2026 Baseball Season

[Bulldogs4]

Not so fast my friend. Gotta play tonight first. 
Arkansas State is a good team. Beat Arky earlier in the season and had one run loss to Ole Miss. 

They are not chopped liver by any means. 
 

[Bulldogs4]

USM definitely is building a nice resume. 
They need treat the SBC teams like they are a SEC team and not let some of them slip up on them. Obviously they are going to lose some games but hopefully they will not get complacent. 
 

State’s pitching is definitely a weakness. Though with the way we hit the ball, we will not be out of many games even if we are down. Excellent comeback tonight against Tulane after being down 7-2 in the seventh and seemingly completely out of the game. 
 

Ole Miss looks good as well. Really good pitching but the bats have been a bit quiet so far. 

[Dawg83]

39 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

USM definitely is building a nice resume. 
They need treat the SBC teams like they are a SEC team and not let some of them slip up on them. Obviously they are going to lose some games but hopefully they will not get complacent. 
 

State’s pitching is definitely a weakness. Though with the way we hit the ball, we will not be out of many games even if we are down. Excellent comeback tonight against Tulane after being down 7-2 in the seventh and seemingly completely out of the game. 
 

Ole Miss looks good as well. Really good pitching but the bats have been a bit quiet so far. 

On State, I think it’s mostly a middle relief thing. I think the three weekend starters are solid at worst, and occasionally very good, and I think Davis will be fine on the back end more often than not. It’s the bridge guys out of the pen that they’ve gotta solidify. Tonight was kind of a rough showing on the mound until the last couple of innings, and State used what I would consider to be the overwhelming majority of their best bullpen arms in this game. Definitely something to monitor. Maddox Miller was a bright spot, though, I think he has a chance to really step into a big role as the season goes on.

 

This State offense, though. Man. You gotta get all 27 outs against them. Tulane had a great plan for 6 innings, and then it unraveled QUICKLY in the 7th and 8th. And in the snap of the finger State goes from down 5 to winning the game by 4. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not going to score double digit runs every game in SEC play, and some pitching staffs are just going to have good games against State. But I don’t recall State ever having a lineup this deep, not even some of the great teams State has had historically.

 

USM just keeps winning, man. Love their pitching staff and and think they’ve got as good of a shot now as they’ll ever have to be a Top 8 seed in June. I think Ole Miss will be fine too, their pitching is a lot better than I expected it to be.

 

We will see what this weekend brings. General rule of thumb on the road in the SEC is just don’t get swept, so State and OM could probably live with a 1-2 weekend. I think I like State’s chances to take their series a little better than OM’s chances, simply because I think Arkansas is a little shaky and Texas has looked dominant so far. But very little would surprise me, especially in the State-Arkansas series. It’s been a long time since State has won a series in Fayetteville, and a ton of State-Arkansas series recently have ended in sweeps.

Edited 17 hours ago by Dawg83

[maroontide06]

That baseball game tonight was well worth the price of admission.  Glad I got to see it in person.  When Ace Reese hit that grand slam it was flat exhilarating, and you could feel the momentum shift.  I haven’t experienced anything like that in a long time.  It was definitely a great night for baseball.

[maroontide06]

Who won the USM-Ole Miss game?  SEC Sports doesn’t give a final.

[Dawg83]

19 minutes ago, maroontide06 said:

Who won the USM-Ole Miss game?  SEC Sports doesn’t give a final.

USM won 2-1 via walk-off single. Excellent pitcher’s duel.

[David44]

9 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

USM won 2-1 via walk-off single. Excellent pitcher’s duel.

What a game this was. I thought USM had blown there best chance in the 6th.

1st and 2nd no outs, fail to get the bunt down, and promptly hit into inning ending DP.

Both teams pitched/played at a very high level.

Lot of baseball left, but USM looks like they could be this years Coastal Carolina team.

15-2 now with 37 left. Win 30 to finish with 45 RS wins, and with the work they have

done already, will certainly be a national seed.

Haven't seen the OM weekend starters, but if they are as good at Taylor Rabe and some

of the other arms that pitched last night, this team can hold their own and then some

in the SEC gauntlet. They won't have to have the top offense to win their share of games.

