During the Regionals, Daniel Renken, who got the start on Saturday, didn’t have his best performance on the year. He seemed out of sorts and perhaps out of sync due to the change in pitching rotation, and he frankly struggled a little bit early on in the game against Gonzaga. Later in the game, he seemed to find his usual groove and became, once again, lights out. Well, there was no question that when Daniel took the mound last night that all indecision and lack of focus had evaporated. In a commanding 3 hit, complete game, shut out, Renken proved that he is a pitcher to beat. About mid-way through the game we were marveling that the first inning seemed to be Renken’s rough inning, because during the course of the inning, he took 11 pitches to get out 3 batters and gave up one hit. He followed that with a 5 pitch second (4 batters faced – 1 hit), and a 3 pitch third – which is as perfect as it is possible to be. Renken struck out 10 and walked 1 giving up only 3 hits during his 98 pitch performance, 70 of which were strikes.

Offensively for the Titans, Jared Clark (4 for 5 with 4 RBI’s) and Khris Davis (4 for 5 with 2 RBI’s) led the way. Extra base hit honors go to Josh Fellhauer (Home Run), Gary Brown (Triple), Joe Scott (Double), Khris Davis (Double), & Jared Clark (Double). Josh Fellhauer also had a sac bunt, and Christian Colon hit a sac fly.

Dustin Garneau, who was stellar during the Regionals, was hitless during this contest. However, on a couple of occasions, he had the bat taken out of his hands, so it’s hard to say whether or not he would have gotten a hit or not. One notable moment was when Garneau was in the box, Khris Davis was on first and stealing second, the Louisville catcher, Jeff Arnold, came up throwing and ended up throwing the ball at the ground. Davis was waved back to first and Garneau called out due to batter’s interference. In the stands we were trying to figure out what exactly happened, because as far as we could tell, Garneau was in the box and didn’t move except to bring his feet together out of the batting stance. Head Coach Dave Serrano was out there immediately to argue the call, but as usual, the call was not overturned. One of the first things we did upon arriving home was to check what happened as we DVR’d the game. It was crystal clear – Garneau did absolutely nothing. The Louisville catcher tossed his mask off with his head (the mask being very loose) and as he came up throwing, his arm hit the mask and the mask went flying out toward the pitcher’s mound and the ball bounced on its way to second base. Jeff Arnold then stood up and pointed at Garneau as he had done something wrong. The umpire bought Arnold’s sell and called Garneau out. Oh well, that’s the way the game goes sometimes. . .of course, you might say that’s a good reason to introduce instant replay into baseball, but that’s an argument for another time.

The Titans and Cardinals face off again this afternoon and the Titans, if victorious, could clinch their Omaha bid. Titans will be the visiting team.

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LK Gardner-Griffie
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
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The Titans are planning to rely on their standard pitching rotation, which will have Daniel Renken getting the nod for Friday night, followed by Noe Ramirez, and Tyler Pill will pitch on Sunday if necessary. Need I say that I am hoping Sunday is not necessary and the Titans can take it in two? Dustin Garneau will take his usual place of command behind the dish, and we’ll see whether he will continue his stellar performance from the regionals. If the Titans stay focused and play their brand of baseball, they will be a tough team to beat by any opponent. Their goal? To be the last team to take the uniform off for the season.

The Titans had a great weekend as they cruised through their 31st post season appearance in the NCAA Regionals. To give you an overview as to how the Titans dominated their opponents over the course of the three games played:

• Titans scored 41 runs versus the opponents combined 9.
• Titans wracked up 60 hits over the course of 3 games to the opponents 26.
• 37 of the runs scored were RBI’s vs. the opponents 9
• 14 Titans walked, while the combined pitching staff for the Titans only gave up 5 walks over the course of the 3 game series
• While the Titans struck out 20 times, the Titan pitching staff struck out 24
• The Titan team batting average was an awesome 476, while the opponents hit 248 against the Titan pitching staff
• The lowest Titan starter batting average for the series was Christian Colon with 429
• 6 Titan starters batted 500 or better – Jared Clark (500), Josh Fellhauer (545), Dustin Garneau (583), Jeff Newman (500), Joe Scott (545), & Joey Siddons (500).

