Rutgers Baseball
- Thread starter RUdad
- Start date
How do you score only 4 runs on 15 hits. It's hard to do if you think about it. This has been an issue for years under Owens. Watched the game yesterday - no sacrifice bunts to move the runners in the late innings, which I think would have won the game. Many losses where we have out hit the opponent. How about shuffling the batting order once in a while.
A lot of what you say here is not really accurate. I don’t remember a coach EVER trying so many different batting orders as this coach has done this year. The reason for only scoring four runs on 15 hits is pretty simple – – they went 3–16 with runners in scoring position while going 12–25 without runners and scoring position. It’s a lack of clutch hitting that has been their downfall this year – nothing more complicated than that. This is the first year that Owens has fewer sacrifice hits than the opponents since he’s been here, and it’s only by a few. And even that is more of a function of their inability to get the bunt down than having fewer attempts. I think in 2024 they led the big ten in sacrifice hits if memory serves me correctly. Last year we were all complaining about the lack of long ball ability throughout the lineup. This year they went out and hit the portal for the big guys that they believed could provide that. The result was the poorest fielding team since Owens has been here and diminished ability to play small ball. Unfortunately, the big bats have just not been as productive as anticipated and especially have not produced enough timely power. I actually thought that Owen‘s historically has gone to the bunt too early in games. I was surprised that Wells did not bunt in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on and nobody out in the last game – – that is not typical for Owens. But again, this team is built differently.
I think every lineup is different game to game. He’ll move players from the top of the lineup to the bottom. I don’t think that helps a player’s confidence when they are shuffled around the lineup. I know Bonds has been injured, not sure if anyone else is. Looks like Wells missed a few games but is now back.