Hey Bama- baseball is still our sport

[Todd4State]

Huge weekend and we got a series win on the road against a really good Alabama baseball team. Our RPI has now vaulted to 37 as I type this which is a huge 15 point jump. That RPI makes me believe that if the season ended today we would be in as a 3 seed. But there is still work to be done. We have to beat Southern which is actually a big game because if we sleepwalk and blow that game it will probably kill our RPI and wash everything we did this weekend. We also have a huge series against Florida coming up and we need to at a minimum win the series. The rest of the season sets up nicely for MSU with three home series, a road series against an Auburn team that is similar to Alabama and a road series against Mizzou. MSU needs to make a run now and take care of business.

A big reason why MSU is playing better is the pitching staff has been managed much better. As I said last week we have enough bullpen that our starters could go four innings and we can sweep someone. That almost played out this weekend. Other than the first inning Pico wasn't supersharp but pitched well enough and Stone Simmons continues to emerge as our relief ace setting the tone for the weekend. We did lose on Saturday and that was more on the offense IMO than the pitching. Siary was solid and Ben Davis wasn't too bad. I think we may need to use him in shorter stints and use McPherson or Mannell or Hungate or Dotson to fill in the gaps. Ligon was good for the second weekend in a row and Nate Williams was absolute fire coming out of the bullpen. Playing Southern should allow us to see some guys that haven't pitched a lot like maybe Charlie Foster as well as get some guys like Mannell some work.

Ross Highfill hit the biggest home run of the season so far. I don't think he is 100%. Powell is still the better of the two. But it's a struggle. Powell's batting average is pretty respectable in SEC play and I think with consistent playing time it will continue to improve. Something to watch on Tuesday is Ross Highfill because hitting that home run may give him some confidence and if he plays well against Southern we may see him play some more in SEC play.

Hines is playing some of his best baseball. Just night and day difference from pre SEC play. He's hitting .357 in SEC play. I think the changes on defense have settled the team down some. Gatlin Sanders is really solid and is hitting over .300 in SEC play. Sawyer Reeves is hitting .464 in SEC play. Cupp is a good player but he was simply making too many errors. Ace Reese is flashing talent and has 6 home runs in SEC play.

The changes in the OF have helped a lot as well. Gehrig Frei is Mr. Excitement out there in LF but he makes the plays and has become a solid leadoff hitter. Chance is in a slump but he'll get through it and play again soon. Aaron Downs in CF is a good call for the meantime. We have to get Nolan Stevens back as well. Reed Stallman is a solid option. Noah Sullivan is as good as advertised. He has done a good job as the midweek starter too.

Coming into this weekend we really only needed one win. Winning two on the road makes me happy. Had we swept I would have been ecstatic. It has taken too long to put this team together but I think it finally is or is very close and I think we have a chance to finish strong. But this team has to DO IT. The margin for error is pretty small and this team has to make it happen. I think the most disappointing thing is we all see the overall talent there and how close most of our losses are to people like Texas and LSU but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. No matter how it turns out the last five weeks of the season are going to be interesting and I think there are a lot of possibilities as to how this could play out.

[Pancho]

Roger that

[cheewgumm]

Evens were. We played Texas and Oklahoma I thought we were better just from eye test.

I think Texas has superior pitching , so this is really position layers I?m talking about.

Just saying, we can beat anybody if pitching holds, which it?s seems like it?s doing more than holding. Seems like it?s all kind of coming together.

Gonna be a good 2nd half.

[Pancho]

at a minimum, would should have at least 3 more conference wins but that is all water under the bridge now

[bulldogcountry1]

Can we talk about the Saturday game? Specifically, the 9th inning.

Down 4-1.

Hines - HBP
Spalitta PH for Chance - FC
Sanders - 1B
Stallman - 4-1
O'Brien PH for Powell - F6


Spalitta has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.
O'Brien has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.


How can these decisions make sense in any way?

[StarkVegasSteve]

We're close but we have ZERO margin for error. That is the issue. We blew too many games early when we were tinkering with our lineup, defining bullpen roles, etc. I mean just off the top of my head I can think of 5. How different would our season look right now if we were 27-9 and 8-7 in conference? You're talking about 18 conference wins and fighting for national seeds instead of, "well, if we finish strong we can get a 2 seed.". And it's the same thing we did last year. And it will be the same thing we do next year if Lemonis is in the dugout. Like Todd has said before, he has to stop treating the first two months like Spring Training. This isn't Louisville where he and Dan could tinker until May because they were beating the crap out of everyone.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Can we talk about the Saturday game? Specifically, the 9th inning.

Down 4-1.

