After taking two of three from the visiting Indians from Cape Girardeau, the Tide currently stands at a respectable 5-2, but there is still plenty of work for this team to do, particularly on defense. Sunday's game was about as good as it gets, but Saturday was downright ugly, and even though they came away with a decisive 9-4 win on Monday, that performance was also marred by glaring and frequent miscues in the field. SEMO was a decent team, but nowhere near as talented as Alabama. They capitalized on Bama's mistakes on Saturday, and pulled out a lucky win, but otherwise, they clearly looked to be an inferior opponent. That being said, on to the grades...
PITCHING
Tank had a particularly frustrating outing on Saturday. Battling the freezing temperatures, Chicago-like winds, and a constant drizzling rain, the sophomore worked 5 and 2/3, fanning eight, but costly errors and five walks led to an overwhelming total of five unearned runs for the Indians. After Tankersley labored for over a hundred pitches, Allen Ponder came on in relief, but was utlimately handed the loss. Over 3 and 1/3 innigs, he allowed a pair of runs on three hits, walking one and striking out four. Brent Carter pitched an absolute gem on Saturday, his second career complete game, allowing just one run while racking up a career-high nine strikeouts. Jeffrey Norris had a solid start on Monday, and Jared Woodward and Ponder pitched well in relief. Unfortunately, they received absolutely no support from their defense. Brian Reed was once again dominant in closing out the game to pick up his fourth save of the season.
Friday's game was a frustrating one in just about every respect, but those are the games that teams must learn from. Otherwise, the pitching staff still looks strong, though we have yet to see a lot of the guys on the roster that were projected to help out. We may see some new faces against Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday.
Grade: B+
HITTING
The Tide jumped out with seven runs in the first two innings on Saturday, but the bats took the rest of the night off. One would hope that seven runs would be enough to secure a win, especially with Tank on the mound, but other factors would eventually intervene. Sunday's rout was a true slugfest, highlighted by Beau Hearod's third career grand slam, his fourth homer on the young season, and Bobby Burns' solo shot in his first Crimson Tide at-bat. Evan Bush drove in five runs on a pair of hits, and Adam Pavkovich had a breakout day, going three for four. On Monday, the Tide came through at the plate, scoring nine, with Adam Pavkovich adding his second homerun of the season. The offense has been scoring runs; 7, 16, and 9 is nothing to sneeze at. The only major blemish would be the seven-inning drought on Saturday after the early lead. Rice may be starting to come around at the plate, which is a good sign. Evan Bush hit well over the series, with the glaring exception of his watching an 0-2 fastball down the middle go by with two outs and the bases loaded on Monday. Pavkovich appears to have broken out of his slump and has been ripping the ball. Bobby Burns looks to be the answer behind the plate for now, at least based on his offensive performance.
Grade: A-
DEFENSE
Atrocious. Ugly. Although the elements made Saturday's game a difficult one to play, an error is still an error, and sloppy defense was the primary factor in costing the Tide what should have been an easy win. Sunday was alright, with the exception of a dropped pop foul by Burns, but Monday was absolutely horrible. Fortunately for Bama, SEMO was almost just as bad. The Tide committed six errors overall, and if mental mistakes counted as errors, you could add a couple more to that total. All the way around the infield - Bush, Rice, Pennington, and Burns each had one, while Pavkovich booted a pair of routine grounders. You cannot expect to survive during the SEC schedule playing that kind of defense. This is an area that has to be improved immediately if they want to contend for a title. I have no doubt that we will see some improvement in this area, but hopefully they will be able to put the SEMO series behind them. The Tide defense was just plain painful to watch. They are all capable of playing much better, and I think they'll be able to get their act together, hopefully in the near future.
Grade: F-
OVERALL
Two out of three ain't bad, but it should have been a sweep. The offense came to life and the pitching continues to look strong. Unfortunately, those two aspects of the game appear to be way ahead of the defense at this point. 5-2 is a good start, but this team would probably openly admit that they can play better than they have been.
Grade: C+
[This message has been edited by JoJoforHeisman (edited February 24, 2003).]
PITCHING
Tank had a particularly frustrating outing on Saturday. Battling the freezing temperatures, Chicago-like winds, and a constant drizzling rain, the sophomore worked 5 and 2/3, fanning eight, but costly errors and five walks led to an overwhelming total of five unearned runs for the Indians. After Tankersley labored for over a hundred pitches, Allen Ponder came on in relief, but was utlimately handed the loss. Over 3 and 1/3 innigs, he allowed a pair of runs on three hits, walking one and striking out four. Brent Carter pitched an absolute gem on Saturday, his second career complete game, allowing just one run while racking up a career-high nine strikeouts. Jeffrey Norris had a solid start on Monday, and Jared Woodward and Ponder pitched well in relief. Unfortunately, they received absolutely no support from their defense. Brian Reed was once again dominant in closing out the game to pick up his fourth save of the season.
Friday's game was a frustrating one in just about every respect, but those are the games that teams must learn from. Otherwise, the pitching staff still looks strong, though we have yet to see a lot of the guys on the roster that were projected to help out. We may see some new faces against Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday.
Grade: B+
HITTING
The Tide jumped out with seven runs in the first two innings on Saturday, but the bats took the rest of the night off. One would hope that seven runs would be enough to secure a win, especially with Tank on the mound, but other factors would eventually intervene. Sunday's rout was a true slugfest, highlighted by Beau Hearod's third career grand slam, his fourth homer on the young season, and Bobby Burns' solo shot in his first Crimson Tide at-bat. Evan Bush drove in five runs on a pair of hits, and Adam Pavkovich had a breakout day, going three for four. On Monday, the Tide came through at the plate, scoring nine, with Adam Pavkovich adding his second homerun of the season. The offense has been scoring runs; 7, 16, and 9 is nothing to sneeze at. The only major blemish would be the seven-inning drought on Saturday after the early lead. Rice may be starting to come around at the plate, which is a good sign. Evan Bush hit well over the series, with the glaring exception of his watching an 0-2 fastball down the middle go by with two outs and the bases loaded on Monday. Pavkovich appears to have broken out of his slump and has been ripping the ball. Bobby Burns looks to be the answer behind the plate for now, at least based on his offensive performance.
Grade: A-
DEFENSE
Atrocious. Ugly. Although the elements made Saturday's game a difficult one to play, an error is still an error, and sloppy defense was the primary factor in costing the Tide what should have been an easy win. Sunday was alright, with the exception of a dropped pop foul by Burns, but Monday was absolutely horrible. Fortunately for Bama, SEMO was almost just as bad. The Tide committed six errors overall, and if mental mistakes counted as errors, you could add a couple more to that total. All the way around the infield - Bush, Rice, Pennington, and Burns each had one, while Pavkovich booted a pair of routine grounders. You cannot expect to survive during the SEC schedule playing that kind of defense. This is an area that has to be improved immediately if they want to contend for a title. I have no doubt that we will see some improvement in this area, but hopefully they will be able to put the SEMO series behind them. The Tide defense was just plain painful to watch. They are all capable of playing much better, and I think they'll be able to get their act together, hopefully in the near future.
Grade: F-
OVERALL
Two out of three ain't bad, but it should have been a sweep. The offense came to life and the pitching continues to look strong. Unfortunately, those two aspects of the game appear to be way ahead of the defense at this point. 5-2 is a good start, but this team would probably openly admit that they can play better than they have been.
Grade: C+
[This message has been edited by JoJoforHeisman (edited February 24, 2003).]
