Bulldogs4

Ole Miss is in good shape. You guys will win tomorrow. A&M is all smoke and mirrors and it is about to crack up on them. USM with another win is certainly helping themselves. If they can finish the sweep, they will be in prime position to host provided they have a strong conference tournament.

I don’t think this year will be duplicated next year. It was/is an aberration. We will be fine next year.

I am sorry I did not make that clear. USM is playing at Middle Tennessee State this weekend . The attendance was 734. Which is shameful because I think MTSU is in second place in CUSA. Not surprising that USM’s record crowd would be against Ole Miss or State. Even if it is a midweek game, that is always going to be a big game. But overall, I believe the attendance there has been excellent this year. They sold a record number of season tickets this year.

As Coach Polk used to say, you might want to save some of those runs for another day. Tennessee is a tremendous team and could very well win it all this year but we know how cruel baseball can be. However as of now they are the best team in the country.

Thankfully the season will end Saturday for State. I think A&M must have a lucky Eight Ball somewhere. They are not that good but they are sitting at 18-10 in the conference. Ole Miss wins the next two games. USM with a huge win tonight @ MTSU. I took a quick glance at the box score and the attendance there was 734. Sad. I am glad our schools support baseball.

Of course State-OM is still a rivalry and it is hard to judge the other weekends against that one. Definitely OM had no busy getting swept by Bama. State & Ole Miss splitting four games was no real surprise. But baseball is a fickle game and you get some of these weekends that leave you scratching your head as to what happened. Confidence wise State was in a much better place a month ago. I agree that the team is not much different physically speaking but there is zero confidence that they can even win a conference game now versus a month ago.

But the State team that A&M beat is not even in the same stratosphere as the State team that split with Ole Miss a month ago. Ole Miss sweeps or at worst wins 2 out of 3.

Optimistic about State are we? Just kidding though I have no idea what might happen. Most likely we lose all three. But baseball is a fickle game and who knows, State could catch lightning in a bottle this weekend. Ole Miss sweeps A&M. They are playing well and A&M just is not that good. USM desperately needs a sweep over MTSU to get back in the hosting discussion. Hopefully they get it.

A&M is not that good. We are just plain bad. Ole Miss sweeps or will at least win 2 of 3 from A&M this weekend. USM with a huge win today. They need to sweep Middle Tennessee to get back in the hosting discussion. Tough to do on the road but is possible.

As of now, I don’t see State winning another game (even N. Bama will probably beat us) the rest of the year. The team is playing hard, defense is still impeccable, but pitching is horrific, hitting is wildly inconsistent and nonexistent with men on base. UT will beat us with their back-ups next week. Ole Miss is playing well. USM finally stopped the bleeding but they have still lost 6 of their last 9 games. Hosting is out the window at this point but they will be a decent two seed somewhere else. Unless they go on a great roll and win out. That is about the only path to host now.

We are like Paul Simon’s “Fifty Ways to leave your Lover” song with the lyrics being “50 ways to lose a baseball game” or currently this year “25 ways to lose a baseball game “

Yep. Give up 4 runs in the 7th inning on one hit. Kind of sums it up in a nutshell.

2010 South Panola team was great. Meridian was 14-0 coming in to that game and we were really good that year. They beat us 28-7. The 2005 SP team was also great. Steam rolled us 52-14 in the championship game. Amory had a really great team I think in 1995. The 1985 Meridian defense has to be the best defense in the history of Mississippi High School football (at least among the large 5A-6A schools). Outscored the opposing team offenses 37-34 for the season. 9 shutouts on the season. Held opposing teams to an average of 2.5 points per game. Held David Fair RB for Starkville to under 100 yards both games (regular season and championship game). Fair was a great RB in HS who later suffered a career ending knee injury. Defense was led by Demetrius Hill & Company. He was a MAN among boys. Hill is absolutely the defensive player that I have ever seen on the HS level. He was a DT with an amazing combination of strength, quickness and agility. But it is difficult to pick one team. Goula in 1987 was really good as well. But it is fun to share opinions and memories.

