Game 1 in the bag

The Beavers did it again. They rode their hot hitting and great pitching to a win in game 1 of the CWS Finals. North Carolina is going to have a serious emotional check for game 2 because their demons from last year came back to haunt them: throwing errors. Not that it really made a difference. We put so much pressure on them all game that they were bound to make a couple of mistakes. I can't be a coincidence that nearly every team the Beavs have played have made unforced errors.

I was sweating after the first couple of hits in that game. UNC came out intense. Coach Fox sure likes to fiddle with things (lineups, first basemen). It almost worked for them in that first inning, but once Jorge Reyes got out of that jam I knew we'd be OK from a pitching standpoint. Getting ahead of them early was huge. And not giving up walks was huge because those extra base hits they had usually came with no one on base.

You know, UNC has made a lot of comebacks in the postseason but the law of averages still says its hard to come back. Here's their record when trailing throughout the game.

Record when trailing after:
Inn.   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8
W-L  12-5  12-8   7-10  7-10  7-11  5-12  3-14  2-13

To me it looks like they still lose most of the time if we can have the lead by the 3rd inning.

Keys to game 2?

#1 - Get ahead early. If we can jump out early then they may start throwing the ball into the outfield again and hand us the trophy. This is very key.

#2 - Mike Stutes needs to keep the walks and hit batters down. No free passes. That will make any comeback that much harder.

Thats it.


Who's going to start for the Tar Heels? I call Robert Woodard. He's a senior and has slightly better numbers than the fully rested Luke Putkonen (sophomore). With their backs against the wall I think they have to go with Woodard. He'll be pitching on 4 days rest. See two posts below for Woodard's stats.

NOTE: Woodard is the pitcher we faced in game 2 last season to even up the series. Here's his pitching line from last year:

North Carolina         IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodard......  3.0  6  4  4  2  1 13 17  56

Lets do this! Go Beavers!