Tyler Pill and Noe Ramirez both received all tournament pitching honors, and Dustin Garneau garnered the tournament MVP award. I’m sure the batting average of 583 and having gone 5-5 in the game against Gonzaga didn’t hurt. Khris Davis hit 4 home runs during the weekend, the only Titan to hit the long ball, which brings his total home runs to 16 on the year. He has now put a little bit of a gap between him and the next frequent long ball hitters, Jared Clark (11) and Nick Ramirez (10), so maybe Jared & Nick will try and catch up during Super Regionals. I’d love to see the home run battle of the bats wage on. Needless to say, I am very proud of my Titan team this weekend and hope they take this momentum on to next weekend where they will meet either Louisville or Vanderbilt (the deciding game takes place later today.)

Go Titans!

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LK Gardner-Griffie
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit: Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
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To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The LL Book Review

Jon Wilhite’s family was on hand during the entire series so people could chat with them about how Jon is doing and purchase the live long bracelets to help Jon and his family defray some of the hospital costs. It was rumored that Jon was up and around enough to take a shower and to tell Titan first baseman, Jared Clark, that the shower felt good. It is a blessing that he is improving so well.

We have reached the point where we do need to win some home games in order to stay alive in the polls and keep the confidence of our players up. And against Santa Barbara we were able to do just that. Friday night, Daniel Renken took the mound as is usual on Fridays. He came one out away from pitching a complete game, but had finally lost steam in the ninth and was having difficulty in getting that last out. Titans had a lead of 7-0, but after hitting one, and walking the next, Titans were able to record two outs before the next Gaucho batter hit a double and racked up two RBI’s and breaking the shut out for Renken. Since his hurler had already thrown 146 pitches, Dave Serrano lost no time in pulling his pitcher and the crowd gave him a standing ovation as he left the field. Ryan Ackland came into the game in relief to face Gaucho’s Shane Carlson and struck him out looking, giving the Titans the 7-2 victory. One word about the officiating during the course of the game – it was horrible. The Titans were taken out of a couple of innings by bad calls by the umpires as they were in the process of mounting another offensive attack, so who knows what the score would have been otherwise. Offensively, Jared Clark had two hits and two RBI’s, Khris Davis had two hits and two RBI’s, Dustin Garneau singled for two RBI’s in the third, and Joe Scott sac flied in the eighth to allow Jeff Newman to score the Titans final run for the game.

Having notched a nice win on Friday, we arrived at Goodwin Field Saturday night hopeful to add another home win to the record. While we thought the officiating was bad on Friday, it deteriorated further on Saturday. One of the most ridiculous calls of the game was made by the previous nights official behind the dish. He was now in the field and signalled an infield fly on a ball that was popped up to centerfield. I’d like to take a moment to let any umpires know that happen to read this, that part of the requirements for calling the infield fly rule is that the ball is coming down in the infield. . .you know. . .the part of the field which is defined by the dirt basepath. Any ball which passes the dirt basepath and goes over the grass into the outfield is no longer an infield fly. The umpire in this case made the call as the ball was passing through the infield and ultimately the fielder did drop the ball (there were actually 3 fielders surrounding the ball as it came down). This, of course, was quickly contested by head coach Dave Serrano. The other call during the game which caused a great deal of contention was by the home plate umpire calling Offensive Interference on batter Tony Harkey. Coach Serrano went out to discuss this with him again, but the real contention was between Coach Sergio Brown and the official who made the bad infield fly rule call. The umpire was making his way from behind 2nd base to the home plate area and veered off directly toward the Titan dug out pointing his arm as he did so. Sergio errupted out of the dugout and there was a very heated discussion which followed. Sergio was thrown out of the game, but as he was being marshalled from the field continued to try and walk back to continue the discussion with the umpire who simply turned his back and walked away. Sergio was back in the dugout on Sunday, dressed in uniform and all smiles, while the official in question did not return. Draw your own conclusions.

