Bulldogs4

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.

Agreed. We are consistently inconsistent. We suck one day and then we don’t suck one day. Just alternate each day.

State’s offense is so inconsistent that we will probably score 2 runs today and lose 3-2.

Smith is not your classic ace as he pitches to contact. But the key with him is that he throws strikes and walks very few batters. DeLucia has been money the last two starts for Ole Miss. One good win for each. Now another must win game looms tomorrow. We will see what happens.

Honestly, I don’t see either State or Ole Miss making the NCAAT. It is what it is. Neither of us are better than average right now. Opportunity is there but realistically it is hard to see State going 7-5 over the next 12 games. For Ole Miss, you need to go 9-3. I think 15-15 is the minimum barring a run in the SECT. And It is hard to envision either of us making a deep run in the SECT. I had predicted us going 2-2 against each other and that is what happened. Teams are about equal overall though there are some differences in the strengths and weaknesses of each. All that said, I hope we keep battling and find a way to make it happen.

Combest’s Home-run may still be in the air. That ball was crushed. Plus he hit a curve ball which generally his weakness. The game was just like I thought it would be. It was going to be a game down to the wire and neither team quit fighting. I think the two teams combined for about 20 HR’s this weekend. But the difference was State hit more with men on base than did Ole Miss. I think only two of Ole Miss homers were with men on base. The Pearl game is very important as well. Probably a good thing this series ended today. By Tuesday everybody’s pitching will be rested and I suspect we see pitching by committee at Trustmark.

Both squads are having a tough year. Today’s game is very important. The loser is in a really must win situation Tuesday night. If one team loses the next two games, the dark clouds are really going to start squeezing out the daylight going forward. I honestly have no idea how it will go though I did predict a 2-2 split originally so I will stick to that prediction. For Ole Miss, last night hurts bad. Reminds me a bit of State’s first game with LSU. You had the momentum through 2/3 of the game only for it to slip away. No matter how much you try to flush a game like that, it can definitely carry over. So it will be interesting to see how Ole Miss plays today. In the end , it is still a competitive rivalry so I think it is going to be a battle today.

At some point you are who you are. I just don’t see either squad going on any kind of run at the junction of the season. Possible but not likely IMO. I do think each team will keep scratching and clawing though. Series Advantage:Ole Miss. As 83 pointed out, State’s offense is Dave Kingman or bust. Solo home runs galore with a .213 batting average and about 8 strike outs per homer.

I have always been a Bianco fan. I think he is a tremendous coach. I say that as a State alum and fan. He was tremendous player at LSU and we played some great games against them in the late 80’s when he was a player. Very competitive and gritty. Yes this season has turned disappointing for Ole Miss so far but there are a lot of games to be played. I still see this being a 2-2 split this next four games. Ole Miss is still a good team and I predict they will fight hard the next four games. Plus, this State team is hardly a world beater at this point. Though I do give our guys a lot of credit for playing with grit and battling. IMHO, I look for 4 close games that could go either way. As I mentioned most of State’s games this year have been close w/a few exceptions. Don’t see that trending any different this weekend. This is one of things that is disappointing today with college sports. So many fans have no patience and tend to want make changes based on a poor season or a even just an average season. Instead of riding with a coach through an occasional down year. Even a few of our idiot State fans have been blasting Lemonis as if he all the sudden lost the ability to coach because we have lost a few games this year that we were expected to win. So count me as one who sincerely hopes Bianco continues as coach at Ole Miss after this year regardless of how the season plays out. He is good for Ole Miss baseball and good for baseball in Mississippi and in the SEC.