I just listened to Bo Mattingly’s interview with Hog pitching coach Wes Johnson on his radio show. It was interesting to hear his inside info on things, like how Blaine Knight developed a cramp in his triceps during the game yesterday. He said they took him to a restroom between innings so the cameras wouldn’t see and tried to stretch him out, but it kept bothering him, and that’s why they took him out at only about 81 pitches yesterday.
He also mentioned that North Carolina Coach Mike Fox (who he has worked with through Team USA) came up to him and said that Arkansas and North Carolina need to schedule a series because “Your fans are awesome” and he’d like to bring his team to Baum Stadium.
He also said they would not hesitate to bring in Isaiah Campbell tomorrow night against Texas Tech to get some outs if the situation warrants it.
Arkansas was ready to bring Murphy or Campbell into the game yesterday. In fact, Campbell went to the bullpen and did some soft toss in the ninth when Cody Scroggins was struggling. The every-other-day nature of the CWS changes pitching plans considerably.
The rest days do seem to affect things quite a bit. Regardless, I can certainly understand why a coach would use his best to get a win in this double elimination format. The first two games are really important to a team’s chances of advancing. Just too hard to do from the losers bracket & that extra game.
Glad we didn’t have to use Murphy or Campbell, though. It’s good to have great pitching available right now. Reindl didn’t pitch, either. I’d think Ramage could pitch again if we need him. Bonnin can lose control fast, but he seems to be pretty good out of the pen. Both those two have now been on the mound in Omaha & should have any butterflies taken care of.