Just going to squeeze this in before tonight’s game is done, I think.
POTG: C Anthony Recker (HR, 1 R, 3RBI)
As mentioned before, the one big name prospect the Cougars have this season is Craig Italiano, and every scouting report has been pretty much the same.
High school pitcher with great fastball. Probably destined for a relief role
I’d like to tell you I found some insight everyone else missed, but, nope, that’s exactly it. Italiano has one great fastball (up to 96 MPH – either he’s added 2 MPH or the stadium gun is fast) that killed in the first inning and faded after that. He got hit early because as fast as the fastball is, it’s quite straight, and lost 2 MPH off that fastball by the second inning. He got rattled when his CF dropped a ball he should’ve had, he got rattled (and pitched slow) when people got on, and he ran out of gas and got murdered in the long 5th inning. Good thing I picked that inning to stroll around. Cougars kept the game from getting out of hand after, with the 3 run HR, but it wasn’t in much doubt.
After two games, I’ve realized that even though I paid for a seat, I appear to being assigned to a bench. It hasn’t mattered yet – there are always plenty of open seats available for April baseball – but it’s obviously this year’s season ticket goof up and will be annoying if I don’t take care of it soon. I need to track down my receipt and figure this out.
I wouldn’t have sat in my assigned seat regardless. There were about 100 kids of various ages and 5 adults as part of a church group in the section, and the kids were completely winning the battle. I wanted no part of that and ended up sitting near the Quad City bullpen for a change. (Didn’t help the team! 1st base side next time!)