College Baseball 2024

[pancho]

Long and Kohler are the only 2 out for today.  What did Kohler do?

[Dawg83]

Apparently cooler heads have prevailed and most of the suspensions for today have been lifted. Long is suspended and one other player for State, not sure on the UGA side. 
 

Still doesn’t change that it directly impacted last night’s result. State was due to have up the heart of their order in a tie game and instead you had pitchers with zero AB’s playing in the field and having to hit in the freaking 8th and 9th inning of a close SEC game.

 

I am inclined to say State should’ve refused to take the field again last night but they probably would’ve given UGA a forfeit win. I have no idea how so many more State players got ejected than UGA. State’s fielders were literally just running back to the dugout and a couple tried to defuse the situation and got thrown out. Nobody from Georgia did much either but they did have more guys run out of the dugout than State. The whole “hoodies vs no hoodies” standard they used is an absolute joke.

[Dawg83]

With Georgia up 5-0 in Game 3, can’t help but wonder if last night was a season shifting event for State. And possibly the Lemonis tenure.

[Bulldogs4]

The World shifted in its axis and State eeks out a 9-8 win. 
Still have a bad taste about last night. Long needs to check his emotions and channel them in a better way. What he did precipitated the events and it was completely unnecessary.

 

Unfortunately for us, we had our lineup gutted and the chance to sweep the series was jerked away from us.

 

Glad for the win today and by the same token this game could be a season defining moment in the right way. 

[hasbeen67]

I didn't see it and don't know much about Long, but I heard Steve Robertson say on radio that he brought a little attitude that the team needed. That's fine, sometimes you need a little fire. But this is the trade-off when things get out of hand. It's like Draymond for Golden State. He's plays a valuable role until he doesn't. 

[Dawg83]

Nice comeback win for State. This team has some grit and toughness that they didn’t have the last two years.

[hasbeen67]

Like the old song says, two out of three ain't bad. 

After seeing the incident, it looked pretty straight forward. Eject Long and play ball. 

[David44]

Boy, that was just a total failure by Birmingham. It's either one of two things. Whoever was manning the post

there is totally incompetent or they had no procedures/precedents in place to follow for what happened.

Maybe this will be the incident that will give them a so called playbook to follow next time, or at least what 

not to do. All in all though, it was a good series win by MS.

 

[Dawg83]

I don’t think State’s gonna end up having the metrics to host barring a crazy finish (poor nonconference SOS and RPI is in the high 40’s right now). But if they can get to 14 or 15 SEC wins they should be back in the NCAAT.

 

It’s not a given but it’s doable. Winnable series remaining against Ole Miss, Auburn, Bama, and Mizzou, and three of those are in Starkville. However, still have to play at Vandy and at Arkansas where you’ll be feeling good if you don’t get swept.

[Bulldogs4]

Yep, it would take probably 18 conference wins to get in the hosting discussions. Don’t see that happening with this team unless we sweep a couple of series unexpectedly and can hold our own against Arkansas & Vandy. Unlikely but we will see how it goes. 

[rebmus]

Ole Miss hosts MSU this weekend in a pretty much must win series for Ole Miss to start climbing back into any postseason hopes. 

 

A postseason SEC team pretty much wins home series and avoids sweeps on the road... Ole Miss getting swept by Kentucky in Oxford dug a helluva hole. MSU, on the other hand, is sitting right where they need to be for postseason hopes at 6-6 in conference.

 

 

[Bulldogs4]

2 hours ago, rebmus said:

Ole Miss hosts MSU this weekend in a pretty much must win series for Ole Miss to start climbing back into any postseason hopes. 

 

A postseason SEC team pretty much wins home series and avoids sweeps on the road... Ole Miss getting swept by Kentucky in Oxford dug a helluva hole. MSU, on the other hand, is sitting right where they need to be for postseason hopes at 6-6 in conference.

 

 

Ole Miss is in desperation mode after losing 6 straight conference games. So I have no idea what will happen. State is generally playing pretty well but this is a rivalry weekend so old mo can swing back and forth. Don’t really see a sweep either way but whoever can get the second win will be come out in a much better position.

 

Regardless, still a lot of games left to play after Sunday. 

 

[s1nglewing]

10 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

Ole Miss is in desperation mode after losing 6 straight conference games. So I have no idea what will happen. State is generally playing pretty well but this is a rivalry weekend so old mo can swing back and forth. Don’t really see a sweep either way but whoever can get the second win will be come out in a much better position.

 

Regardless, still a lot of games left to play after Sunday. 

 

At least they haven't lost to Alabama State like Auburn

[Dawg83]

OM’s last series win against State was in 2015. It’s been a series frankly dominated by State in the last decade. A lot of that was during State’s golden years of 2016-2021. But even the last two years, bad State teams have beaten Ole Miss.

 

Look, I won’t rule out anything. I still recall the 2018 series in Starkville where State seemed like they had one foot in the grave and Ole Miss had an excellent team that year, and State wins the series out of nowhere and it resurrects their season en route to the shock Omaha run that Gary Henderson had.

