Looking at Vandy

[Bulldogg31]

They are 15-1, but their opponents' collective record is 34-75 (.311), including their last two series against Radford and Xavier who are combined 5-25.

I'm sure Vandy is loaded again, but hard to tell much from who they've played. Should be a fun series to watch.

 

[57stratdawg]

I think the goal is to win one. Win Friday night behind a strong outting from Hudson and we're playing with house $ the rest of the weekend.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Agreed, however Vandy's Friday night starter (Sheffield) has 36 K's in 24 innings, and sports a 1.09 ERA. Dang.

The Saturday guy (Bowden) looks a little more hittable, 4.50 ERA with 23 K's in 20 innings.

Again, their competition hasn't been good, so who knows. Oregon looked unhittable on paper too.


I'd love to win one of the first two then take our chances on Sunday.

 

[patdog]

I think the goal needs to be to win 2. I'm not conceding the series before it even starts. Winning 1 wouldn't be a bad weekend though.

 

[thekimmer]

Agreed. We should go in believing we can win all three. Winning two is the goal. Winning one is mandatory.

 

[BiscuitEater]

Again, their competition hasn't been good, so who knows. Oregon looked unhittable on paper too.

Of note .."The Ducks’ rotation had entered the weekend with six consecutive quality starts and carried a streak of 34.1 innings without allowing an earned run. Oregon's starters 'were' a combined 4-0, era less than 1.0 and left with 3 losses that weren't really close.

Oregon Ducks web site ..

Rocky Weekend For Rotation: After dominating opponents through the first three weeks of the season, the Ducks’ starting rotation struggled to keep Mississippi State in check over the three-game series. Sunday starter David Peterson (2-1) allowed four runs on six hits with just two strikeouts over 5.2 innings, taking his first loss of the season. Peterson doubled his season total with four walks, and struggled at the start of innings as the Bulldogs reached base to begin four of his five innings of work. Cole Irvin took the loss on Friday, allowing five runs over 5.1 innings, and Matt Krook failed to make it out of the first inning in Saturday’s loss. The Ducks’ rotation had entered the weekend with six consecutive quality starts and carried a streak of 34.1 innings without allowing an earned run.

 

[patdog]

Winning one is mandatory.

I'm not going to go jump off a cliff if we get swept this weekend. I don't think we will, but it won't be time to crank up "fire Cohen" if we do.

 

[GloryDawg]

We might end up with a pleasant surprise.

 

[msudawg12]

win one on the road at Vandy and you essentially break even RPI wise

win two and we are in stellar shape

 

[thekimmer]

No but we need one to hold serve. A sweep is a step back.

 

[Shmuley]

Channeling my inner you know who, this weekend is setting up to be one huge, sweeping disappointment.

 

[engie]

win one on the road at Vandy and you essentially break even RPI wise

win two and we are in stellar shape

. Break even in the win category -- and see a jump in sos... 1-2 at Vandy and our rpi will improve a little...

3-2 this week holds serve. We are right on schedule with where we need to be

 

[MSUDC11]

I'll be happy to leave town with one win. Getting swept isn't ideal, but you can make up for it by sweeping someone else (home series against Georgia and Mizzou are probably the most likely candidates).

I actually feel decent about our chances of winning two. Oregon was probably a little overrated, but we dominated them and looked like a savy veteran team. Vandy is quite young, and we will be the best team they've played by far other than maybe Stanford, who we are still better than.

Not going to have many better chances to win a road series in Nashville. However, it's not the end of the world if we don't.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

I think we will sweep them...

...and follow that up by getting swept by Georgia. #HailState

 

[philduckworth]

I try not to think about it, but the competitive advantage Vandy has in baseball is just mindboggling. Can you imagine if football teams had the same scholarship advantage? There would be daily outrage until it got fixed.

 

[KurtRambis4]

Unfortunately

the NCAA has showed that they don't give a **** about college baseball. It's not as big a money-maker for them to, I guess.

 

[philduckworth]

the NCAA has showed that they don't give a **** about college baseball. It's not as big a money-maker for them to, I guess.

That 11.7 number for us just seems so arbitrary. If the NCAA could just figure out a way to allow 15 scholarships it seems like it would help a lot. Getting fewer scholarships than a 13 man basketball team is laughable.

 

[patdog]

The scholarship limit used to be 13, before the NCAA decided baseball needed a 10% cut. It's ridiculous. They really need at least 18 scholarships. I had always assumed this was a "gender equity" thing, but I just checked and softball only gets 12 scholarships. It's even more ridiculous now that I know that.

 

[Bulldogg31]

I think instead of a baseball vs softball comparison, you have to look at a total men's sports vs. total women's sports scholarship ratio.

Title IX doesn't care which sports you have, just how many and for whom.

 

[engie]

A football exemption or partial exemption would fix everything...