Not sure why DVH won’t bunt but behind by 1 with guys at 1st and 2nd sure seems like the time to me.
Great season but sure very questionable. Some of our guys need a 2 strike approach.
Trevor Ezell said the decision was to bunt if the Texas Tech fielders were playing back. They were expecting the bunt, so the call was to swing away.
Franklin got a hit after attempting one. We had 2 runners on base with no outs in the 9th.
I wish all the coaches on the board would just call DVH & tell him all the things he’s doing wrong. I’m sure he’d appreciate the insight. He’s still trying to learn the game and the abilities of our players. Our fans already know all that & only lack the opportunity to make the correct call.
Sorry but bunting should have happened regardless of their defense.
Apparently scoring from 2nd these days is easier than 3rd. If we execute we may not have this debate but it’s a very valid question and one that cost us a game.
Casey should have bunted Saturday night as well…
Some fans are so stuck in a culture of not questioning coaches that I wonder if they enjoy losing.
Questioning DVH doesn’t mean a fan thinks he knows more, it’s a question and should have been asked.
L73 I think you should apply for any number of coaching jobs that are open.
The third baseman was about 30 feet from the plate. You’re not going to move the runner over in that situation. Bunting into a force play is no better than a strikeout.
Funny stuff guys, you guys need to be on staff.
Nah. We think the coaches know what they’re doing.
Bunting or not…We had our opportunities in both games and key hitters didn’t deliver. We had a great season with a very bitter ending. We certainly underachieved at the CWS.
Of course you try to bunt to advance a runner if the situation calls for it. The bunt is a dying art and it is an art…not many guys can do it very well. It takes touch and skill. Maybe we just can’t do it. That is the only logical reason why we don’t bunt…we can’t.
Sacrifice bunts have been used for decades to move a runner into scoring position and the squeeze or suicide squeeze is the way to do it if a guy is at third, especially if you are having trouble scoring runs.
There is not a damn thing wrong with questioning a coach or his coaches on this subject. We all like and respect Coach Van Horn, but he makes mistakes, just as any coach does. Did any of the media or will any of the media question him about why no bunting? Curious minds want to know.
My problem is that I am still dwelling on that foul ball from last year.
I hate the way the FSU game ended! I also hate the way we played today! Last year is over just like this year!
Baseball season has been a blast regardless! As cub fans say “Next Year”!
Bunting has been a major weakness of the Hogs this season! Casey Martin could have bunted agaisnt FSU and the hogs could have scored a runner from 3B and with his speed he may have gotten a hit.
Agree with both posts, bunting in both games could have changed the outcomes. Martin can bunt had a sacrifice in the regional. Nobody wants to have to bunt but I think most would agree nobody likes losing.
And as always…hindsight is 20/20…
DVH explained why he didn’t bunt. He felt good about Ezell’s bat & thought even if he laid down the bunt, there was a danger of Casey either striking out or being walked for the DP. Said the defense was really charging in for it.
It’s all about weighing risks. Since it didn’t work, we know he was wrong. Had it played out like DVH feared beforehand, we’d have all wondered why he gave away an out in the 9th instead of letting his most efficient batter take a chance on getting a hit, scoring the run, & still having runners on base with no outs.
Makes sense to me. Of course DVH might not know as much as some of our fans.
When I have seen a player attempt to bunt, they have poor technique. I don’t believe they work on it very much and the reason they are afraid to bunt with the infield in. It is a lost art.
The Hogs actually did quite a bit of bunting early in the year, before the conference started. They used it effectively for the most part. They also stole more bases early on than they did later in the season.
Early in the year yes but late in the year they sure didnt! Martin could have stole a lot of bases with his speed if he could learn to lay off pitches down and away! In the off season I hope he works on his approach at the plate and cuts his K’s down!
At some point, you have to get a hit with runners on base. They did not in the two games in Omaha. Van Horn gave Ezell option. Once I saw third basemen so tight, I wanted to let him swing. I’m not so much into bunting down one as the visitor in ninth. I guess that makes me a by-the-book guy.
The fun part of baseball is that you get to question the coach. The funny part is that none of us really get to find out what we’d really do in that situation since we don’t get to coach in the College World Series. Only the top coaches get to do that.
It was the right call. Ezell was one of their best hitters. He had a good matchup. He had the count in his favor. He had a hole on the right side because they were holding the runner.
He had the infield in. He was hitting from his better side. We were the visiting team (don’t get me started ) and needed a crooked number. Casey was a MAJOR risk to strike out, even if Ezell bunted and it was successful.
Ezell was ahead in the count and got a pitch to hammer (middle-middle) and he popped it up. It happens. It’s baseball.
One of the hardest things to do in sports is hit a round ball going 95 mph with a round bat, squarely.
But, DVH definitely made the right call and would do it, again, today, if he had the chance.
I think he would tell you the much more questionable decision was playing behind the game-winning run(ner) at first.
I know why he did it. He thought Scroggins was going to bury a sinker and get a ground ball and he wanted to give Ezell the best chance to make a play while playing “no doubles”.
But, it allowed a very slow runner to score from first on a ball he might not have scored on, otherwise.
It was just that kind of week. Easton freaking Murrell homered. Casey hit a bullet to the deepest part of the park and missed a homer by 18 inches.
That’s baseball. And, it’s Hog life. But, we will get there one day. DVH and his program are too good not to win one or 2–no ifs, ands or bunts about it.
Mercy.
Yep