College Baseball Season Thread

[Bulldogs4]

Agree with you 83 on State. The last three weekends have been better but there are still worrisome parts of this team. 
Pitching is still shaky at times though Nixon being healthy with Dalm give us a much better back end duo. Obviously, the biggest key is throwing strikes and playing solid on defense which we have done better recently.

 

Offensively, the Earl Weaver three run homer offense has been generally good. But going forward I would like to see us be able scratch out some runs when the ball is not going out the yard. Obviously you take runs anyway you can get them. And the power hitting with this group is impressive. 
 

We have got to win two out of three at Auburn. Anything less, while not a nail in the coffin will leave us in critical condition. 

[Dawg83]

11 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said:

Agree with you 83 on State. The last three weekends have been better but there are still worrisome parts of this team. 
Pitching is still shaky at times though Nixon being healthy with Dalm give us a much better back end duo. Obviously, the biggest key is throwing strikes and playing solid on defense which we have done better recently.

 

Offensively, the Earl Weaver three run homer offense has been generally good. But going forward I would like to see us be able scratch out some runs when the ball is not going out the yard. Obviously you take runs anyway you can get them. And the power hitting with this group is impressive. 
 

We have got to win two out of three at Auburn. Anything less, while not a nail in the coffin will leave us in critical condition. 

I see both sides of the coin with dependency on home runs. It’s not comfortable to be boom or bust offensively, but when you have that kind of power in your lineup it can be a great equalizer on a day you’re not otherwise hitting well. Sunday is a great example of that, Ole Miss pitched a really good game outside of two swings, but those two swings were responsible for 5 runs.

 

It’s all about having competitive pitching for State. I trust the offense to a certain extent, though they need to get someone like Larry back going strong again. But you’ve gotta pitch well enough to keep you in the game. The vast majority of State’s losses are because their pitching didn’t even give them a chance. It’s been better lately but it’s gotta continue.

[Dawg83]

Still a lot of baseball left to be played but D1 has State as one of the Last 5 In with their latest projections, so a mid to low end 3 seed. Just have to keep winning games.

[maroontide06]

Any thoughts in regards to baseball this weekend?  Hopefully State can win another series and possibly get a sweep.  If they can do that, then the hole will be less deep to climb out of.

[rebmus]

2 hours ago, maroontide06 said:

Any thoughts in regards to baseball this weekend? 

Ole Miss hosts #1 LSU. 

Looking at the next 4 series after, Ole Miss has an OUTSIDE shot at 13 wins IF they can pick up 1 vs LSU. Getting 2 vs LSU would go a LONG way getting me to believe "MAYBE they'll get to 13". If OM gets swept by LSU, it's all but done. 

Hunter Elliot slated to start tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how well he can throw in his first game back. I suspect he's on a low pitch count... 50-60 max? 

 

MSU will be looking good to hit 13 wins if they take 2 of 3 at Auburn, I lean towards MSU will do that. 

 

 

[maroontide06]

Well if State is going to win 2 of 3 this weekend, they’ll need to do it tomorrow and Sunday.  Great pitching today from Cade Smith, but no offensive production to compliment the great pitching.

[Dawg83]

Second week in a row where State pitched well enough to win and still lost. Just no timely hitting from guys you’ve usually been able to count on and then that fluky play on a popped up foul bunt in the 8th, that was pretty much the game.

 

State really needs to find a way to rally and win the last two games.

[pancho]

skenes "no beer" prediction just got shot to hell

[rebmus]

10 minutes ago, pancho said:

skenes "no beer" prediction just got shot to hell

Very true, but after LSU hit the grand slam in the next inning... I suspect Skenes will get over it quickly. 

 

 

[MSTSatchmo]

16 hours ago, pancho said:

skenes "no beer" prediction just got shot to hell

Technically he said “a lot of beer”, so the first game it just happened once.   We’ll see how the rest of the weekend goes.  

[maroontide06]

My goodness…I really don’t know what to say except I’m glad State got a win.  I guess we have to be on blood pressure medicine LOL!

[Dawg83]

State almost just had a ninth inning collapse for the ages. Holy moly. I guess that’s why they say “almost” only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.

[maroontide06]

14 minutes ago, Dawg83 said:

State almost just had a ninth inning collapse for the ages. Holy moly. I guess that’s why they say “almost” only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.

This may be a dumb question, but why didn’t State go to Nixon sooner?  I mean he could have went out there to start the 9th and you probably wouldn’t have allowed Auburn to put up a 7 spot.  I think that’s poor coaching there.

[Bulldogs4]

It is called being greedy. He thought Hunt could finish it with 8 run lead. On the front end of that , you think surely he could get through the inning. But maybe bring in another pitcher that doesn’t pitch much. Again you think you should be able to get out of the inning without giving up 8 runs. 
And I guess we did just that. 

 

At the end of the day , just glad for the win. 

[MSTSatchmo]

That triple that bounced off the wall was solid too.   That Auburn player almost had two HRs in one game after just 3 on the season.  That was an interesting finish. 

