Bulldogs4

Bottom line is win baby. We can beat FSU once but not sure we can beat them twice. Obviously their pitching is going to drop off some from last night. We will see later what happens.

State’s wildness on the mound that was so bad earlier in the year has reared its ugly head again last night and again today. Uggghhh

Well check that thought. Free Shoes blowing us out now.

USM with a tremendous comeback to stay alive. OM holds off a pesky Murray State ball club to play another game Sunday. One game at a time. State trailing FSU 2-1 in the third inning in what is shaping up to be a heck of a good game tonight.

Quote ”so don’t want to put the cart before the horse.” Which is what our friends in Oxford & Hattiesburg did last night. Playing at home is great but sometimes it can work against you as the lower seed visitor plays loose and free and the home team starts feeling the pressure and weight of expectations. It can then become a burden and you start worrying about losing instead of just playing baseball to win the game. Now later in the tournament it can cycle back in your favor as the crowd can help carry a team. Obviously for OM & USM, it is now win or go home. And you can only win one game at a time. Hopefully all three of our squads win today.

Arnold is certainly a tremendous pitcher but his ERA is 3.04 so he has given up some runs during the season. Will be a big challenge. I am sure we will try to grind AB’s to get his pitch count up. We have faced a number of great pitchers all year long so I know we will not be intimidated. Let’s tee it up and see what happens.

I mentioned earlier that to win the second game you have to win the first game. Very dangerous to not throw your best pitcher in the first game. Now I know some of you will say that State did not do that but we don’t have an All-American Ace like USM and Ole Miss do. Parker, I think decided to pitch a guy that he thought matched up well with the opponent and it worked. Now we will see if Pico can pitch well tomorrow night against FSU. We will see what happens. Plus it is double elimination so both OM & USM still have a lot to play for.

No surprise that we are seeing some interesting scores today. Every team in a Regional is capable and all SEC Teams are going to get the other team’s best shot. Just the way it is. Bama was about three feet short of a walk off. But that was a good game between them and MIA. Little stat for later. Even though they lost they made the MIA closer throw almost 30 pitches in one inning. You never know how that might be a factor.

Not necessarily expecting it but the team could mess up the timing of the coaching search by winning this weekend.

Certainly not worried about a SR at this point. Just need to first win Friday.

It is always an interesting option for the one seed as to whether to hold your ace for game two or throw him in game one. Certainly there is a lot of reasons to hold him unless it backfires on you and you lose game one. Personally, you have to win game one before you can win game two. Putting the cart before the horse can put you on thin ice. For State, we need to play well and win this first game. Nothing comes easy in a Regional. Northeastern may not have name recognition but we all know smaller schools can play some excellent baseball. One silver lining is maybe they are due for a loss….LOL…,with a twenty-seven game winning streak on the line.

Oxford would be a NO since we are conference opponents. Hattiesburg is a possibility but I am sure USM does not want State in their Regional. Will be interesting to see where we end up.

I just don’t think Auburn is quite as good as their metrics say they are. I know on paper and generally on the field they have played well but I don’t get the sense that they are not beatable in a Regional. Just something about them that makes me think they are vulnerable.

I think Tennessee played themselves out of a host slot. Which means only one of the three aforementioned GT, UCLA or TCU will get hosed. Again my opinion only. State will be a Three Seed and it will be interesting to see where we end up. Props to Ole Miss for showing up and playing well this week. Should be a good game tomorrow. Will be interesting to see how each coach manages their respective pitching staffs. I am thinking you may see a lot of arms pitch on both sides.

Georgia Tech too…

Ole Miss with a big win over FL. Hosting opportunity is still a slim possibility but all you can do at this point is win and make the committee’s decision harder.

Actually I am fine with flying under the radar as a three seed. Nobody needs to pay any attention to us…

State getting crushed in Hoover by A&M. While I was hoping to win a game or two, it is not the worst thing to happen. Come home and get a break and get ready for a Regional.

State women lose to TT 9-6 to conclude a good but not quite great season. But certainly the program has been consistently good over the last 6-7 years. Defeated Bama on the road two out of three this year. And were very competitive with everyone on the schedule. Seemed like we ran into a buzz saw out at Texas Tech this weekend. Ole Miss down early to AZ but still need to only win one game tonight.

USM with a sweep over a good Troy team on the road. With a good showing in the Conference Tournament how do they not host? I think they have earned it.

State women stay alive with a wild back and forth 11-10 win over Washington. Have to beat Texas Tech twice but I think we certainly capable of doing such a thing. Let’s Go Dawgs!!! Ole Miss is in the drivers seat with two wins in their regional and now just need one victory to advance to the Supers.

The 2017 Hattiesburg Regional was the infamous mud bog Regional that State had no business winning but we somehow managed to do so. Ideally I would like to win a couple of games in Hoover and then come home. Don’t really care to win it as that would not help us any. At this juncture we are high 3/low 2 and that is not going to change any.

USM wins again at Troy. Dang they are going to make it tough for the NCAA not to give them a host spot if they keep winning. 40-13 overall 23-6 in the conference is impressive even if the Sunbelt is down done some this year.

Not me for one. Schedule has been manageable but we have won games. Win tomorrow and we will have gone from 1-9 to 15-15. Seven weeks ago that was unthinkable. Still have to win though.

Need to end this in 7 innings and get back to the hotel. But we have stubbed our toe the last couple of innings and only lead 9-3 in the sixth inning.