Not sure about Meridian being #8 in 6A. We are certainly improved but the end of last season was very disappointing. We had a decent chance to make the playoffs. Injuries were an issue but all teams experience injuries. Depth is very much a problem. I hope we have more numbers this year. The roster was very thin last year.

More than hope. Ole Miss is in very good shape to make a run over the next three weeks. Obviously they need to win 4/6 the next two weekends and then a couple of games in the tournament. Still a lot of work to do but it is very doable. USM’s hosting opportunity is gone barring a run starting this weekend. They have hurt themselves badly losing 5 of the last 7 games. Still safely in the tournament but very disappointing to go from a National seed to not hosting in less than two weeks.

I gonna keep beating a dead horse because that is what we are now. Well maybe a dead diamond dawg. Actually I should not demean a horse after all “Rich Strike” was the least likely to have won the Derby but he did. Maybe I can just follow horse racing for a while going forward. The losses just keep adding up and it now appears that we will finish below .500 for the season. Samford has a good club but we were trailing them 8 To Zip in the third inning. Crucial game for OM and USM tomorrow in Hattiesburg. Absolutely a must win for both squads for different reasons. USM needs win to remain in the mix to host a regional. OM desperately needs a win to stay in consideration for a NCAAT bid Good Luck to both squads.

Excellent weekend for Ole Miss. End of the road for State still appears to be May 21st. Danger signals for USM. Still a very good team but the last two weekends have been bad. Losing a game is okay but to lose two weekend series in a row is not a good look. I know they have some injuries but they were sitting pretty for a NS and now hosting could be be in jeopardy if they don’t right the ship over the next couple of weekends.

This is has become very simple now. Season will end May 21st and then we will have a long offseason to prepare for next season. Disappointing though I know our players are playing with great effort. But it is not happening this year. Plain and simple. As I have said recently “we are who we are right now” And that is a team that is average at best and mediocre at worst.

Yes that is true but I was not on the bandwagon that State was going to be a top ten team this year. I thought we would struggle early but get better as the season progressed. And at least be a Regional team. I had no thoughts that we would be struggling to just make the SECT. I tried to caution my friends that this was a new year and not to expect the same results from recent years. I do think recruiting has been fine. There is plenty of talent but it has not gelled. Our defense has been good. But the two other important aspects of baseball are timely hitting and pitching and we have failed in both of those areas badly. Injuries have affected that but other pitchers have just not developed like you think would. Ole Miss is definitely a mystery. That team is much better than their record or seemingly they should be.

Too inconsistent. I agree that it has been an odd year. Hard to put your finger on it and I agree that the pitching injuries are one piece of the puzzle but it is way, way more than that. I am almost to the point of let’s just get the season over with and start fresh next year. Exasperating is good way to describe this team. Though regardless of how it ends up I would at least like to put a chink in Tennessee’s armor in a couple of weeks.

Good win for Kentucky. No idea about our teams. Ole Miss needs a sweep desperately (and it is very possible). In fact I am going to say Ole Miss sweeps. State needs 2/3 badly but I have no idea what might happen.

Not getting the Lemonis criticism. One of my good friends just plain does not like him even after winning the NC last year. He says we won it despite Lemonis. I disagree with that whole heartedly. I think he is a very good coach and recruiter. However the whole recruiting deal is still a crap shoot. On paper, the recruiting may look really good but until the players are on campus and actually playing real games, you really do not know how good they are going to be. Coming into this season, I expected us to struggle and we have though I thought we would have been improving as the season transpired. Injuries have played a role as well. Losing 4 pitchers to injuries is a lot to overcome. Plus the average fan forgets that we , as NC’s are getting everybody’s best shot every game we play this year.

Most definitely am pulling for USM this year to make a deep run. Had a hiccup this weekend at UAB but they were due to lose a game or two. Plus UAB is a decent team this year. Scott Berry has done a good job over years down there.

Well at least we do not have to wonder any longer about the fate of our teams. I mean obviously we are both still technically alive but realistically the Fat Lady is warming up and is she just behind the curtain.

Teams are very similar. Have lots of WTF innings and moments and games (I mean that bad and good). No idea what to expect today.