Baseball Season 2025

[maroontide06]

Well yikes the Tallahassee Regional is paired with the Corvallis Regional.  At one point in the projections they had the Tallahassee Regional paired with the Auburn Regional.  I'm not making excuses, but that would have been a better draw for State.

[Bulldogs4]

Certainly not worried about a SR at this point. Just need to first win Friday. 
 

 

 

[Dawg83]

We are getting to the interesting point of the coaching search now too. Until this point it’s just been guessing and everybody knew it wasn’t happening until after the season. Well now seasons are over for certain candidates, it will be over for others this weekend, State’s season could also be over by Sunday. We should know something in the next week or two barring a weird series of events a la 2018.

 

Certainly feels like State is giving Brian O’Connor the right of first refusal, and Virginia’s season is over now. Where does it go if he is a no? I have no clue. But him being the first preference seems to be something most everyone agrees on.

Edited May 27, 2025 by Dawg83

[David44]

18 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said:

It is always an interesting option for the one seed as to whether to hold your ace for game two or throw him in game one. Certainly there is a lot of reasons to hold him unless it backfires on you and you lose game one. 
Personally, you have to win game one before you can win game two. Putting the cart before the horse can put you on thin ice. 
 

For State, we need to play well and win this first game. Nothing comes easy in a Regional. Northeastern may not have name recognition but we all know smaller schools can play some excellent baseball. One silver lining is maybe they are due for a loss….LOL…,with a twenty-seven game winning streak on the line. 

USM needs to consider holding Middleton. Columbia won 29 games and 28 were against Quad 3 and 4.

Of their top 10 pitchers by innings, they only have 1 guy under 4.00 ERA, with all the others around 5.00 and above.

Not saying that USM's #2 and 3 are bad, they aren't, and wouldn't be here without them, but Middleton has been

elite, at another level, pretty much all year.

 

[pancho]

4 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

We are getting to the interesting point of the coaching search now too. Until this point it’s just been guessing and everybody knew it wasn’t happening until after the season. Well now seasons are over for certain candidates, it will be over for others this weekend, State’s season could also be over by Sunday. We should know something in the next week or two barring a weird series of events a la 2018.

 

Certainly feels like State is giving Brian O’Connor the right of first refusal, and Virginia’s season is over now. Where does it go if he is a no? I have no clue. But him being the first preference seems to be something most everyone agrees on.

he ain't coming.  watch for bakich

[Dawg83]

17 hours ago, pancho said:

he ain't coming.  watch for bakich

I think Bakich is using State for leverage. His buyout may be too big for State anyway. Plus I’ve always heard that he may be holding out for the Vandy job once Corbin retires.

[pancho]

who then?

[Dawg83]

3 hours ago, pancho said:

who then?

I think they are still making a big push for O’Connor and depending on who you ask, the chances of success may not be zero.

 

I think Wasikowski and Fitzgerald would be the two leading candidates after O’Connor, and I’m not sure it would get past those two.

[Bulldogs4]

Not necessarily expecting it but the team could mess up the timing of the coaching search by winning this weekend. 

[hasbeen67]

At some point, your candidates don't have much better credentials than the coach you got rid of or the interim. It's aways a concern to me. 

 

I kind of like the approach of lawyers - never ask a question unless you know the answer - never get rid of a coach unless you know who the next one is. 

Edited May 29, 2025 by hasbeen67

[Dawg83]

Kendall Rogers and several other national guys saying it’s not done but O’Connor is the clear front runner. Feels like there is a strong possibility this happens. It usually does not get to that level of reporting otherwise.

 

Now if the rumors about him bring the Wake Forest pitching coach with him are also true, woooo buddy watch out.

[pancho]

those 2 would be an epic team and NIL cash would really begin to flow

[Dawg83]

If it happens, Selmon deserves all the credit in the world. I had zero belief that they could get BOC and said as much in this very thread not long after Lemonis was fired.

