize that each team had to use their own separate budget for travel, or maybe it is more accurate to say i never really thought about it. i guess if you take a moment to think about it that makes sense

do you know how our baseball budget compares to the other teams in our conference?
OBVIOUSLY, baseball is a priority for ORU
they do benefit from supporting less athletic programs overall and they do not have football


your point about budget is totally valid!! that said, we do support baseball and softball in other ways beyond their budget. they have one of the best indoor practice facilities in the nation. that obviously makes a difference in our part of the world

as we have kind of stated from the beginning of the conversation about 2023 baseball, it does not seem that too many fans are paying attention. if more people were paying attention, it would seem to increase the chances of getting a larger budget

that also makes sense to me!! it seems obvious that SDSU like any / every school does not have an unlimited budget. so how do you decide where to put the money? well it seems reasonable that you give more money to the programs that are most important to your constituents

so, i agree with you, Coach Bishop has done a respectable job. with a limited budget and limited fan support / interest, he continues to have a competitive team. i think the Jacks have finished in the top 4 of the conference and made the league tournament the huge majority of the time since at least 2010- i doubt there have been 3 seasons since 2010 where we did not make the tournament

[LetsGoRabbits]

Jacks lead 4-0 after 3

after what qualifies as a "BAD" weekend for him (only 4 hits and on base 7 times in 3 games, that actually DROPPED his stats)
McDonald has 2 at bats today
leads off game with a ripped double down LF line
second at bat in second inning crushes HR also to LF

jacks with 5 hits thru 3
Beazley who has been very hot lately and near the top of the Summit in doubles, smokes a triple the opposite way to drive in 2 in the second

[LetsGoRabbits]

Jacks road grey unis are VERY sharp
i am pretty traditional so that surely has impact. they are very simple but i really like the blue letters and numbers outlined with the yellow

maybe i am not remembering well but i feel like a lot of our unis we go with just the one color letters and / or numbers. this script blue lined in yellow is SUPER sharp

[LetsGoRabbits]

No Doubt saving starting pitching for weekend matchup with ORU
Jacks start a freshman in only his 3rd start, Will Kent
had nearly equal walks and Ks on the year, 11 and 12, i believe

thru 5 only one walk and has been even better than it has looked because the huskers have had 2 baserunners on throwing errors
Jacks did get out of 2 innings with double plays
and McDonald threw a guy out at 2b to end another

still leading 4-0 going to the 6th

[LetsGoRabbits]

top of 6
Huskers pitcher starts hot (staying hot, i think he retired 11 in a row) gets the first two out
then he hits Cade Stuff in the foot
Beazley (on fire the last few weeks) gets his second hit. a rope right up the middle
Bellows crushes a ball down the line in LF drives in 2 and the jacks lead

6-0

next batter gets another hit, very hard hit the opposite way, but Bellows gets thrown out at the plate to end the inning

[LetsGoRabbits]

Jacks add a run in top of 7

lead 7-0

McDonald gets on with a walk
sac bunt by Kozal
base hit up the middle by Ira

[Roy]

Big Time Win! On to ORU!

[LetsGoRabbits]

Huskers get 3 in the bottom of 7
Jacks add 1 in top of 9

Jacks win 8-3
was quite surprised by a couple things
We have never beaten UNL in D1
i figured we had gotten one win somewhere along the way

but we lost 11 games in a row since D1 move, but have not played them since 2012 (that was the other surprise, i would have sworn we played them much more recently. what the heck do i know, haha)
so a lot of the losses were in the early D1 years, including a 0-4 series sweep in 2005 when they had long time KC Royal Alex Gordon and we were just barely transitioned to D1

we were supposed to play last year. it got cancelled. guessing weather but did not hear why

all time series now UNL leads 18-3
first jacks win since 1971

final game thoughts
Drew Beazley and Dawson Perry both had 3 hits
McDonald had 2 hits and 2 walks in 4 plate appearances

mildly surprised we had Sundquist pitch the 9th. he came in in the 7th to shut down their rally. lights out in the 8th. i figured someone else would finish to keep the option of him pitching on Friday. dont know if they just decided to finish with the hot hand or if that was always the plan. he should be able to come back on saturday or sunday. but i would think after 42 pitches he gets at least 2 days off. he has been tough lately

[LetsGoRabbits]

Big Time Win! On to ORU!

YES
hopefully we come out hitting on Friday just like we did today