Ok – now for the game. Titans were victorious once again with a 5-4 win over the Gauchos. Noe Ramirez took the mound for the Titans to start the game and pitched 8.1 innings before handing the ball off to Nick Ramirez. Noe got a no decision on the game, although he pitched a beautiful game as the Gauchos took the lead in the sixth which held up until the bottom of the ninth. The team played well and we were getting men on base and starting to make things happen, but on at least two occasions, the officials took us out of the inning before we should have been. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty of the game. Titans entered the bottom of the ninth down a run at 3-4 Gauchos. Billy Marcoe pinch hit for Joe Scott and walked in 4 pitches. Jeff Newman pinch ran for Marcoe. Joey Siddons singled on what was intended to be a sac bunt. Christian Colon sacrified for the team and moved Newman to third and Siddons to second. The Gauchos decided with one out to intentionally walk Gary Brown to load the bases and improve the chances for a double play ball. Josh Fellhauer then stepped up to the plate, and he was so far hitless in this game. The crowd however, had faith in Felly and we were chanting and yelling our encouragment. Fellhauer singled through the right side and Newman and Siddons scored to win the game. The team errupted from the dug out and practically dog-piled on Fellhauer who had run to second base. The fans in the stands went wild. It was a very emotional moment for the team to be able to succeed at play from behind ball.

Sunday we entered the field with optimism having already won the series, was it possible we could make it a sweep? We had our favorite Section K pitcher, Tyler Pill on the mound and Tyler continues to look better and better as the season goes along. Tyler pitched shut out ball until the seventh inning where he gave up a two out home run with two men on (walk, HBP). He finished up the inning, but then was done for the game. Fortunately, Tyler had nothing to worry about as the Titans won the game 15-3 and he racked up win number 8 bringing him to 8-1 overall. While the Titan offense was hot, the Gaucho defense seemed to fall apart a little bit. While only two errors were charged for the game to Santa Barbara, mental mistakes flourished and the Titans took advantage of every opportunity. For example, the Titans managed to score a run in the second with no hits, and no errors committed by the Gauchos. During the games we frequently see the word Everybody Hits on the scoreboard while the Titans are batting. It felt like that was the case as we continued to bring men home. In actuality, we did have some of our batters not get a hit, but still get on base and score. Christian Colon went long for his sixth of the season as well, but that was the only home run scored by the Titans on Sunday. We had 12 hits to earn the 15 runs and I did feel sorry for the Gauchos as they were definitely not having a good day.

I said the two teams facing off for the opening of conference play would be a battle, and I was right. Friday night the contest went pretty much as expected. The Titans played well, but the game turned into a pitcher’s duel. Titans scored early and were holding on to a 1-0 lead well into the game. Then pitcher Daniel Renken, the Titan starter, let one pitch too many rise up and the Highlanders took him over the fence for a 3 run home run. It’s sad when he did such a good job, keeping the Highlanders to 2 hits until that point in the game, to lose it in one swing of the bat. The Titans outhit the Highlanders, but just couldn’t string them together for the necessary runs.

On Saturday, Noe Ramirez got the start over Kyle Witten. Noe has been stepping in as relief for Witten with a great deal of success, so he got the nod for today’s game. Titans were able to get a man across the plate in the 3rd inning. The run was setup by a double by catcher, Dustin Garneau, then Joe Scott sacrified Garneau to 3rd, and Gary Brown got the RBI single to score Garneau.

