June 11 , 2007

Shockers refusing to panic

Bob Lutz

If you think about the little things Wichita State could have done to win Game 1 of the Wichita Super Regional best-of-3 with UC Irvine, you'll just want to bonk yourself on the head.

So do what the Shockers are doing, tell yourself this is a team that loves to dig itself a hole and trust that today and Monday will go much better than Saturday.

It's a dangerous way to go in postseason baseball, but the Shockers have made it work so far.

Still.

Wouldn't it be so much better to have taken a 1-0 lead in the series? And shouldn't WSU be kicking itself for not doing so?

Lack of execution and questionable decisions hurt the Shockers late and cost them a 1-0 loss to an Irvine team that is as advertised: gritty, determined and pretty darn good.

Anteaters pitcher Scott Gorgen pitched his fourth consecutive complete game and needed 141 pitches to do so. It seemed like about 135 of them were changeups that had the Shockers flailing away in vain.

Gorgen was nearly spotless through five innings, but allowed three hits and a walk in the sixth, two hits in the seventh and a hit and a walk to lead off the eighth.

His coach, Dave Serrano, wasn't about to take his ace out of the game, though.

"I know we don't have many UC Irvine fans at the game, but if I would have went out to take Gorgen out they all would have been in the dugout wanting to strangle me," Serrano said. "The way this young man is pitching right now is pretty spectacular."

Serrano compared it to Jason Windsor's pitching run in 2004 that helped Cal State Fullerton win a national championship when Serrano was an assistant for the Titans. Windsor capped a strong postseason by being chosen MVP of the College World Series.

"We were going to win or lose with Scotty," Serrano said.

Now, for some of the plausible reasons it should have been a loss and not a win.

Start with the sixth inning, when the Shockers' No. 9 hitter, Dusty Coleman, lined a sharp one-out single to right field.

The Shockers put on a hit-and-run, but Coleman was thrown out on a pitch-out. Then, wouldn't you know it, Andy Dirks and Derek Schermerhorn singled and Damon Sublett walked to load the bases with two outs.

Free swinger Matt Brown, though, struck out, taking the air out of Eck Stadium. Brown swung mightily at three Gorgen pitches instead of making any kind of adjustment. It was a terrible at-bat.

In the seventh, the Shockers had runners at first and third with one out when Tyler Weber hit a hard line drive to Irvine shortstop Ben Orloff. Workman had strayed too far from third and was an easy force-out.

If there were a Baseball 101 text book, Chapter 1 would consist of what is a strike, what is a ball, and how a baserunner should never take off from third base on a line drive with less than two outs until he sees the ball get through the infield.

The Shockers put their first two on in the eighth on another hit by Coleman and a walk to Dirks. One of WSU's best fundamental players, Derek Schermerhorn, tried to bunt them over.

By that time, the Shockers trailed 1-0 because UC Irvine was able to push across a run in the top of the eighth.

The Anteaters' rally started with two outs against WSU reliever Andy Womack, who walked Cody Cipriano and gave up a single to Matt Morris.

Left-handed reliever Anthony Capra started to get ready in the Shocker bullpen, but too late to face left-handed hitter Bryan Peterson, who walked against Womack.

Capra should have been in the game to face Peterson or he should not have been loosening at all. One or the other.

He didn't enter the game to face another left-handed hitter, Sean Madigan, either. Instead, WSU coach Gene Stephenson went to right-hander Noah Krol.

Madigan hit a sharp grounder up the middle that went off Krol and bounded toward the third-base line to score the game's only run.

Serrano said he would have pinch-hit right-handed hitter Jeff Cusick for Madigan had Capra entered the game, but the matchup still would have been favorable.

You wonder about the pitching decisions even more since WSU pitching coach Brent Kemnitz was ejected in the seventh inning by third-base umpire Kevin Daugherty for objecting to a ball call from home-plate umpire Danny Mascorro.

The 3-2 pitch from Shocker starter Aaron Shafer to Irvine's Aaron Lowenstein was close, but a television replay showed it to clearly be inside.

First, Stephenson approached Mascorro to argue. Then Kemnitz started to berate Daugherty, who listened for a bit before giving the heave-ho.

Kemnitz can't get thrown out of such an important game in that situation. Neither team had questioned many of Mascorro's ball-strike calls and the tirade was unnecessary.

The Shockers were unable to capitalize on a great performance from Shafer, who allowed only five hits in seven innings. And some great defense on the left side of the infield by shortstop Coleman and third baseman Conor Gillaspie, whose two outstanding plays in the third inning prevented the Anteaters from taking an early lead.

There is no sense of panic from the WSU players. Nor was there a sense from the Anteaters that they have accomplished anything.

There's still a lot of baseball to be played. The Shockers will tell you they kind of like being down early, especially after turning things around the previous two weeks.

That's what they'll tell you. What they'll hide is their disappointment for not jumping on the Anteaters in Game 1.