South Caldwell at Butler - Live updates

I was standing close to the plate. First pitch was a little up and in but nothing ugly. After the hitter showed his dislike for the pitch Bumgardner rared back and let the next one fly. It looked down the middle but hard to tell as it was probably 6 feet over the catchers head. Hit the backstop net about 10 feet high on the fly. Butler players then started coming out of the dugout and umpires stopped the game to try to re-gain control. Everything settled down after that.

 

Madison was clearly not trying to hit Mickey. Yes the first pitch was in but it was to back him off the plate not to hit him. It was more of frustration showing on the part of the butler players than anything else. SC has a good club and I know they are loaded with pitching and I have only seen them play one time now, but I think they could be a more fundamentally sound team. They made a lot of errors and were really lose and careless on the base path. Maybe it was because of their lead and they were just being aggressive. None the less, a dropped ball by the first basemen along with a few base running errors put 2 more innings on Madison’s arm and kept it from possibly being the first time a #1 ranked team was 10 run ruled. Either way, it was an impressive win for SC and a great confidence builder for the rest of the way.

 

Warned both benches my butt that umpire didnt say a word to Bumgarner, who seemed like he could do no wrong, he was all about keeping Butler in the dugout which i almost wish he would have let somebody come out. Really lowered my opinion of Madison Bumgarner.

Besides that SC is an awesome team they destroyed the baseball today, umpire wasn't the best ever but not why we lost, good job spartans, that game was still crazy with that many people there.

Its a pretty good thing South has the pitching they do cause their defense ain't all that hot.

I also want to give a shout out to us butler fans who didnt shut up or calm down but cheered for their team the entire game.

 

Butler players were already running their mouth at Madison - the umpire had to get in front of the Butler player batting because he was running his mouth at Madison-that is the reason all this started. One of the Butler coaches had to keep the Butler players in their dugout or they would have come out over a pitch that was way over the batters head. They just lost their cool. The Butler catcher was upset at how they were playing and I believe he was one of the players they were holding back from coming out of the dugout, but he was hugging Madison after the game. Good game.

 

The pitch Madison threw was no where near the batter's head ... I was sitting right behind home plate. Rather it was about 10 feet higher than his head and to the outside of the plate. My first impression was maybe he was throwing it at the Butler fans knowing a net was back there to stop the ball but he seemed to imply that the ball just slipped after trying to overthrow it.

The prior pitch was up and inside to the batter and the batter was very upset. Josh Severt for SC got hit on 2 different occassions if I remember correctly. Madison hit one batter (or at least that is what the umpire said) It must have touched his jersey because the ball certainly didn't hit the Butler batter. If you get hit by Madison you usually go to the ground in pain.

 

If MB wanted to hit you I'm sure he could although in all the games we had against him I've never seen him intentionally hit someone. Having said that pitching inside is very much a part of the game.

 

No Braves believe it or not this is the WORST all around game we have played this year. We made at least 6 errors and got picked off the bases twice and thrown out by a mile at third. We did hit the ball well but the pitching for Butler wasn't that strong. As for the pitch over the hitters head it wasn't even close. Probablly 8 feet over his head. Really not as much tension as the radio must have made it sound. One guy for Butler came running out of the dugout and that was it. Then when the batter hit the ball he ran to first looking and mouthing at Bumgarner and not watching what he was doing and twisted his ankle on the bag. After the game both teams showed a lot of class.

 

I disagree totally. We did win the 4th round of the playoffs against the #1 ranked team in the State which was 24-1. Yea we may have had some mistakes but in the end we WON. If you are a true fan maybe you should show some support instead of all the critizism that you have shown. These guys beat themselves up enough when they make a mistake without anyone else's help.

 

I do not believe anyone was putting South down, but they made to many mistakes. If they had not been hitting well, they could have been beat. They will not win a state championship playing like they did last night. That is not putting them down and I am sure they know they made too many. The game should have been over in the 5th inning. It could have saved Madison two innings and at this point in the playoffs his arm needs rest. They are a team, but he probably frustrates him with all the mistakes made. He makes mistakes, but it is a lot of pressure on the pitcher.

 

Can't disagree with some of your comments. However like I said before these guys beat themselves up enough when they make a mistake without anyone else adding to it. Sometimes they need to hear what they do good and not only when they make mistakes. Remember these guys are playing because they love the game. Major league players also make errors and they get paid for what they do.