Hines - HBP
Spalitta PH for Chance - FC
Sanders - 1B
Stallman - 4-1
O'Brien PH for Powell - F6


Spalitta has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.
O'Brien has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.


How can these decisions make sense in any way?

They don't. No Lemonis decision has made sense since 2021. He continually makes head scratching decisions that work about 25% of the time. Like on the surface, what the heck is he doing PH Highfill yesterday? Highfill hadn't played in 2 weeks and Powell had hit the ball well on the weekend. It worked out and we're thankful it did, but what if it doesnt? We're sitting there saying, "What the hell are you doing taking out our best defensive catcher to PH with two outs and no one on?!?"

[bulldogcountry1]

They don't. No Lemonis decision has made sense since 2021. He continually makes head scratching decisions that work about 25% of the time. Like on the surface, what the heck is he doing PH Highfill yesterday? Highfill hadn't played in 2 weeks and Powell had hit the ball well on the weekend. It worked out and we're thankful it did, but what if it doesnt? We're sitting there saying, "What the hell are you doing taking out our best defensive catcher to PH with two outs and no one on?!?"

And it's not consitent logic. If you are going to PH Highfill for Powell on Sunday, why not do it on Saturday? I'm sure's its just a matter of blindy going with L on R or R on L. Well, I don't have access to split stats, but I'm sure both Powell and Highfill's BA against RHP is greater than ZERO. The AB represents tying run in an SEC game when your job is on the line, and you put your confidence in O'Brien?

[StarkVegasSteve]

And it's not consitent logic. If you are going to PH Highfill for Powell on Sunday, why not do it on Saturday? I'm sure's its just a matter of blindy going with L on R or R on L. Well, I don't have access to split stats, but I'm sure both Powell and Highfill's BA against RHP is greater than ZERO. The AB represents tying run in an SEC game when your job is on the line, and you put your confidence in O'Brien?

I still don't know why he continues to put faith in O'Brien. I'm sure he's a good kid, but what has he shown you in 2 years to make you think he would come through in that moment? He's batting .188 this year and batted .125 last year.

[Coach34]

Can we talk about the Saturday game? Specifically, the 9th inning.

Down 4-1.

Hines - HBP
Spalitta PH for Chance - FC
Sanders - 1B
Stallman - 4-1
O'Brien PH for Powell - F6


Spalitta has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.
O'Brien has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.


How can these decisions make sense in any way?

Whether you agree with it or not- he was trying to get LH'ed bats to face Bama's Closer- who is hell on RH'ed batters. That is the WHY. Stevens was hurt and unavailable

[Goldendawg]

Coach 34, who is the player that you refer to as "Trout"?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Coach 34, who is the player that you refer to as "Trout"?

Not Coach, but it's Bryce Chance.

[Goldendawg]

Not Coach, but it's Bryce Chance.

Thanks. Why do you think it takes Lemonis half a season to decide on a starting lineup and rotation?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Thanks. Why do you think it takes Lemonis half a season to decide on a starting lineup and rotation?

Because he treats our team like a pro team. He treats the beginning of the year like Spring Training. Look back at even his really good team in 19 and 21 and he was tinkering with the lineup early in the year. 20 is also a prime example, we just don't remember it well because of COVID.

People actually forget how below avearge we started off in 2020, I can't say bad because we were still 12-4. We had lost a midweek to Texas Southern and Long Beach had taken 2 of 3 from us. I know we always like to say we thought we were about to turn a corner because of beating Texas Tech but I sometimes wonder if we would've actually turned the corner or Arkansas would've come in that weekend and given us a reality check.

I still think Foscue and Westburg would've carried us, but I think it would've been a bit like last year. Either host as like a 15 or 16 seed or be a two seed in a Regional we should win.

[Cooterpoot]

Because he's lazy. If you can't go through fall and the pre-SEC schedule without knowing what you've got, that's on the coach. It's not some brilliance by Lemonis, it didn't take the better teams 2/3 of the season to figure it out.

[Goldendawg]

Per the thread title, rubbing it in on bama at this point in the season is about like being happy in a 4-8 football season because we beat OM, but went 1-7 in the SEC. Talk to me if we keep this up in baseball and make a run in the NCAA playoffs.

[Pancho]

only thing changed so far is Lemo don't sit on a bucket any more.

[cheewgumm]

And tell your crappy coach to pound sand.

We dont want him anymore.

[Pancho]

wonder what Vaughn would do with our talent?