 

With OM, I don’t think they’re all that good but I do believe you have to consider how brutal their SEC schedule has been, especially the last three weeks. If the season ended today, Arkansas and Kentucky are Top 5 national seeds and Tennessee is hosting. Maybe OM isn’t as bad as the record indicates.

 

I do think State is probably the better team and given recent history I probably lean toward State winning 2 of 3. But it’s been a highly volatile State team so far, so OM definitely has a chance.

Edited April 10, 2024 by Dawg83

[Insideradvantage]

So you're saying there's a chance. Always a little humor to be found in this show if you try hard enough. 

[Bulldogs4]

3 hours ago, Insideradvantage said:

So you're saying there's a chance. Always a little humor to be found in this show if you try hard enough. 

There is always a chance. You have to believe Ole Miss is better than what the record is showing. Their confidence level is probably low but again this is a rivalry weekend so none of that matters. Hopefully it will be a well played competitive weekend (with State winning two out of three…..wishful thinking LOL). 

[Dawg83]

The one area I would give OM the edge is I think their bullpen may be better than State’s or at least they have guys that have produced in big spots before. I still don’t totally trust State on the back end, though Schuelke and Davis had some really big innings last weekend.

 

I like State’s starting pitching more with Khal and Jurrangelo, though Sunday is a total unknown thanks to Dohm’s injury. OM’s path to winning the series probably requires them to win the Sunday game and then swipe one of the first two. I think the odds are pretty good that State wins at least one of the first two, and possibly both.

 

If I had to predict it day by day that’s how I’d see it. State wins the first two, Ole Miss salvages the Sunday game.

[Insideradvantage]

2 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

The one area I would give OM the edge is I think their bullpen may be better than State’s or at least they have guys that have produced in big spots before. I still don’t totally trust State on the back end, though Schuelke and Davis had some really big innings last weekend.

 

I like State’s starting pitching more with Khal and Jurrangelo, though Sunday is a total unknown thanks to Dohm’s injury. OM’s path to winning the series probably requires them to win the Sunday game and then swipe one of the first two. I think the odds are pretty good that State wins at least one of the first two, and possibly both.

 

If I had to predict it day by day that’s how I’d see it. State wins the first two, Ole Miss salvages the Sunday game.

You are too kind. OM does not have an edge of any sort that I can discern. 

[Dawg83]

17 minutes ago, Insideradvantage said:

You are too kind. OM does not have an edge of any sort that I can discern. 

I get why you feel that way but State’s not exactly reliable either. Lol. I know Ole Miss just got swept two weeks in a row but State isn’t as good as Kentucky or Arkansas.

[Insideradvantage]

If y’all let our sorry ass sweep y’all I’m never gonna let State folks hear the end of it. If y’all win two of three or sweep I’m starting a fire Bianco hire an interim for the remainder of the season campaign immediately. 

[Dawg83]

Ok Insideradvantage, I see what you’re seeing now.

 

State cruises in Game 1. Not really a competitive game at all.

[Insideradvantage]

Hahaha, hate to say I told ya. Bianco keeps harping on us being tougher. This ain’t football. It’s a lot of finesse and we simply don’t have it. If it takes us losing every single game left on our schedule to get rid of Bianco, I hope that’s what happens. I’ve never said that before, but it’s a cold, hard truth right now. We are just pathetic. How exactly this happened, I don’t know. But you can bet there those who do know. I’d love to hear from them. Another way to get him gone is for there to be no asses in the seats. I hope that happens as well. Let’s get this done and quit messing around OM faithful. Bianco deserves a lot fo credit for what he’s accomplished, but if your ass doesn’t know when to move on, then I guess you just have to be shoved out of the damn way. 

Edited April 13, 2024 by Insideradvantage

[Bulldogs4]

I did not see that kind of score coming for tonight’s game. But it is only one game.

Stephen really pitched it well. 8 innings, no runs and only 94 pitches is a tremendous outing.

State’s offense has kind of been like this in a number of the games we have won. Underwhelming for 7-8 innings but have one big inning to carry us to a win. 
Tee it up tomorrow and see what happens.

 

I have made no secret that I have always liked Coach Bianco and have a great amount of respect for him. So I hope he can go out on his own terms whenever that time comes. 

 

[maroontide06]

@Bulldogs4I kind of thought it would be a closer ballgame tonight as well.  I was very impressed with the way Khal Stephen pitched.  He probably could have cruised had they sent him out there for the 9th, but there wasn’t a need to do that.  State should have a full arsenal out of the bullpen tomorrow.  Tomorrow’s game should be more competitive though.

[Dawg83]

Stephen was a great find in the portal and I definitely did not see Friday night ace in him based off his Purdue numbers. His career ERA before this year was over 6. He’s had two rough starts but every other outing from him has been very good.

 

And honestly, not 100% sure he’s even State’s best starter. Cjintje is insanely talented. These two guys have become a strong 1-2 punch to have in your starting rotation. The key will be maintaining it and finding them some help on Sundays and in the pen.

Edited April 13, 2024 by Dawg83