Then the Highlanders evened the score in the 7th. The Titans looked like they might go back ahead in the top of the 8th when Josh Fellhauer walked and then stole 2nd. Then Jared Clark walked, and Nick Ramirez stepped up to the plate. Unfortunately Nick, hit a fly ball which was caught to end the inning. After only giving up 3 hits and 1 walk, while getting 5 strikeouts, Noe left the game tied, so got no decision.

The Titan 9th looked very promising as we started off with a Khris Davis double to center and a walk by Garneau. Joe Scott came in and did his job by sacrificing them over a base. So with men on 2nd and 3rd, and only one out, things were looking up for the Titans to get a man across the plate. Hope evaporated quickly as Davis got nicked going home on a Tyler Pill fielder’s choice. Then Garneau got caught stealing home to end the inning.

Riverside was unable to get a man past 2nd base in the ninth, so on into the tenth we went. This time, perserverance paid off for the Titan crew. The inning started off with back to back singles by Gary Brown and Christian Colon, and Brown wound up on 3rd off Colon’s single. Then Josh Fellhauer reached on a fielder’s choice as they attempted to throw Colon out at 2nd, but overthrew, so Colon was safe and Brown scored. Then Jared Clark brought in Colon and Fellhauer with a single to center field. Score at the end of the top of the tenth 4-1. Michael Morrison came on to close out the game and took the win for the Titans. Morrison recorded 4 outs in relief and faced 4 batters, striking out 3 and giving up one hit. The game ended on exciting play as the Highlander batter at the plate struck out swinging and Dustin Garneau gunned the runner attempting to steal 2nd down.

Joe Scott tied a collegiate record by successfully sacrificing 4 times in one game. Way to be a team player, Joe.
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LK Gardner-Griffie
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit: Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
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The loss came against Oklahoma State on Saturday, as Oklahoma State played the double header for the day, taking out the Rhode Island Rams in the first game as well. The Titans had an uncharacteristic 4 errors during the game, which gave the Cowboys the oomph to get past the Titans 10-6. The Titan bats were still humming along and we still managed to have double digit hits for the game at 13. Our problem, outside of the errors which allowed the Cowboys a five run sixth was that we left 9 men on base. Our attitude – the team had an 11 game winning streak and you can’t win them all. The Titans played better than anticipated for the duration of the road trip, so losing one is ok with us.

We faced the Rhode Island Rams again today for our final game of the tournament. After we scored in the first inning when Gary Brown hit a triple, and then scampered home on a passed ball, the Rams answered back by putting up a 3 spot. It was now time for the Titans to play come-from-behind baseball. Any true Titan fan knows better than to count our team down and out, as they proved in 2004 by winning the College World Series after a 15-16 start on the year. Up until the seventh inning, the contest remained very even with neither team scoring any more runs. Top of the seventh, Khris Davis doubled down the left field line. Then, Jeff Newman bunted, but instead of being a sac, was safe at first, and when no one was paying attention continued on to second, stretching the bunt into a double. Tyler Pill came into the game as a pinch hitter for Joe Scott, and with one swing of the bat proved that the Pill tradition of being a clutch hitter in a tight situation is still alive and well. Tyler doubled bringing in two RBI’s and evening the score. Starting off the 8th, Christian Colon singled up the middle, and Josh Fellhauer bunted him over to 2nd. Jared Clark got a free pass to first and then Nick Ramirez singled to right. Bases were now loaded for Khris Davis. Davis hit the ball to right field where it was caught, but it was a sac fly and Colon scored bringing the Titans into the lead for the first time since the top of the first. They then held on so Noe Ramirez took his 3rd win, while Michael Morrison took his 3rd save on the season.

