Bulldogs4

Continuing disappointment for State as we were manhandled tonight by Tennessee. Ole Miss with a blow out win over LSU and USM drops a decision at Lafayette. Ole Miss is playing well. State is terrible right now and USM is mediocre at best. Two of these teams need to right the ship. I do believe both will turn it around and in time will be playing better baseball. However it is apparent that State was never a top five team or even top ten team. Top 20-25 team, yes but I do think we were given the benefit of a really good new coach and an infusion of talent that made us appear better than we actually were. We certainly have the potential to be that good going forward but as of now we are not.

I am not that concerned. Certainly frustrating but the last four games have all been winnable. As I have mentioned baseball is so fickle. Tonight Bauer pitched pretty well in the eighth inning even though they scored runs off of him. The hit batsman was his only mistake and it was costly. We just need to win a game and kind of get the monkey off our backs.

State is in one of those funks that happen in baseball. Playing just well enough to lose by one run and playing just poorly enough to lose by one run. Plus just had some tough fortune tonight in the eighth inning. Defensively and offensively as well. Just got to play through it and we will be fine.

I seldom pull against a SEC team in any sport but today I was a UCLA fan (even though I did not watch it) when they played SCAR. And they did not just beat them, they just totally blew them out…LOL

This team is far from the best ever. We have lots good pieces but I think we got just a bit too comfortable and overconfident. And we were humbled for it. Coach was fussing at the team after the game Tuesday night about having a poor approach to the game. I kind of think he might have seen this coming. Lesson learned and I do think we will benefit from this later in the season. Quite frankly Georgia just played better than we did across all phases of the game each of the three games.

Glad to get this weekend over.

USM lost yesterday to OD as well. All three teams need a win today. Especially all three LOL…

Yep. Sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due. They had a couple more big hits than we did. We had our opportunities just did not cash in. As I said baseball is a fickle game. Just need to flush this one and come out tomorrow and play a bit better and get a win.

He is still a Freshman. Coach O’Connor & Parker were smart to not pitch him in a game for that three week period. Now he has some confidence and he seems to be pitching well. They exercised patience which us fans seem to rarely have these days. We want things to be perfect yesterday when in reality development is an evolving situation. Especially for young players.

Not necessarily a bad loss for State as we were about due for one. But you know the Georgia players and coaches ***** were clenched tight from the seventh inning on. Even though we played poor early on that was a nice comeback. This team rarely if ever is going to be completely out of a game. Tonight should have been one of those nights down eight runs but we did not throw in the towel. Reminds of the ‘85 & ‘89 teams with the ability to score runs in bunches and at any point in the game. And especially with two outs. I called it that Ole Miss was going to play better this weekend and with this win, they definitely have a good chance to win the series against Florida. And now maybe USM will get back on track. Baseball is a fickle game. Old Mo can come and evaporate in a hurry.

This week’s Georgia-State match up should be a great series. Definitely do not see a sweep but hopefully we can take two of three. I think Ole Miss wins the series at Florida. I think the State series was of those weekends where they started pressing. This week on the road I think they will play relaxed and win two. USM, I think got a bit overconfident after winning those big games early in the season. Now they are getting everybody’s best shot and they have not responded very well. The SBC is a decent baseball conference and even the lower level teams are capable of winning a game or two against the better teams. Especially when they are hyped up about playing a top twenty team. USM has played themselves out of top 8 seed and are on the verge of not even being a top 16 seed.

I always call that the Dave Kingman approach. His average was about .210 with 50 HR’s and a ton of strikeouts. And about 90 RBI’s. When he cranked one out it was a bomb but in between lots of K’s. State had that kind of offense two-three years ago.

Umpiring can be very frustrating for all teams but especially when you are on the losing end of a game(s). I think Friday night deflated Ole Miss and it carried over to Saturday and Sunday. Momentum can be fickle and it seemed to me that State jumped on it Friday night in the ninth inning and just rode it on through the weekend. State’s pitching staff has made some strides but there is still lots of improvement in front of them as well. Most of the time, walking 8 batters will get you beat in a game. We were fortunate in that regard. Having a comfortable lead helped and the guys did a good job of getting out 4 bases loaded situations. On the other side of the coin, perhaps the Ole Miss batters were pressing a bit as well. Still a great weekend for State and sets up a great weekend series with Jawja THU-SAT.

