Bulldogs4

I think the pitching will improve and while the firepower will be down a bit I think we will be a good offense team next year as the season moves along.

Basically like I expected. Win the Regional and lose the SR. But I like where the program is headed. Future is bright.

Georgia can really hit but our pitching with the walks/HBP’s has been horrible. Aoki is like college version of Maddox. Very tough with changing speeds etc.

Ole Miss in two. Not surprised. They are just playing good baseball. Finding ways to win close games. And Auburn while a good team, IMO, they were not quite as good as they were ranked.

And I am not sure if there is any pitching that can completely shut down Georgia. They score runs and then they score more runs. Yes our bullpen is mediocre but they shelled Valincius for seven runs in less than five innings.

Sums it up. We are about one-two runs below Georgia.

Huge win for Ole Miss!! Ole Miss has had a knack for winning close games this year. Auburn is good but they have lost 21 games this year so they are not invincible. I do agree that for the road team, winning game 1 is vital.

Georgia is simply a better team than State. Not by very much but better. Now I have no idea what will happen this weekend. I give us a better chance than I would have 2-3-4 weeks ago. Ole Miss & Auburn is a toss up in my opinion. I give Ole Miss the edge here even on the road. Ole Miss has done a good job of finding ways to win close games. And that is the name of the game this time of the year.

Hosting can and does create extra pressure on the home team. And that pressure can vary depending on the experience of the team, the expectations of the team and fans, whether they have experienced failure at home over the recent seasons during said regional, the opposition teams of that particular regional (with respect to their own experience) plus the wildcard factors of the fact that anything can happen in a short weekend.

There are a ton of really good high school baseball players that get spread around the country. You look at Delta State and William Carey here in MS. Those two schools are probably mid level D1 programs playing at the DII and NAIA level. That is why I said there are no real upsets in baseball when you get to the Regionals. Every team is capable of making a run. Very competitive and that is what makes it fun.

St. John over Free Shoes Okie over Georgia Tech Just keeps getting better…

I am thinking the Georgia folks are shaking their heads …Like really, we have already beaten these guys four times this year. Could you have possibly matched us up with someone else…

Ole Miss & State advance on to SR. State will be at Georgia. We will be a very heavy underdog. Georgia is 4-0 against us this year and will be playing at home. Ole Miss could be at home against the Brewers. But Auburn most likely will win two in a row to set the earth back on its axis.

Hopefully we will see the McPherson in his early season form tonight. If he pitches like that and we get 5-6 innings out of him, I feel good about our chances. Bullpen is in good shape. Easy to say but hard to do, just need throw strikes. In retrospect, Coach probably should have pulled Valincious after 7 innings last night. He pitched phenomenally but he was out of gas in the eighth inning. Our approach at the plate has been good. We have put the wood on a number of balls and if we keep doing that we will score runs. Excellent win for Ole Miss. I felt like they were going to win that Regional and they are in good shape to do so now. Nebraska has a good team with great crowd support but that is one thing that does not affect SEC teams. We are used to playing in hostile environments. USM with a really good season but certainly was a disappointing end to the season. As a State fan & alum, I can well relate to losing at home (1984, 1989, 1992, 2003, 2016) to name a handful of times. It is gut wrenching to lose a Regional or SR at home. No two ways around it.

Ole Miss suspended until tomorrow.

I mentioned to a friend of mine that they may have used up all of their 9th inning magic in the SBC Tournament. They have a tough row to hoe. Not impossible but given the other teams down there, it is going to be difficult. CVG-State should be a good match up. Having Valincius pitching for State is certainly a plus. Even though Ole Miss went 14 innings into the wee hours I think they can and will beat Nebraska.

If there is a silver lining for Southern, UVA threw a lot of arms today.

Almost all the #4 seeds have a quality ace. And most have won pressure games to make it to a Regional. There is no pressure on them. Add all that up and those wins are really not upsets. Baseball is a fickle game. For State today, pitching Stone was the correct decision as he was a bad matchup for the Lipscomb lineup. Conversely, eventually State going to put some runs on the board even though the Lipscomb ace was a solid pitcher.

Down goes You See L A… Saint Mary’s for the win.

We all know how unpredictable Regionals can be.

And the fact that LR is a quality team. They beat LSU in BR last year and were competitive with them in the Championship Game of the Regional

WC lost so presumably they need to win two games to win the NC.

Yes, plus TT was severely under seeded. We were definitely overmatched today but tomorrow brings another day and we will see what happens.

WC has won three straight in the NAIA WS. They have a great chance of bringing it home. Hopefully they will finish the job. State Girls lose 8-0 to TT. Tough day but our ladies are resilient. Hopefully they will bounce back tomorrow and get a win against Texas.

GO CRUSADERS!!!