[Dawg83]

39 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

It is called being greedy. He thought Hunt could finish it with 8 run lead. On the front end of that , you think surely he could get through the inning. But maybe bring in another pitcher that doesn’t pitch much. Again you think you should be able to get out of the inning without giving up 8 runs. 
And I guess we did just that. 

 

At the end of the day , just glad for the win. 

I agree, I think after the first 3 or so hits you go to somebody other than Nixon, rather than wait until it gets dicey and then bring in your closer.

 

The way that was handled probably speaks to how few bullpen arms State trusts right now. And with Gartman out you had to move Holcombe to a starting role and that’s one less guy.

 

The first 17 innings of this series was probably the best State has pitched all year though. Just almost turned into a calamity at the end. Tomorrow is still very much a must win, especially with other results around the league like Georgia sweeping Arkansas and Tennessee taking the first two from Vandy.

[MSTSatchmo]

UGA sweeping Arkansas was crazy.  

[Dawg83]

That might do it for State’s postseason hopes. Blew leads off 7-0 and 9-3 and got walked off on by Auburn. With the schedule ahead and seemingly a crucial bullpen injury today with Dohm, I’m not seeing the path forward to the NCAAT, barring something totally shocking.

[MSTSatchmo]

41 minutes ago, Dawg83 said:

That might do it for State’s postseason hopes. Blew leads off 7-0 and 9-3 and got walked off on by Auburn. With the schedule ahead and seemingly a crucial bullpen injury today with Dohm, I’m not seeing the path forward to the NCAAT, barring something totally shocking.

Very frustrating series for State.  Lose the best pitching performance of the season in Game 1 and blow huge leads in game 2 and 3.  Although the salvaged game 2, they needed to win the series.  

[sportsmaniac10]

Ole Miss pitching woes continue. I can’t remember a time seeing a team give up so many grand slams and 3 run homers and blowing leads. I would venture to bet Ole Miss is averaging giving up at least 2 home runs a game.

 

As poorly as Ole miss has played at times in the field and batting, they’ve actually still been able to grind into a position to win games but then like clock work the pitching s**** their pants and blows it.

 

Bianco wins MVP for LSU in game one. Rivas pitched a heck of a game. The first 2 runs are because your all American short stop didn’t come ready to play. But then it’s clear Rivas was gassed and Bianco leaves him in and walks the bases loaded and gives up a grand slam to give the lead back to LSU. That’s text book Bianco.

 

Games 2 and 3 the pitching was just trash. I wish I had the energy to go back thru the games and see how many times Murrell has blown an Ole Miss lead. He’s gotta be close to setting some kind of record for most choke jobs in a season.

 

It’s mind blowing how terrible things have gone this year. Season can’t be over soon enough. 

[Dawg83]

State would be the 12 seed in Hoover if the season ended today, one game ahead of Mizzou and 3 games ahead of Ole Miss.

 

Does anyone even care about the Governor’s Cup on Tuesday? Lol

[rebmus]

The one thing OM needed to do this weekend was NOT get swept, but here we are. 

 

Technically, Ole Miss could finish 15-15 still, but we all know they won't finish near that. I'm not sure if Ole Miss will win an SEC series this year. 

 

Plenty of close games to make one think MAYBE they're about to turn this thing around... but still haven't turned it around this late. 

 

First Ole Miss copies MSU by winning the NC. Now Ole Miss is copying MSU by backing up the NC by completely sucking butt. 

IF Ole Miss splits the remaining 12 SEC games, they'll finish 9-21 in SEC play. That's exactly where MSU finished last year. With the remaining schedule has potential for maybe 6-6, but I sure wouldn't bet on it. We'll see what Ole Miss can do hosting UGA next weekend. Lose that series and I'd highly wager Ole Miss "outsucks" MSU for worst season after winning a Natty. 

 

On MSU, definitely an improvement from last year... but that bar was pretty dang low. MSU should make Hoover but anything beyond that will take some work. Winning that Auburn series would make me be higher on MSU but they couldn't pull off the series. 

@ #16Tennessee is next weekend, UT seemed to found their groove this weekend... we'll see. 

Host #5 Arkansas and then @ #1 LSU the next two weekends after. 

Hosting A&M to close the season is by far the "easiest" series left for MSU. MSU could certainly win this series, but A&M is 9-9 vs MSU's 6-12 so far in SEC play. I see MSU finishing just ahead of last year with 10 SEC wins. 

 

 

[Bulldogs4]

Coming off a Natty is just very difficult. We are just about done now. I mean technically we are alive but we had to win this series and blowing a 7 run lead shows that we are not a good team. 
 

I agree with 83 , the GC just doesn’t have much appeal this year. It is still important but the stakes are just very low other than it being a rivalry game. 
 

Regarding Ole Miss, last year I was ready for the season to end and it seemed like the last 2-3 weeks took forever to finish. Probably the same way this year for you guys. Just hurry and end. 

[Dawg83]

I’ve got State finishing with a max of 11 SEC wins. And that may be generous considering they still have to go to Knoxville and Baton Rouge and there’s a solid chance they get swept both weekends.

 

I still lean toward Lemonis will be back next year, but I’m having a hard time finding a realistic scenario that would justify Foxhall returning.

[pancho]

somebody better give lemo the nuts required to ax foxhall then.