I would have posted this as the second half of the blog concerning Brandon Wikoff, but I've always been taught that blogs are supposed to be somewhat brief.
At any rate, the second bit of good fortune shone directly on Bradley freshman pitcher Jacob Booden. Here's a kid in a rough spot. With the Braves' lack of pitching depth, Booden has been thrust into a midweek starting role despite being 6-foot-6 and weighing 190 pounds. Early in his senior year, I had him clocked between 85-87 mph. He was a prime redshirt candidate.
At any rate, Booden received a terrible scare in the bottom of the first. After giving up a lead-off single to Joe Bonadonna, Booden gave up a screaming line drive to Ilinois' No. 2 hitter, Casey McMurray. The ball would have struck Booden squarely in the forehead had he not looked down.
Instead the ball used the bill and crown of Booden's hat as a ramp and ricocheted. It was hit so hard that it still had enough to momentum to carry into the right-center field gap and allowed McMurray to leg out a double.
Booden initially stayed on his feet and even attempted to field the errant throw to second. But he went down to the ground near third and stayed down for several minutes while being tended to by the BU training staff. Booden walked off under his own power and was still being monitored by the BU staff as the game, which Illinois won 11-9, ended.
I would like to once again renew my call for wood bats to be used in amateur baseball. I understand why aluminum bats became popular, but they have become more and more dangerous. In the past five years alone, no fewer than six Illinoisans -- whether at the collegiate level or high-school level -- have been struck in the head by line drives and that's just the ones that I know of.
It's time to switch back to wood, both for safety and scouting purposes. No matter what the studies show, you'll never convince me that a ball hit off a metal bat exits at the same speed as a wood bat. I've faced both and the metal bat balls are on you a lot quicker. Secondly, I would imagine that wood bats would make it much easier to identify players who can truly hit and not just let the aluminum do the work.
Again, just my opinion.
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