He was rolling through the line up the previous three innings. I'm not sure Norgren would have got the guy at first had his throw been on target - high bounce and a long throw, but because the throw was off, he got the E5 and Landon wasn't responsible for the subsequent runs scored.

It seems that so-called "mid majors" can take more chances in non-conference season as at large bids to the NCAA are very rare. The "safe" play would be to pull Smiddy and pitch your closer (who is the closer, by the way?). However, why not take a chance with your reliever that has been strong? There will be a game in conference season in which we need to get an extra inning of relief - why not try now?

Another question that could be asked is why couldn't we get at least the tying run in the bottom of the 9th? We got a break with the HB call; I'm not saying he wasn't hit, but it wasn't apparent that he was. The sacrifice got Cannady to 2nd, but Bryce didn't hit it far enough to advance Cannady to 3rd and Ashton couldn't close the deal. If there were two guys I'd want in the batter's box in this situation, they would be Bryce and Ashton.