 

[Dawg83]

It’s interesting, USM and OM are actually VERY similar teams from a roster standpoint. Both have deep pitching staffs, veteran position player groups, if there’s a weakness for both it’s probably the ability to manufacture runs consistently, but you feel like they have enough offense to get by in a lot of games thanks to how good the pitching can be. Both have HR power that can be a little scary for other teams.

 

State on the other hand is kinda the opposite. Elite offense, but the concern is pitching depth beyond its weekend starters and top one or two bullpen guys.

Edited 6 hours ago by Dawg83

[maroontide06]

21 minutes ago, Dawg83 said:

It’s interesting, USM and OM are actually VERY similar teams from a roster standpoint. Both have deep pitching staffs, veteran position player groups, if there’s a weakness for both it’s probably the ability to manufacture runs consistently, but you feel like they have enough offense to get by in a lot of games thanks to how good the pitching can be. Both have HR power that can be a little scary for other teams.

 

State on the other hand is kinda the opposite. Elite offense, but the concern is pitching depth beyond its weekend starters and top one or two bullpen guys.

There was also no double first base in Biloxi last night.  I thoroughly enjoyed that.

[David44]

Everything cranks up this weekend for sure. I think it will be very hard for anybody to sweep State.

You may have to face 1 or even 2 legit weekend aces, but I just can't see anyone holding that 

offense down for 3 games in a row. Arkansas RPI and SOS kinda weak thus far, so this may be

a chance to steal a rare road SEC series. I think Ole Miss takes at least one game at Texas, too.

 

[maroontide06]

16 minutes ago, David44 said:

Everything cranks up this weekend for sure. I think it will be very hard for anybody to sweep State.

You may have to face 1 or even 2 legit weekend aces, but I just can't see anyone holding that 

offense down for 3 games in a row. Arkansas RPI and SOS kinda weak thus far, so this may be

a chance to steal a rare road SEC series. I think Ole Miss takes at least one game at Texas, too.

 

If State can win 2 of 3 in Fayetteville, I'll be ecstatic.  I don't remember the last time State has won a series there.  It had to have been many moons ago.

[pancho]

Yes, state hasn't done well with the hogs regardless of the site in recent years.  Ark State vs USM will be a heck of a series as well. I too think Bianco has plenty arms to hold folks down even with the shaky middle INF D and boom or bust swing for the fence Offense.

Edited 2 hours ago by pancho

[Dawg83]

23 minutes ago, maroontide06 said:

If State can win 2 of 3 in Fayetteville, I'll be ecstatic.  I don't remember the last time State has won a series there.  It had to have been many moons ago.

2007, Polk’s second to last year.

 

I think State is flat out better than Arkansas this year, but I won’t be surprised if UA wins the series. It’s just one of the toughest places to play that there is.

 

I have Texas winning 2 of 3 against OM. I do think OM’s pitching should keep them in it, but at the moment Texas is probably my pick to win the whole thing. Loaded on the mound and have hit the ball well so far, too.

 

I’m just going go ahead and predict USM to win every series they play in the Sun Belt. Only question in several of those is sweep or no sweep. At Louisiana a little later will be tough, but USM is clearing 40 wins in the regular season easily, IMO.

Edited 2 hours ago by Dawg83

[maroontide06]

6 minutes ago, Dawg83 said:

2007, Polk’s second to last year.

 

I think State is flat out better than Arkansas this year, but I won’t be surprised if UA wins the series. It’s just one of the toughest places to play that there is.

 

I have Texas winning 2 of 3 against OM. I do think OM’s pitching should keep them in it, but at the moment Texas is probably my pick to win the whole thing. Loaded on the mound and have hit the ball well so far, too.

 

I’m just going go ahead and predict USM to win every series they play in the Sun Belt. Only question in several of those is sweep or no sweep. At Louisiana a little later will be tough, but USM is clearing 40 wins in the regular season easily, IMO.

Back when Pigott was on the mound.  Indeed that was many moons ago.

[maroontide06]

@Dawg83check this article out.  It was back when Pigott pitched a complete game and won the series.  Impressive stuff.

 

https://hailstate.com/news/1970/1/1/935644