I totted up a few stats because I was interested to see how we played during this extended road trip. . .here’s how we stand:

As you can see we outscored our opponents by a total of 50 runs, which works out to outscoring our opponents on average of 6.25 runs per game over the course of the trip, even with the loss. And look at the batting averages of our starters. Whatever was in the water or the air on this trip, I just hope they bring it on home to Goodwin Field and continue their run of total domination with the bats.
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LK Gardner-Griffie
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit: Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
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To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

At the end of 5 innings, the score was tied 4-all. Khris Davis helped to break the tie at the top of the 6th by taking the first pitch over the right center wall. Joe Scott helped extend the lead to 6-4 by grounding out to short, but driving in Dustin Garneau who tripled during the previous at bat. Kyle Witten gave up one run in the bottom of the 6th on a wild pitch, bringing the game tight again at 6-5.

The would be all for the Aggies, but the Titans were just getting warmed up. Both teams put up goose eggs in the 7th, but the Titans were able to extend the lead by one run when Dustin Garneau’s double brought home Khris Davis from first base. In the top of the 9th, Titans started off with a score of 7-5. We were hoping for another run or two as insurance against a potential onslaught by the Aggies in the bottom of the ninth. Well, we got all we asked for and more.

Christian Colon started off the Titan ninth with a single through the left side. Then Josh Fellhauer reached on a double to center field. The Aggies then brought in freshman right hander Ross Stripling, who until he met the Titans had a 0.0 ERA. Things were looking a little grim when the first batter he faced, Jared Clark struck out. The Aggies decided not to take a chance on Nick Ramirez coming to the plate and gave him an intentional pass. So Nick’s hitting streak will have to start over as he was hittless in tonight’s contest. Khris Davis came to the plate and got a two RBI single into center field. Jeff Newman laid down a sac bunt to the pitcher and drove Shevis Shima, who pinch ran for Ramirez, to third and Davis to second. The Titans were now up 9-5 with 2 outs. At home in section K, there’s nothing that we like better than a two out rally, and our team sure gave us one tonight.

The onslaught continued as Dustin Garneau walked and then Joe Scott hit a bases clearing double to right field. Then Gary Brown hit one over the left field wall for a two RBI dinger. Christian Colon, up for the second time during the inning, put the next ball over the left field fence as well with a solo home run. Then Josh Fellhauer singled to left field. The pain came to an end for the Aggies when Matt Fahey, pinch hitting for Jared Clark struck out looking.

The Titans ended up outhitting the Aggies 21-8, with 4 of the 21 hits being home runs. Josh Fellhauer and Christian Colon both hit 4 a piece and each had one of the home runs, while Gary Brown, Khris Davis, and Dustin Garneau each getting 3 hits, with Brown and Davis each going long for one of them. Noe Ramirez got the start, but left the game with the score tied. Kyle Witten took the win. The team will now head on to Stillwater, Oklahoma to play in a tournament with Oklahoma State and Rhode Island this weekend.
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LK Gardner-Griffie
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit: Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
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To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

Our somewhat silent bats have finally come alive, and in today’s game the Titans, not known for being a power hitting team, managed to blast 5 home runs during the course of the game. In fact, during the 3-game series, the Titans managed to put the ball over the fence 10 times total, and in the first game 3 homers in one inning. Not bad for a weekend. Nick Ramirez led the pack with one home run in each game, and he has extended his hitting streak to 9 games. Other multi-home run hitters were Jared Clark, and Dustin Garneau with two apiece. The remainder were single home runs hit by Josh Fellhauer, Christian Colon, and Khris Davis. Davis currently leads the home run derby with 5 on the year, closely followed by Nick Ramirez with 4.

Daniel Renken totted up his 2nd win as the Titans breezed past the Eagles 15-2 on Friday night. Kyle Whitten had to leave the game early due to an issue with his hip, but Noe Ramirez took the ball and led the team to the 2nd win 11-6 on Saturday. This also marked Noe’s 2nd win on the season. Tyler Pill garnered his 2nd win in the Sunday game with a final score of 11-3.

The Titans will stop in New Orleans tonight so they can practice Monday at LSU’s new stadium before going on to play Texas A&M on Tuesday night. Let’s hope the streak continues.
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LK Gardner-Griffie
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit: Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
For other e-book formats, visit Smashwords.com
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review