Is there a USM message board worth a shit? I'm looking but there's only like 2 posts on the free board at BigGoldBation
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Is there a USM message board worth a shit? I'm looking but there's only like 2 posts on the free board at BigGoldBation
I know we're shortstaffed and Cann has every built in excuse, but I think we should win this regional. Just my 2 cents
Saw this interesting little stat on a South Alabama forum....
https://i.imgflip.com/1pxs5b.jpg
McCarty is our best arm but we didn't have him on Friday all year. Switched between Fri/Sat. Beginning of the year, he was our Saturday guy then we bumped him to Friday then back to Saturday late in the year.
Smith and Braley are both RHP. Braley started against MSU midweek and got the win. We moved him to the weekend rotation in late April and basically pitched by committee for the remaining midweek games.
The bullpen, particularly middle relief, is probably our biggest weakness. At the backend, you have Nick Sandlin (2.16 ERA/1.18 WHIP) who was nearly unhittable at the beginning of the year (didn't give up an earned run until April 4th) but he struggled a little bit with control later in the year. Sidearmer. He's been pretty good his last few appearances so I'm encouraged with that. Has a really good slider that be can be especially brutal on righties.
Hayden Roberts (4.41 ERA/1.40 WHIP) is our main guy in middle relief. Actually started the year as our Friday guy but we moved him to the pen after a couple of rough starts. Good fastball in the 92-94 range and has a wipeout slider when he's on. Struggles with command sometimes because he will often try to overthrow. Despite some bumps in the road this year, he has a high upside and will probably be drafted by some team this year. If USM has to play a 4th game, he's probably the guy that gets the start (assuming he's rested enough).
JC Keys (5.12 ERA/1.35 WHIP) and Trent Driver (5.70 ERA/1.63 WHIP) are two other guys you'll likely see this week. Keys was our Sunday starter for a good chunk of the year but we moved him to pen. Struggled to throw strikes at times this year but has really come on strong these past few weeks. Gave us a good start midweek vs SELA and had a solid CUSA tourney as well. Has a pretty filthy 12-6 curveball. Driver is a sidearmer who is mostly used in R/R matchups but can be hit pretty hard by teams. Hinds transfer.
Lastly, the wildcard to our pen is Matt Wallner (1.80 ERA/1.00 WHIP). He's the freshman out of the Minneapolis area that has been gotten a ton of press from national writers. Mostly for his hitting (batting .345 with 19 HRs) but he's also logged some innings for us on the mound. We used him mostly at the end of games (usually when Sandlin was unavailable) early in the year but he's been dealing a sore hip since the Ole Miss game in Pearl. Doesn't affect his swing but he's not really 100% on the mound. Don't know his availability for this weekend as the coaching staff is really trying to be careful with him. Faced one batter yesterday and pitched an inning vs FAU in early May. Those are his only appearances since the hip strain.
"The Perch" is our most active freeboard. EaglePost disbanded and lot of the regulars ended up there.
http://csnbbs.com/forum-447.html
Is Billingsley going to pitch this weekend? He looked good last time out
I feel good. Our weekend stuff is way better than our mid week. We have come a long ways since we lost to USM in a mid week game early in the SEC season. I really don't worry about our hitting. I do worry about pitching. We need to win the first two games. If we get into the loser bracket then it could be trouble.