In my baseball state of the union that came out this morning (shameless self plug) I stated that the top 3 of Austin, Nelson, and Johnston is up there with the best in the country but made the case that this still isn’t nearly enough to win against good teams. I said that the rest of the lineup would HAVE to step up because relying on those top 3 for 50-75% of your offense just isn’t a realistic way to win. Now, Xavier is a good team, I would’ve told you that you would need significant contributions from the rest of the team to win this significantly, what I didn’t account for is that the top 3 might be THIS good.
Tonight, Austin, Nelson, and Johnston accounted for half of the team’s hits, 5 of 6 XBHs, 66% of the RBIs, and scored 7 runs. Those three alone were good enough to beat Xavier by themselves.
Now, this isn’t to overlook the other production Vandy got. Barczi had 2 hits and his first homer, Humphrey just won’t stop hitting and had 2 hits of his own, and Rose had both a hit and some great ABs. It was because of them that vandy won by run ruling Xavier but if you’re simply looking at whether they would’ve won the game, all you need is Austin, Nelson, and Brodie.
So. Tonight supports my assessment that those 3 make up one of the most formidable top-of-the-orders in the country. But I was clearly misguided in saying that just those 3 weren’t enough to beat a good team. They’re just that good.
I wouldn’t be surprised that so long as they get the pitching support (which I think they can with Thompson/Hawks/Bowker/Green) those 3 can very easily steal us a few games that we otherwise wouldn’t win against some high quality teams.
Tonight, Austin, Nelson, and Johnston accounted for half of the team’s hits, 5 of 6 XBHs, 66% of the RBIs, and scored 7 runs. Those three alone were good enough to beat Xavier by themselves.
Now, this isn’t to overlook the other production Vandy got. Barczi had 2 hits and his first homer, Humphrey just won’t stop hitting and had 2 hits of his own, and Rose had both a hit and some great ABs. It was because of them that vandy won by run ruling Xavier but if you’re simply looking at whether they would’ve won the game, all you need is Austin, Nelson, and Brodie.
So. Tonight supports my assessment that those 3 make up one of the most formidable top-of-the-orders in the country. But I was clearly misguided in saying that just those 3 weren’t enough to beat a good team. They’re just that good.
I wouldn’t be surprised that so long as they get the pitching support (which I think they can with Thompson/Hawks/Bowker/Green) those 3 can very easily steal us a few games that we otherwise wouldn’t win against some high quality teams.
