College Baseball 2024

[rebmus]

We'll see how it plays out from here after halfway through the SEC season. 

 

15-15 in the SEC pretty much always (maybe always in the past?) gets an NCAAT bid. 

 

MSU has a little work to do at 7-8, Ole Miss has a lot to work to do at 5-10. 

 

 

[Dawg83]

Right on cue, State beat Alcorn State 11-0 and dropped from 49 to 57 in the RPI. Why the heck in 2024 are you still playing these games?

[maroontide06]

8 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

Right on cue, State beat Alcorn State 11-0 and dropped from 49 to 57 in the RPI. Why the heck in 2024 are you still playing these games?

State was supposed to drop more than that.  I don't understand why Salmon couldn't cancel that one.

[Bulldogs4]

Kendall said they would drop some. In the big picture it is not a big deal. The next 15 conference games plus the GC, Memphis and UNA will tell the tale. 

18 games. I would say we need to win the three NC games and be 9-6 in the conference games plus win a game or two in the conference tournament to be comfortably in a regional. 
 

I am not sure that happens but we will see. 

[Dawg83]

15 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

Kendall said they would drop some. In the big picture it is not a big deal. The next 15 conference games plus the GC, Memphis and UNA will tell the tale. 

18 games. I would say we need to win the three NC games and be 9-6 in the conference games plus win a game or two in the conference tournament to be comfortably in a regional. 
 

I am not sure that happens but we will see. 

With this RPI and nonconference SOS, yeah I’m wondering if they need 16 SEC wins just to make the NCAAT. 15 win SEC teams have been left out before. 2015 Missouri, 2016 Bama and Kentucky.

[Bulldogs4]

Crucial weekend for State & Ole Miss. 

 

Ole Miss heads to UGA. Georgia is a decent team but beatable. Will this past weekend serve as a turning point for Ole Miss? Sadly, it appears that the Ole Miss faithful hope it was not because they are ready to move on to a new HC. At 5-10, they need to win at least two this weekend. 
 

State plays a 2-13 Auburn at home for SBW. Quite frankly, a sweep is necessary because we have let three very winnable games turn into losses. Two wins is always the goal but in this case three are needed to steal one back. Will it happen? Who knows? This team has proven to be resilient. But will last Saturday prove to be the point where we went over the waterfall? We will see starting this weekend. 
 

In other action, A&M is at Bama, LSU @ Missouri, Tenn @ UK, FL @ Vandy and Arkansas @ USCe. So some good match ups. 

[Dawg83]

I think State wins two, just don’t see the pitching depth to feel comfortable predicting a sweep. A series loss may be season over almost and Lemonis over too.

 

I think Georgia takes two versus Ole Miss. Still not sold on the Rebs, but a series win here starts to make things interesting.

 

Tennessee at Kentucky should be a great series. Not going to lie, I’d like to see UK win the SEC since my team is out of the mix. 14-1 and two games clear right now but the schedule will pick up. I don’t think they’ve ever been a Top 8 seed so just doing that would be a great accomplishment.

[pancho]

I guess we should hope they can win 2.  nothing will surprise me after the showing last week in oxford

[maroontide06]

6 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

I think State wins two, just don’t see the pitching depth to feel comfortable predicting a sweep. A series loss may be season over almost and Lemonis over too.

 

I think Georgia takes two versus Ole Miss. Still not sold on the Rebs, but a series win here starts to make things interesting.

 

Tennessee at Kentucky should be a great series. Not going to lie, I’d like to see UK win the SEC since my team is out of the mix. 14-1 and two games clear right now but the schedule will pick up. I don’t think they’ve ever been a Top 8 seed so just doing that would be a great accomplishment.

If State loses the series this weekend, there's not a justifiable reason to keep Lemonis employed.  You would think we would be able to take the series and even sweep, but this team can't string two wins together and three would just be an anomaly.  If we manage to scrounge up enough depth to take two this weekend, would there even be enough fumes left in the tank?

[Dawg83]

1 hour ago, maroontide06 said:

If State loses the series this weekend, there's not a justifiable reason to keep Lemonis employed.  You would think we would be able to take the series and even sweep, but this team can't string two wins together and three would just be an anomaly.  If we manage to scrounge up enough depth to take two this weekend, would there even be enough fumes left in the tank?

If you made me call it today, I think they go 7-8 in the back half too. Either get swept at Arkansas or lose the Bama series, everything else goes chalk. So 14-16 entering Hoover which I don’t think is enough to get in the NCAAT on its own, would definitely need to make a run in Hoover at that point.

[Dawg83]

Georgia run ruled Ole Miss.

 

State currently up 8-1 on Auburn. AU isn’t a good team but Stephen has been excellent for State. Zero earned runs allowed in three straight starts.

[maroontide06]

1 hour ago, Dawg83 said:

Georgia run ruled Ole Miss.

 

State currently up 8-1 on Auburn. AU isn’t a good team but Stephen has been excellent for State. Zero earned runs allowed in three straight starts.

It’s too bad we can’t get some extra copies of him made to cover a weekend series.  We’ve just got to stay away from the cliff’s edge and we just can’t seem to avoid the danger of it.  Hopefully we’ve got enough left in the tank to win tomorrow.

[Dawg83]

1 hour ago, maroontide06 said:

It’s too bad we can’t get some extra copies of him made to cover a weekend series.  We’ve just got to stay away from the cliff’s edge and we just can’t seem to avoid the danger of it.  Hopefully we’ve got enough left in the tank to win tomorrow.

