Look where we are now. We lost this one, but we know we can play with anyone. Could we say that at the beginning of last year. This is not a moral victory. I hate to lose, but when I coached, my teams learned from that sting of a loss. Oak is working, right now, on closing out the big game, today and tomorrow, and the next day. Hail 17-ing State! Go Dawgs!
Losing hurts, but…
- Thread starter dog99walker
- Start date
This was an Omaha game today. And we all know how it feels to lose in Omaha. Especially to them and thier fan. Like Oak said in the postgame, we will see them again.
If we still had Lemonis I guarantee you we would not be 11-1 with a shoulda win vs #1 UCLA.
I feel very good about this team right now. It's going to be a great year.
I am impressed with Oak. I think we finally got us a good head coach.
We've definitely had more than one good head coach. But this one has already proven he's a great head coach.
One thing I think we're lacking is a bullpen with a killer mentality. I haven't gone back and looked, but I'm willing to bet the vast majority of runs scored against us have come from the 7th inning on.
We would be 7-5 with losses to Hofstra, the Blue Hens, some midweek game, and went 1-2 this weekend.
I hate losing, but I’m not mad about this one. In fact, I even like that things didn’t go our way and we got to face some real adversity and still nearly pulled it out. Parker’s ball at the end wasn’t far from getting away.
We got better this weekend and especially tonight. Lots of good experience all the way around.
And of course, I highly suspect Oak made some different decisions tonight than he would in a truly meaningful game. By highly suspect— I’m 1000% sure of it.
We got better this weekend and especially tonight. Lots of good experience all the way around.
And of course, I highly suspect Oak made some different decisions tonight than he would in a truly meaningful game. By highly suspect— I’m 1000% sure of it.
I here for the player development and I'm liking what I'm seeing. Many many teachable moments
I know everyone including myself is pissedabout Teel’s missed called strike out, but there were 3 inside pitches with bases loaded that our batters moved away from.
We have to take those body shots in the future.
We have to take those body shots in the future.
I know everyone including myself is pissedabout Teel’s missed called strike out, but there were 3 inside pitches with bases loaded that our batters moved away from.
We have to take those body shots in the future
We have to take those body shots in the future
Yeah, I definitely think Ace missed an opportunity to take one off the elbow for the win.
We may drop some series this year, heck we may drop our next game on Tuesday, but there’s no doubt that this team has some serious juice to it. Got a chance to be a really fun year.
Agree. Bigger picture here moving forward. This is a 45-50 win team.
Good, yes, but a great head coach would’ve gotten a HBP in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded. We had two chances….
This team is really really good, and really really deep. Everywhere. We are easily a top 5 team who is one foot of a higher outfield wall from being undefeated with a win over the #1 team in the nation. I feel like if that ground rule double would have gone our way, there would be no argument against moving us to #1 in the D1baseball rankings.
The only semi concern I have right now is the fact that we have not played a tough SOS, and we are a bit un-tested against top teams, but that will change as the season progresses. Tuesday in Hattiesburg will be a true test in one of the toughest road environments in the country, as USM looks to be a top 10 team this season. They usually perform very well in these midweek games. I really want us to limit our non-conference weekend games to only 1 "snowbird" team instead of 2. That first or second weekend needs to be a tougher series, maybe even a home-away series with a team like Southern Miss or LA Tech or Tulane. That would help our RPI later on in the season, but no real complaints yet with this team.
Going to be a fun season gents.
I love you all,
GOJ
The only semi concern I have right now is the fact that we have not played a tough SOS, and we are a bit un-tested against top teams, but that will change as the season progresses. Tuesday in Hattiesburg will be a true test in one of the toughest road environments in the country, as USM looks to be a top 10 team this season. They usually perform very well in these midweek games. I really want us to limit our non-conference weekend games to only 1 "snowbird" team instead of 2. That first or second weekend needs to be a tougher series, maybe even a home-away series with a team like Southern Miss or LA Tech or Tulane. That would help our RPI later on in the season, but no real complaints yet with this team.
Going to be a fun season gents.
I love you all,
GOJ
The thing I’ve thought about this evening is it’s easy to focus on the bullpen kinda losing it in the 9th and 10th, but I think until the tying home run our pen had thrown five shutout innings today, against one of the better lineups in the country.. We’ve got plenty of pieces to work with in the pen, today was just one of those things late in the game. If Stone or Foster can settle in on Sundays and give us just a little bit more on the front end, it would really put us in a super strong position.
I presume everybody outside of Davis could probably throw in Hattiesburg if need be. I think our opponent next weekend is pretty bad, so might as well treat Tuesday like the biggest game of the week and use whatever of your key arms are needed.
I presume everybody outside of Davis could probably throw in Hattiesburg if need be. I think our opponent next weekend is pretty bad, so might as well treat Tuesday like the biggest game of the week and use whatever of your key arms are needed.
Had it been me, I would have called timeout and walked out to the mound and told Ben Davis....."Whatever you do, do not throw any pitch that can get anywhere near the batter. No sliders, no sinkers, no curves, no knucklers.......nothing! Nothing but your good fastball and a changeup. And no walks. Just pound the damn strike zone like you've been doing with great success". And guess what, we throw to a .220 lefthanded batter a slider from a right-handed pitcher. Sliders have nowhere to break except toward the batter in that situation. And if it starts out over the plate, yep you guessed it. Bingo, breaks toward the batter and hits him on the foot. I was screaming from the stands "Why, just why? Why Ben?!! Some of you there may have even heard me screaming. I was so mad, I started heading for the exits immediately. I knew exactly what was going to happen with UCLA's best slugger up next. I listened to an interview before the game with John Savage and he was asked about Cholowsky.....Savage replied that he expects that by the end of the year he'll be a 1st team All-American. So, by the time I reached the outfield exits, I heard the crack of the bat, turned and watched the ball go bye-bye. Got in my car and headed back to Memphis. Got here at about 3 AM. Still can't go to sleep I'm so pissed off. Our team will get over it. I probably won't. We still will have a good year I think even though USM could take us behind their woodshed. We'll see. I really thought Ben could have thrown his fastball right by their leadoff guy......or dropping down to an 80 mph change up and watch him cork screw himself right into the ground trying to hit it. Then it would have been Ballgame! for us instead.
Having a State team play knowing that they will win most games and have a chance to win every game makes it enjoyable as a fan.
Difference in the game was UCLA took the body shots and our guys didn’t … Reece wears that fastball, we win.
I wouldn't go out on the limb of calling us the better team. We're likely deeper and maybe better on offense, but we didn't see their two best weekend starters and they're clearly better in the field and at the little baseball things.
We've got lots of room to improve, which is good.
They didn’t see our 2 best weekend starters either.