[Coach34]

wonder what Vaughn would do with our talent?

lol- hold on. Just 2 weeks ago people were saying we didnt have any talent. Now we are more talented than Bama? Bama had the best player on the field at SS last weekend. They got some dudes also. Bama got outplayed and outcoached on their own field

[Todd4State]

Because he treats our team like a pro team. He treats the beginning of the year like Spring Training. Look back at even his really good team in 19 and 21 and he was tinkering with the lineup early in the year. 20 is also a prime example, we just don't remember it well because of COVID.

People actually forget how below avearge we started off in 2020, I can't say bad because we were still 12-4. We had lost a midweek to Texas Southern and Long Beach had taken 2 of 3 from us. I know we always like to say we thought we were about to turn a corner because of beating Texas Tech but I sometimes wonder if we would've actually turned the corner or Arkansas would've come in that weekend and given us a reality check.

I still think Foscue and Westburg would've carried us, but I think it would've been a bit like last year. Either host as like a 15 or 16 seed or be a two seed in a Regional we should win.

I think this is one thing that Lemonis doesn't get for some reason.

We don't want to just win. We want to dominate the sport.

The whole year long. And we should feel that way.

We want to play in and win preseason tournaments. We want to win the Governor's Cup. We want to win the SEC and SEC Tournament. Then we want to host as a National Seed, then go to Omaha and win that too.

[Todd4State]

Can we talk about the Saturday game? Specifically, the 9th inning.

Down 4-1.

Hines - HBP
Spalitta PH for Chance - FC
Sanders - 1B
Stallman - 4-1
O'Brien PH for Powell - F6


Spalitta has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.
O'Brien has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.


How can these decisions make sense in any way?

That's a good point. Those decisions were cringy. Especially with Aaron Downs and Ross Highfill on the bench.

[Coach34]

We've won the SEC 1 damn time since 1990. Our fans have too much of an inflated sense of our program.

1 SEC regular season title in the last 35 years

[maroonmania]

Can we talk about the Saturday game? Specifically, the 9th inning.

Down 4-1.

Hines - HBP
Spalitta PH for Chance - FC
Sanders - 1B
Stallman - 4-1
O'Brien PH for Powell - F6


Spalitta has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.
O'Brien has ZERO hits in SEC play in 2 seasons.


How can these decisions make sense in any way?

Yep, that was the worst decision of the year since we pitched Schnoor and Black in a game with Troy where in only one inning they took us from being down 1-0 to being down 5-0 leading to our 5-4 loss to Troy. And that's the only time either has pitched all year.

[MoreCowbell]

We've won the SEC 1 damn time since 1990. Our fans have too much of an inflated sense of our program.

1 SEC regular season title in the last 35 years

We are the Auburn football of SEC Baseball

[Todd4State]

We've won the SEC 1 damn time since 1990. Our fans have too much of an inflated sense of our program.

1 SEC regular season title in the last 35 years

But why can we not win? We have won pretty much everything I mentioned at least once since 2016. Some things multiple times. We won a NC which people said we couldn't do just a few years ago.

We have the ability and resources to be a national powerhouse like a LSU or Texas. I think the crux of the problem is we don't necessarily have the head coach that matches that.

His attitude is literally "Well, we lost to Troy but it's OK we'll figure it out." I mean- WTF? You think Vitello has that attitude? There are videos of Augie Garrido destroying his team in the clubhouse after a close win over a mid major.

And to be honest a lot of the bad things are controllable. Like bad defense, catchers looking like they're in their first year of playing catcher, and bad baserunning which at least half the time is Cheese's fault. I mean- if you're a baserunner what are you supposed to do? You can't tell the third base coach "hell no I'm not running I'm going to be out by 10 feet dumbass."

Even when we won the NC we basically might as well should have just forfeited the SEC Tournament because we at least would have saved gas and we wouldn't have wasted everyone's time.

[Todd4State]

Yep, that was the worst decision of the year since we pitched Schnoor and Black in a game with Troy where in only one inning they took us from being down 1-0 to being down 5-0 leading to our 5-4 loss to Troy. And that's the only time either has pitched all year.

Yeah. If we're going to have pitcher tryouts then we need to schedule a Weds game against Alcorn to make sure we give everyone an opportunity to throw at least an inning. We did it against a top 25 team.

[State82]

Yep, that was the worst decision of the year since we pitched Schnoor and Black in a game with Troy where in only one inning they took us from being down 1-0 to being down 5-0 leading to our 5-4 loss to Troy. And that's the only time either has pitched all year.

He's not being paid 7 figures to make decisions like that. Did he not learn his lesson last year about that?

[Pancho]

it's called the annual rinse and repeat as to how Lemo handles or doesn't know how to handle a team full of players. I doubt he learned anything from last year.