Honestly, I think this needs to be a sweep. At some point you’ve gotta start to make up for all the games you’ve totally choked away. You’re playing a 2-14 team on your home field, if you’re an NCAAT team this needs to be a 3-0 weekend, IMO.

[Bulldogs4]

7 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

Honestly, I think this needs to be a sweep. At some point you’ve gotta start to make up for all the games you’ve totally choked away. You’re playing a 2-14 team on your home field, if you’re an NCAAT team this needs to be a 3-0 weekend, IMO.

Ditto for State..

Terrible start for Ole Miss after last weekend.

USM is in kind of the same boat as State. Playing a bad ULM at home and they need to sweep as well. And they did get win number one. 
Getting the games in this weekend could be dicey especially tomorrow with the rain that is coming. 

[Dawg83]

2 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said:

Ditto for State..

Terrible start for Ole Miss after last weekend.

USM is in kind of the same boat as State. Playing a bad ULM at home and they need to sweep as well. And they did get win number one. 
Getting the games in this weekend could be dicey especially tomorrow with the rain that is coming. 

Yeah not real sure about the 5 pm start in Starkville. They might need to be playing around 11 or 12 to get this one in today.

[Bulldogs4]

40 minutes ago, Dawg83 said:

Yeah not real sure about the 5 pm start in Starkville. They might need to be playing around 11 or 12 to get this one in today.

And probably need to play a DH today. Forecast for tomorrow looks like cold rain. 

[Dawg83]

Ole Miss split a DH today and lost the series 2-1.

 

State will play two 7 inning games tomorrow.

[Bulldogs4]

A bit of throwback today in reverse. Prior to 1992, conference series were a DH - 7 innings each on Saturday followed by a single 9 inning game on Sunday. 
Today we will have a twin bill of 7 inning games. We know Auburn can score but their pitching is suspect. So we will see what will happens later. At least the rain has moved out. Will be cool but sunny this afternoon. 
 

Prior to SC/Arkansas joining the SEC, baseball was completely split E-W. Meaning State played 24 conference games. H-H against Aub, Bama, OM & LSU. Only played the E teams in the SEC Tournament. The format varied over the years. The top two teams advanced and then top four and then the top six towards the end. In 1992, the current schedule format was implemented playing F-S-S and the schedule going to 30 games. Still playing the W teams and then rotating the E teams. 
 

I am not sure what the future scheduling for baseball will be once OK and TX join next year. 

[Dawg83]

4 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

A bit of throwback today in reverse. Prior to 1992, conference series were a DH - 7 innings each on Saturday followed by a single 9 inning game on Sunday. 
Today we will have a twin bill of 7 inning games. We know Auburn can score but their pitching is suspect. So we will see what will happens later. At least the rain has moved out. Will be cool but sunny this afternoon. 
 

Prior to SC/Arkansas joining the SEC, baseball was completely split E-W. Meaning State played 24 conference games. H-H against Aub, Bama, OM & LSU. Only played the E teams in the SEC Tournament. The format varied over the years. The top two teams advanced and then top four and then the top six towards the end. In 1992, the current schedule format was implemented playing F-S-S and the schedule going to 30 games. Still playing the W teams and then rotating the E teams. 
 

I am not sure what the future scheduling for baseball will be once OK and TX join next year. 

I’m guessing fewer permanent opponents for everyone. I anticipate State playing Ole Miss and LSU every year but can’t imagine they’ll have six permanents like they do now. Probably won’t have divisions anymore, much like football is going to be.

 

Edit: just saw that the SEC already announced this apparently last year. Keeping it at 30 games with two permanent opponents and eight rotating.

Edited April 21, 2024 by Dawg83

[Bulldogs4]

For State it is Ole Miss & LSU.

For Ole Miss - State and Arkansas. 

 

Which makes good sense. Both are good traditional baseball rivals.

 

 

[Dawg83]

State wins the first leg of the DH and will go for the weekend sweep in a little bit. Khal Stephen and Jurrangelo Cijntje are doing everything in their power to keep this team afloat. We will see if they can get any help down the stretch.

[Bulldogs4]

Honestly the next game is the most critical game of the season. The difference between 10-8 and 9-9 is huge. Especially with road trips to Vandy and Arkansas upcoming.
We will see. 

[Dawg83]

State walks off (not before multiple base running gaffes) to get the sweep.

 

I still have no idea if this team is any good or how good they are. But you 100% needed a sweep here and you got it, so kudos for that.

 

Amazingly, State has already surpassed their SEC win total from the last two years. Went 9-21 in ‘22 and ‘23 and now sitting on 10 wins with 12 games to play.

Edited April 21, 2024 by Dawg83

[Dawg83]

Looking at Ole Miss, little bit of a long shot but if they can get to 13 or 14 SEC wins I think they have an excellent NCAAT case. Currently 24 in the RPI with the top ranked strength of schedule in the country.

[Bulldogs4]

1 hour ago, Dawg83 said:

Looking at Ole Miss, little bit of a long shot but if they can get to 13 or 14 SEC wins I think they have an excellent NCAAT case. Currently 24 in the RPI with the top ranked strength of schedule in the country.

Ole Miss played much a stronger OOC schedule so they still have a chance. State continues to make it hard on ourselves but this was a huge win. 
The last inning is always excruciating especially for the road team and especially when a team is struggling like Auburn. Just like last Saturday when I knew State was going to lose to Ole Miss. This evening you knew Auburn was going to lose this game. Notice I said Auburn was going to lose. And not as much as State winning the game. 
 

But I digress, as I said 10-8 is so much better than 9-9 but still a long way to go.