David44

I hope so. Not sure if West will have all the "horses" needed, but I know that Coach Pierson will maximize what he has to work with. In the 20+ plus years he was there before the 2 year break, I witnessed many, many wins that were not because West Jones had the better team. The other team was just out coached, out played, and out schemed. 2008 was a re-building year, West went 3-3 in region, snuck in the playoffs, and somehow managed to win 3 games, before falling to the eventual state champs D'Iberville at South State.

That's right. And the coach that won the 1st one, and built the team that won the 2nd one, is back.

Well, it official now. 5 SEC teams after Alabama and Oklahoma advanced today. May as well refer to it as the "Hoover Invitational". At least 1 SEC team in the championship, since a whole side of the bracket is all SEC. I think Ole Miss has a good chance too, from the other side. Georgia / Texas vs Ole Miss?

USM lived on some tight margins this year. They had 14 wins 6 losses in 1 run games. That's being very fortunate (lucky even...) And it bit them in Game 1 at Hattiesburg. Needed just 3 outs in the 9th against Little Rock, had their closer on the mound, but couldn't do it again. In Colby Allen's defense though, he was starting his 4th inning there. Lot to question though if USM's demise was somewhat self inflicted. You could have been playing Friday night instead of at high noon in South Miss in late May. You could have stuck to your regular rotation instead of swapping Grayden Harris and Camden Clark. Some opponents get a chip on their shoulder when you don't throw your #1 in Game 1. You had trusted guys in the pen to get those last 3 outs if Allen was gassed. They could have still lost Game 2 anyway, but with their opening regional game record lately, I would have used any and all within-the-rule options to win Game 1.

In the Hattiesburg Regional, you could make the argument that Jacksonville State is the real 2 seed. In team ACC stats, Virginia finished 9th Pitching, 14th in Batting and Fielding. I guess that 1st round top 10 pick CF carried them, but in their last 20 games played they went 10-10. USM will have their hands full though with Little Rock. LSU went 10 and 1 last year thru the tournament to win it all. That one was Little Rock. I think OM has a great shot at Nebraska. Them and AS are both no doubt better offenses than Nebraska, and OM has more power arms too. Miss State in a good spot also, getting a really weak 4 seed and probably saving Valincius for game 2. Winning the 1st 2 allows you win the whole thing in 3 games, which can hide a bullpen somewhat. Lose one of the 1st 2, and you will have to play 5 to win it.

Could be. The latest D1 projections Monday had Tennessee in Hattiesburg and Ole Miss going to Kansas. The key word being "projections" which can and will change. Also had Coastal going to Starkville. For USM, I think Tennessee would be better. They have not seen any USM pitching, while OM has twice. If USM is to advance, pitching will have to carry them. (as it has all year basically). I like the fact that they are now seeding teams 17-32, and trying to match those with 1-16 accordingly.

State an USM leaving no doubt tonite. There is a difference between losing game 1 and getting curb stomped. A&M only needs one game but they have a history of collapsing.

The top 3 in the SEC appear to be nearly locks for a double bye at Hoover. Don't see Texas getting swept by Missouri at home. A&M though must win at least 1 vs Miss State. That 4th spot though is up for grabs. The key series are OM vs Bama and Georgia vs Auburn. If OM and Georgia take 2 of 3, it opens it up for State, Florida, and Arkansas. You could have 5 teams with a 17-13 record and then it goes to tie breakers. Head to Head is the 1st one, but how do you use it, when 5 teams are involved. Gonna be interesting for sure.

One routine 2 out grounder that was played a little lazy, turns into a 4 run inning. That is what makes baseball different than every other major sport.

Auburn @ MS should be a good one, probably the best SEC matchup this weekend. Starting early and on it's own is even better. (for us anyway..). I'm higher on MS too. Auburn's toughest road weekend venues have been Texas A&M and Alabama. Starkville will top those. I will take MS to win the series. Not sold on A&Ms pitching either. I think OM has a good chance, but have to play well.

Yeah I think USM needs to sweep these last 6 games also. If they pitch like they did this past weekend, it is certainly possible. 35k in the Saturday doubleheader, which is absurd. ULM was a top 4 offense in SB too. Right now they are a combined 16-8 in Q1 and Q2 games. A lot of those were early in the year, but there won't be 12 other teams in the country that will meet or exceed those Q1/Q2 numbers.

looks to be Owen Kelly for the Rebels. His stats look pretty good. 24K in 23 innings, only given up 2 extra-base hits thus far.

