The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

And now, respite

May 27, 2016 by Mike Casazza

Fairly ridiculous stuff in Oklahoma City. On Thursday, West Virginia again lost its starting pitcher and again shrugged it off. This time, the Mountaineers beat the Big 12 tournament’s top seed, though Kyle Davis again had the big bat in a 9-4 win against Texas Tech.

“I think it’s getting around the league to be careful when it comes around to the lineup to play West Virginia, because they’ll flip starting pitchers on you in the first inning,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “I swear we’re not doing that on purpose. We came down here thinking we have the two best starting pitchers in the Big 12, and they’ve thrown a combined two innings between them, and we are 2-0.”

It was again peak WVU, which has won 16 of 19 and now two out of four against the regular season champs. Four runs with two outs. A homer. A triple. Deep relief pitching. Lots of putting pressure on the defense with long at-bats, constant balls in play, sacrifices and steals.

And again, let’s check out the homer.

“Right off the bat I thought I missed it, but I put it in the right area, the ball has been flying out of there,” Cramer said. “The wind helped it a lot. I wasn’t trying to do too much with it, just trying to put it in that gap, but I guess the wind definitely helped it. Glad I could get one of those rather than another hard hit ball.”

WVU gets today off, and that’s made better by the fact the relievers can rest after throwing 242 of the 268 pitches so far. Michael Grove, who lasted one out and two batters Wednesday, doesn’t have structural damage in his knee, and Chad Donato left after four outs Thursday after catching a pop fly. Maybe then can go Saturday?

Or maybe Connor Dotson, who I assume starts Saturday morning’s game, just fakes an injury and keeps the mojo going.

WVU will play the winner of today’s Oklahoma v. Texas game. With it being a double-elimination event, the Mountaineers have two chances to win one game to move to the championship game … and the Mountaineers quite likely don’t have the qualifications for an at-large bid.

So stay tuned. I’m going to be gone for quite a few days. Not sure when I’ll be back, but enjoy the long weekend.