Dawg83

I don’t think this team’s postseason ceiling is any different than it’s always been, but if it you keep losing games the path is not going to look like what was expected. What seemed like a slam dunk Top 8 seed a couple of weeks ago could morph into a 2 seed in the Hattiesburg Regional if they’re not careful… Interesting spot the next two days. Tennessee used its two best arms in extended fashion to get that W, but State burned the Valincius bullet and still lost. There’s some pressure on Stone and Foster the next two days to say the least.

The concern of losing a lot of close games is something to chew on. A law of averages thing that’s bound to flip? Or an omen for the late season stretch run? Either way, tough spot for State right now. They really need to find a way to win these next two games or else they’ve pretty much undone the great position they had put themselves in about 10-12 days ago.

If nothing else State has largely handled its business in the midweek. Underrated quality win last night against UAB. I think as of today all three MS teams are in the Top 16 of the RPI still. So the dream of three Mississippi host sites still lives for now. Lot of season left to go, obviously. Weekend predictions: State takes 2 from Tennessee Ole Miss sweeps LSU (I’m not buying LSU still and I think OM is better than their conference record). USM wins two in Cajunland

Griffin? Wasn’t he committed to LSU?

Huge road series win for Ole Miss. Really and truly the State weekend has been an outlier so far in league play, the other three weekends they’ve kinda gotten what they needed. USM also won their road series, but kinda continued the trend of not being terribly impressive against lesser teams. Big series for all three next week. USM travels to Lafayette to play the Ragin Cajuns, Ole Miss hosts the purple and gold Cajuns, and State hosts everybody’s favorite and least controversial team, Tennessee. All three in-state schools need to take their series if we are being honest.

Yeahhhh I heard a lot of “best team ever” talk this week that I thought was a little premature. Still think this is a really good team and capable of winning the whole thing. But there are other really good teams too capable of beating State. Add UGA to that list.

Funny thing about it, if you told me after the Arkansas series that State would go 6-3 in this Vandy/OM/UGA stretch, I probably would’ve taken it. But they picked the weirdest route to get there lol.

Georgia sweeps at The Dude. Can’t say I saw that one coming. I think UGA is really good and State is also really good but maybe less buttoned up than the Vandy and OM series would’ve led you to believe. It was a pretty uncharacteristic, Murphy’s law kind of weekend. State plays three unranked teams in a row the next three weeks. Need to get some W’s back if they want to be a Top 8 seed as everyone assumed was a formality until this weekend.

Ole Miss lost a similar game 2-0. Rubber game for them tomorrow. State will try to salvage a game.

UGA takes the series. I tip my cap to any team that finds a way to out duel Valincius and Georgia did. Just kept State totally at bay offensively all night.

You see young guys develop over the course of the career all the time, but to see in-season development like Bauer seems to have had definitely raises some eyebrows. We’ll see what happens portal-wise but based off this year and knowing how much freshmen and sophomore arm talent State has, I think the 2027 pitching staff has a chance to be maybe the best in school history. Reminder, none of State’s sophomore starting pitchers are draft eligible this year, either. So Valincius/McPherson/Stone/Foster could all be back next year. And then obviously all the freshmen too.

Biggest development for State last night may have been that Jack Bauer really pitched well. I had kinda written him off for this season after a very shaky start, but if he’s suddenly someone who can pitch effectively for you on weekends now, what a weapon out of the pen.

Sheesh. Georgia wins 10-9 and strands the tying and winning runs on base after State was down 10-2 in the 7th. Crazy game. That’s now 4 of State’s 5 losses being in one run games, and the only one that wasn’t was a tie game in the 8th inning.

Big win for Ole Miss at Florida tonight. And same for USM vs Old Dominion. State trying to mount a late comeback, we will see if they have enough juice.

Barring a big surprise late, State about to drop its first game at The Dude this year. Just didn’t pitch well and had several catching woes again. Too big of a hole to dig against an elite offense like UGA, even with State’s bats.