How many people thought that our baseball team

[Todd4State]

would be tied for first place in the SEC West at this point in the season? I'll freely admit that I didn't- I predicted 30 wins and 10 SEC wins. I'm glad I was wrong.

And despite the last game, we played very well against Ole Miss this year- once in Jackson/Pearl and also on the road. I don't know that we can claim the mantle of the best program in the state based on one year, but the way we played against them and USM, I think we certainly opened some eyes. We were also on the front page of the Perfect Game website earlier this year- people are starting to notice MSU baseball again- and not because we have some crazy head coach who wants to take down the NCAA single handedly and is the only man in the world that still uses a typewriter.

It's also worth mentioning that we have a better hitting team, a better pitching team, and our fielding is better- based on stats than Ole Miss. This despite the fact that Bianco is an alleged pitching guru. Watching the entire series, it was pretty evident that we were the better coached team.

We've come a long way- but there is still a lot of work to do- this season and for the future. We still have a chance to win the West. The odds of doing so may not be in our favor, but regardless, just being in a pennant race will benefit our younger players in the future. We will likely go to the SEC Tournament, and we will go to a regional- which will also be a great experience for our players now and also again for the future. Also, we need to continue to add talent and we need to build depth. That was a major problem under the last regime- they would bring in a guy to be the first baseman for four years, and he would be the only guy brought in- Stephen Head be damned. That was a problem when a guy like Bunky Kateon wouldn't work out because it would leave a BIG hole in the lineup.

We have a big game against Memphis on Tuesday at Autozone, and then LSU for the weekend starting Thursday. Our fans need to show up to Dudy-Noble Field this weekend and give this team some support. They've earned it this year. Plus, it will be senior weekend- I assume that they will be honored on Sat.- but I'm not 100% on that. Jarrod Parks deserves a big ovation this year- and really the other seniors deserve one as well. They've put in a lot of hard work.

Let's go kick some *** and make Ben McDonald cry.

 

[dawgoneyall]

13-14 SEC wins......and that was with Stratton pitching well. If only..................


Anyone should have seen we were playing better earlier but our early SEC schedule was brutal.

 

[coach66]

started but a couple of weeks ago I didn't think that would happen and here we are with a shot at it. Obviously a big series with LSU, I hope we continue to play with the intensity we have seen lately.

 

[basedog]

I was hoping we would be a little over.500 with what we had coming back from last year. The nice thing about this team is the steady improvement and our seniors stepped it up the last 15 games or so.

I'm also surprised at the lack of success Stratton hasn't had this year. I still think he will be a good pitcher next year, he has to much ability to be up and down this year. Maybe his mature level hasn't kicked in yet. Pitchers can have off years just like hitters, I expect him to come around at least next year, but he needs to be on against Lsu as it could easily be 1 and 1 when he pitches Saturday.

 

[Coach34]

many here were lamenting about whether Cohen should be fired before the season

Interesting year for the Big 3:

Mullen- Gator Bowl and 9 wins
Cohen- Regional and SEC Tourney appearance

Stansbury- sitting at home

 

[8dog]

and after the Iowa game, I thought 8 conference wins would be a miracle.

 

[Paper Dog]

Posted that back here in January

However, I thought that would be about six games behind Arkansas in the Western Division standings

 

[ScaldedDawg]

I didn't think the man had it, and was not happy about the way he treated High Point college (being their head coach all of a week and leaving for us).

I feel like a new contestant who just got his name calledon The Price is Right.

 

[8dog]

if we said 1. Routt wouldn't be full steam ahead until 2/3 of the conf schedule and he would have to throw 85% fastballs; 2. Stratton would regress into a Sunday starter; and Ogden would be the worst fielding SS in the league (I haven't looked this up statistically, but I can't imagine anyone has been worse.

The keys to this season have been almost impossible to predict: 1. Parks stays healthy AND hits .400; 2. Luis Pollerana, a June flyer, becomes a starter that eats up innings; and 3. Reed becomes a top line SEC closer.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

with one weekend to go?

 

[BoDawg.sixpack]

I don't think many people. That being said I'm proud of the effort our team has shown to date. We're not overly talented or deep but we have won some clutch games this year.

 

[DowntownDawg]

...Vickerson, Shepherd, and even Collins have started to hit the ball, and that's what we have to have.

I think the overarching thing is that we have a gritty team pretty much full of guys who want to win and work hard to do that. And that is a credit to Cohen. Teams take on the personality of their coach, and I think we're seeing that happen.

 

[pDigital32Dawg]

2. Luis Pollerana, a June flyer, becomes a starter that eats up innings;

I think Pollorena has been one of the best things to happen to us this season. He can have a bad weekend against LSU and it won't hurt my opinion of him. He has been crucial for us all season long especially for someone as small as him,. I had no idea he was 5'6 165 and I hear 5'6 is generous and he still slings it 85-90 mph. Let's hope we win at least the 2 that would guarantee SEC tourney and it will be pretty clear that this team has over achieved in most people's eyes.

 

[patdog]

There's no standout top 10 team in the West, but every team in the West probably deserves a regional bid. I don't think they'll all get one, but the West isn't a bad division by a long shot.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

I think we'll see how good the SEC really is in regional play. SEC baseball is kinda like SEC football. There are a couple standout teams (FL, SC, Vandy) and the rest of the conference beats each other up while being pretty good (State, UGA, Bama, Auburn, Arky, Mississippi). Then there are a couple of bottom feeders (LSU, UT, UK). Our bottom feeders may be pretty bad, but in the overall scheme, the rest of the league is going to be pretty good.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

we might be lucky to win 2 more. As it turns out, Tennessee was just the medicine that both MSU and LSU needed. I think both will be in the NCAA tourney now. But it would be our luck that they put LSU at USM and send us to Cal-Fullerton.

I still think we have at least 2 more stinker games like the one we vomited up Sunday night at Oxford. I just hope they are not consecutive stinkers against LSU.

Alsoremember that even during the 7 game win streak we posted a modest 13-3 win over Valley and only garnered 8 hits in that game(thanks Valley for the 9 walks and 4 hit batters). So there is always the potential with this group to have deja vu all over again. Memphis will be tough I suspect. I'll take a 6-5 win there and be tickled. But we have to score 5 or more as both Cohen and I have said all season. We will not win another game where we score 4 or less. Write it down and remind me if I'm wrong.

 

[GloryDawg]

bd

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

... I've been down on this group of seniors all season.

I've been pretty amazed at their lack of baseball talent, given they play for a univeristy that prides itself on its baseball tradition.


But eventually Parks began to hit, Shephard begin to make plays, Ogden started to make one error a game instead of 4 & even Ryan Collins started delivering the timely hit.


If these seniors stay on pace, this team will make some noise in post season.