MVC baseball power shift?

[ShockValue]

That injury was one of the worst moments ever in college sports. For those who don't recall the details there was an article written a couple of years ago that updated Molina's current status.

http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_0 ... 002e0.html

[Realhoops]

(along with the segment of the WSU fanbase that passionately defended the right to permanently injure a kid who had the gall to "time pitches" from the on-deck area).

Of course this statement is false and bulls**t. I know of no one who defends the intentional injury to any opposing player. If Anthony Molina had been in the on-deck-circle this never would have happened. You happened to have a catcher and pitcher that decided they would send a message to an opposing player that was in the wrong position timing pitches.

You know of no one who defends it ... except that you pretty much do so right there with your suggesting "[i]f Anthony Molina had been in the on-deck circle this never would have happened" and your noting that they "decided they would send a message to an opposing player that was in the wrong position timing pitches." You say it's not defensible, but then pretty much shift blame to the injured player.

[bigdawg]

The article says Molina was like 24 feet from home plate. Christensen is lucky he didn't end up in jail and how the WSU coach(es) weren't fired speaks volumes about the program and why no one is upset that WSU is falling into college baseball obscurity.

[Ferd Berfel]

No the blame sits directly on Ben and Brian Preston, the catcher at the time.

They decided that a warning throw in his direction would be a good idea, not the coaching staff.

[bigdawg]

No the blame sits directly on Ben and Brian Preston, the catcher at the time.

They decided that a warning throw in his direction would be a good idea, not the coaching staff.

But wasn't the coach on record after the incident as saying he taught them to throw at players timing pitches?

[Ferd Berfel]

But wasn't the coach on record after the incident as saying he taught them to throw at players timing pitches?

No, he said that he taught pitchers to pitch inside to hitters, not throw at them before the game starts.

[DoubleJayAlum]

But wasn't the coach on record after the incident as saying he taught them to throw at players timing pitches?

No, he said that he taught pitchers to pitch inside to hitters, not throw at them before the game starts.

According to the article linked above:

Christensen was suspended for the remainder of the season along with Wichita State pitching coach Brent Kemnitz, who allegedly instructed his pitchers to throw at batters who stood too near the plate and tried to time their warm-up pitches. (Kemnitz was reinstated the following season and remains a member of the Wichita State staff today.)

I guess the term "allegedly" indicates that there wasn't complete consensus on whether Kemnitz taught him to do that or not, but obviously the guys weren't instructed that it wasn't okay to do so. Considering the outrage after the incident, I find it unlikely that Kemnitz would admit to giving the order anyway, so I guess we'll never know for sure, but I doubt that the author of the article would put that phrase in there if he just made it up... More importantly though, why would the pitching coach be suspended if he had no role in the incident?

As to my earlier comments about WSU fans defending the incident, there were comments on ValleyTalk over the years where WSu fans did just that.

If the entire incident is the cause of the downfall of the WSU program, I guess there is Karma after all. Was the WSu catcher ever suspended?

[Ferd Berfel]

If the entire incident is the cause of the downfall of the WSU program, I guess there is Karma after all. Was the WSu catcher ever suspended?

It certainly was a terrible incident that no one that I know is proud of, the catcher was never involved in the inquiry and I have never figured out why.

[WSUbballer]

Karma gave WSU 11 more NCAA regionals after the incident, including 2 super regionals. They were 1 win from the CWS less than 3 years ago, so sorry, not quite.

Any person trying to suggest a certain block of people think it's ok to bean somebody like that and that hitting them in the head was intentional is just trolling per the usual. Claiming to know all of the details as an outside fan is really funny.

Gotta love how nobody wants to talk about the power shift because of resurgent juggernaut Creighton but instead of an incident with skewed perceptions that happened 12 years ago. Even when WSU is down, the talk of Valley baseball is still about WSU.

[jayball]

I don't know much about WSU baseball's current trajectory, but a few conversations with people from those parts makes it seem like the natives are getting pretty restless. In a way it reminded me of the talk around Dana in his last few years at CU. Obvioulsy Gene was much more successful in his sport and has a much longer tenure, but the worm seems to be turning on him as it was turning on Dana. I don't think people are as forgiving for down years after a coach takes another job and then comes back.

As for Creighton moving into a "power role....I think CU has a long way to go to turn the baseball program and new stadium into a "power" center. The new digs are immeasureably better than the sports complex and will be at least SOMETHING to recruit to, but the tuition level to scholarship ratio is still going to be a recruiting challenge, northern school is still going to be a challenge, ect. That said I really appreciate the efforts of the Ath Dept to try to raise the bar for baseball with the new investments they are making. Hope it works.