 

It feels like it has taken a lot of things falling just right for it to be a possibility this quickly. State had to fire Lemonis early. Virginia had to miss the NCAAT. This new era of revenue sharing had to be a factor and, in turn, UVA had to be noncommittal about baseball.

 

If it’s going to happen, the timing has been impeccable for State. I do not think BOC even considers making this move 5 years ago.

[Dawg83]

Back to Regional talk, looks like pitching plans have been announced.

 

OM and USM both throwing their #2 starters against the 4 seed.

 

State is throwing Ben Davis against Northeastern, which is fascinating to me. Went with one of their top bullpen arms instead of anybody in the normal starting rotation. I presume they are playing the long game. And trying to save those guys for FSU as much as they can. But it’s certainly risky, especially given that State is the lower seeded team.

Edited May 29, 2025 by Dawg83

[pancho]

BOC and muscara seem to be locked in according to all reports for msu.  I guess we wait n see

[Bulldogs4]

No surprise that we are seeing some interesting scores today. Every team in a Regional is capable and all SEC Teams are going to get the other team’s best shot. Just the way it is.

Bama was about three feet short of a walk off. 
But that was a good game between them and MIA. 
Little stat for later. Even though they lost they made the MIA closer throw almost 30 pitches in one inning. You never know how that might be a factor. 

[Bulldogs4]

I mentioned earlier that to win the second game you have to win the first game. Very dangerous to not throw your best pitcher in the first game.

 

Now I know some of you will say that State did not do that but we don’t have an All-American Ace like USM and Ole Miss do. Parker, I think decided to pitch a guy that he thought matched up well with the opponent and it worked. Now we will see if Pico can pitch well tomorrow night against FSU. We will see what happens.

Plus it is double elimination so both OM & USM still have a lot to play for. 

[maroontide06]

State 11

Northeastern 2

Final

[maroontide06]

So what happened in Oxford & Hattiesburg tonight?

[Dawg83]

Dominant by State. Northeastern’s ace had really good numbers and State just rocked him. Good pitching by Davis and McPherson to keep other guys fresh, too. You get a shot at the Noles tomorrow and their Top 5 draft pick ace. Won’t be easy but you are kinda playing with house money.

 

Pretty disappointing performance by USM and Ole Miss. Especially USM who got smoked. I still feel like both teams are in a good spot to win tomorrow, but beyond that, may be tough. We shall see.

[Insideradvantage]

5 minutes ago, maroontide06 said:

So what happened in Oxford & Hattiesburg tonight?

Yawn. Who knows. 

[Bulldogs4]

Arnold is certainly a tremendous pitcher but his ERA is 3.04 so he has given up some runs during the season. Will be a big challenge. I am sure we will try to grind AB’s to get his pitch count up. 
We have faced a number of great pitchers all year long so I know we will not be intimidated. 
Let’s tee it up and see what happens. 

[maroontide06]

16 minutes ago, Insideradvantage said:

Yawn. Who knows. 

Let me guess.  The Tennessee fans complained because there wasn’t an Applebees in Hattiesburg.

[Dawg83]

There is a A LOT of weekend still to go, so don’t want to put the cart before the horse.

 

That said…. Corvallis is the Regional opposite Tallahassee, and the 3 and 4 seed both won yesterday.

 

Hypothetical here, but if State can beat FSU twice and either St. Mary’s or USC finishes it off in Corvallis… probably would be looking at a Super Regional at The Dude.

 

But gotta have multiple things go right to get to that point.

Edited May 31, 2025 by Dawg83

[Bulldogs4]

Quote

”so don’t want to put the cart before the horse.”

 

Which is what our friends in Oxford & Hattiesburg did last night. Playing at home is great but sometimes it can work against you as the lower seed visitor plays loose and free and the home team starts feeling the pressure and weight of expectations. It can then become a burden and you start worrying about losing instead of just playing baseball to win the game. 
 

Now later in the tournament it can cycle back in your favor as the crowd can help carry a team. 
Obviously for OM & USM, it is now win or go home. And you can only win one game at a time. 
Hopefully all three of our squads win today.