Basically a business like win for State today. Valincius did not have his best stuff but still managed 5 shut out innings. We kept Ole Miss in the ballpark with 0 HR’s. Huge difference in the game being 6-1 as opposed to 6-4/6-5/6-7 had they gone yard a few times Just a solid win. Did not think we would have a chance for a sweep but we will see how it goes tomorrow. Look for more crooked numbers for both teams in game 3. Go Diamond Dawgs!

On TV it looked brutally cold and windy. Glad I was at home watching on TV…LOL. At least the sun will be out today but it is still going to be windy and cold. Tomorrow afternoon looks a bit better.

Great game tonight and a great start by Foster to give us a chance. Elliot was great until we finally got to him in the sixth inning. We said BB’s will kill you against Ole Miss and they almost did. I knew when Davis walked two batters they were going to hit a HR. It almost cost us as well. Good win for State and a tough loss for Ole Miss.

Yes. He has struggled mightily thus far. Biggest key tonight IMO is to throw strikes. BB’s will kill you against a team like Ole Miss who is HR heavy. That will be the key. If he can give us 4-5 innings of good pitching (holding them to four or less runs) we will have a chance to win. But if they score 6-7 runs early, it will be very difficult.

Maybe so but not too much. USM still has an excellent team. Just ran into a buzz saw last night. Plus State was probably looking for some payback after the first game. Especially when we felt like we gifted the game to Southern. Though losing the game at USM was probably the best thing that could have happened to State. Learned a tough lesson about the difficulties of playing on the road (especially in a rivalry game).

I think your thought about BB’s is the most important. Solo HR’s will generally not beat you. But 2,3 or 4 HR’s will beat you. That is the key. And I agree with you that we will piece together Friday night and then throw Valincius and Stone Saturday and Sunday. All that to say it is rivalry series and emotion will come into play with these games. Though I am not sure if all the players (on either side) fully understand that. Since there are many more out of state players and transfers this season (especially for State). I do think the State guys got a taste of that in Hattiesburg in the first USM game and hopefully learned a valuable lesson. Playing in Oxford will be on another level though from Hattiesburg.

Ole Miss had the classic looking ahead game. Memphis is generally pretty weak so I am sure they went into that game overconfident. And it bit them in the butt. Don’t think it really affects the upcoming weekend but at the same time for Regional purposes/seeding and hosting purposes it definitely hurts Ole Miss somewhat. State OTOH did not have to worry about underestimating the opponent tonight. We played very well against a really good team. And the news on McPherson is definitely encouraging. Hopefully he will not be out too long. Our younger pitchers seem to be growing up some (which is to be expected) as the season progresses.

State is pouring it on tonight. 12-0 in the fifth inning over USM. I can honestly say I did not expect this. I thought we would have a competitive game with midweek pitchers throwing well. State’s arms have looked good but Southern’s guys have had a struggle so far.

Tremendous weekend for State. Vandy is definitely battling some issues but to emphatically win all three games says a lot about this team. Tuesday night game with USM will be interesting to say the least. Be another game where we see a lot of pitchers for both teams.

Good day for all three teams. And the crowds USM just shy of 5500 Ole Miss almost 10 grand and State with almost 15 grand Just over 30K in total!! Pretty awesome across the board!!! Valincius in 5th - 7th innings (8K’s and one ground out). Can’t imagine topping that anytime soon. Big games tomorrow for State & USM. Need to win to keep the momentum going. And definitely a good win for Ole Miss today to win the series!!!

Yes, that hire was probably the worst in SEC baseball history. He was done when he retired at LSU. A head scratcher at the very least.

Both coaches have connections to Meridian. We lived across the street from Coach Knight’s grandmother many years ago. And his Mother met his Dad (Coach Jug Knight) when she was a Sr. at St. Aloysius High School in Meridian and Jug was hired as the basketball coach. Steve Knight has been a great coach for decades. Coach Knight’s Mom (Ms. Anne) is still living and is a wonderful lady. Bobby Halford was a great baseball player at Meridian. He was part of the 1971 Championship team that was loaded with great players. Mike Boyd (Oil Can’s older brother) was a pitcher who made it to AAA ball in the Dodger’s organization. Richie McAlister, briefly made it to the Big leagues with the Red Sox, David Covert and several others. And likewise, William Carey has had a great baseball program for decades. But well beyond Coaching, both of those Men are great people. If I had had a son I would want them to play for one of those guys.