Great week for MS. Man this team is feast or famine. In SEC, 4 series sweeps, 2 series got swept, and 1 series went 1-2. They are never out of game though, down 4 runs in Game 1, 5 runs in Game 2, and won both. USM pretty good week that could have been a great week, but lose the Sunday game 4-3. 3-11 ROB will do that and giving up the 1st and 2nd HRs for South Alabama of the weekend. Wasted a very good start from Sundstrom, 7 innings and 1 ER. USM and MS both moved up in the rankings, so they both are sitting pretty good to host.

Big weekend for USM. Of the 4 SB teams left to play, South Alabama is the only 1 inside the top 100 RPI. 2 out of 3 is needed. A sweep would help immensely. With the re-vamped weekend starter rotation that gave them on average 6 innings each last weekend against a good hitting Texas State team, that is the formula for a sweep, although this will be on the road. I think MS takes their series against LSU. Ole Miss is playing well right now. I would put them just as good or even better than Florida, who took 2 of 3 at home against Georgia, so OM should too.

Great weekend thus far. Stone was dominant 12 K 6 innings. USM an OM starters covered 6 innings as well. USM still looking for the 3rd weekend guy and rumored to be starting Camden Clark tomorrow. He has been lights out closing this year. Certainly weakens the pen but 6 innings from the starter seems to be a winning formula.

Very good night. MS and USM used 2 pitchers each, starters were excellent which sets you up with a rested bullpen. USM was 6 for 10 ROB an 4 for 6 RSP. Gave up 3 runs to the top offense in Sunbelt conference. Very encouraging BUT as inconsistent as they have been in the last 20 games, I need to see more of this going forward.

USM gets their midweek game 3-2 over UNO. Not impressive at first glance, but I saw a lot of positives in that game. 3 runs on 10 hits + 6 walks certainly tells you they left lots on base, but several of those rallies started with 2 outs. And there were some very hard hit balls that the baseball gods just decided were going to be outs. Most encouraging was that they kept grinding out at bats and applying pressure on UNO. in some of the losses lately, I saw a team that made one push after getting behind and then just kinda faded away. Good to see some fight from them.

Not a great weekend for USM or MS. Ole Miss righted the ship. Somehow USM still in the top 10 D1 baseball. The loss in Game 2 to ODU really came in 1 inning. Colby Lewis came in with 2 on 2 out, and gave up 6 runs, which was shocking considering how reliable he has been from the pen.

USM just not hitting lately. 1st 16 games this year, they averaged right at 7 runs per game. The last 13 games they have averaged 4.8. Scoring 1 run in a mid-week game against mid -week pitching is abysmal. Too much pressure on the 2 guys at the top that are still hitting (Urban and Morrison) and too much pressure on the pitching staff. Ole Dominion on the road this weekend, which may be a good thing to get away from Hattiesburg and all the bad noise.

Iran has been supporting and exporting terrorism for over 40 years, killing thousands of people, with no regard for humanity whatsoever. Something had to be done before they developed their own nuclear weapon, and started World War 3. Thankfully, we have a President with the will power to finally do what none before him would. May God be with our brave men and women soldiers.

I know it's a long way off, but that very first region game on 10/09 may be for the region championship. 2 things of note: it is at home and WC has a bye week to get ready.

State came out locked in an focused at the plate. Some very good at bats early, hard hit singles and taking walks when they got ahead in counts. Once they got the 4 run lead, started looking to go yard more. (and did go yard). USM had a chance in the 1st to get to Billingsley, and promptly hit into a DP. This one will leave a mark on USM in the polls. Some voters will see 12-0 in 7 and put more weight on that, than a mid-week loss generally carries.

MS was impressive tonight. If they get 7 innings of 2 hit pitching from the starting pitcher, with that batting order, they can beat any team in the country. USM bounces back and finally gets some key hits with runners on base. Troy pitching was good, but USM had some really good at bats. Kros Sivley was the MVP, came in the 2nd inning and held Troy down for 5 innings. Maybe this game gets the offense out of the funk it had been in.

They probably walked him ALOT, maybe similar to 2004 and Barry Bonds.