SEC play begins- G1 vs UPig

[Coursesuper]

I guess you are one of those fans who defends the coaches no matter what. Couldnt disagree more with every word in your post.

No, I don?t. But this isn?t football, we have to go 18 more tomorrow. They just burned their guy out of the pen and why do you run your closer out there in a game you?re not winning? Kid has been good, he missed his spot and it got hit.

[Coach34]

Arkansas cares most about basketball. They see baseball as a sport that’s fun but they don’t make it the main sport they care about and only care about.

UPig funds baseball like its their top sport. They have a Top 5 ballpark. Top 10 budget funding. Top 10 NIL. Right now? Football is 3rd at UPig

[EdwardDrayton]

Kid has to be put in high leverage situations now. He has the talent to succeed, just didn?t this time. It will pay off later in the season. By late April he won?t be a freshman any longer. But we have 18 innings tomorrow, and we saved our bullpen bullets while they burned their guy out of the pen.

Yes, that's true. But maybe not the first SEC Friday night late in a tie game.

[PGHBulldogBG]

UPig funds baseball like its their top sport. They have a Top 5 ballpark. Top 10 budget funding. Top 10 NIL. Right now? Football is 3rd at UPig

They fund it well but basketball a real nationally recognized sport is number 1 there

[Coach34]

The hell it isn't. He's part of your backend and so are some of the other guys that haven't been reliable. Look at how many runs we've given up in innings 6-9.

Miller is one of our top 9 guys. You only throw your Top 10 on the weekend if you can

[Todd4State]

I don't understand why we put a freshman in that situation while Pitzer hardly ever pitches. We also had Webb.

Sure let him grow up. He keeps blowing games we'll be spending his sophomore year trying to get his head right.

[parabrave]

I disagree from the standpoint that Davis in theory would keep us tied for 2 innings. I roll him out there and go the for the win instead of the freshman that gives up HR's with a 6+ ERA

I think it's a coaching mistake. Maybe it helps tomorrow but on the cusp right now- mistake

I think leaving 11 men on base and our 2345 and 6 hitters going 2 for 19 had a bit more to do with losing than Miller coming in. But you know the old saying good pitching ocercomes good hitting all the time.

[HoopsDawg]

Arkansas cares most about basketball. They see baseball as a sport that’s fun but they don’t make it the main sport they care about and only care about.

What are you rambling about

[Coach34]

They fund it well but basketball a real nationally recognized sport is number 1 there

I agree but they fund baseball Top 5. Football? Nowhere close

[maroonmania]

Face it guys, any reliever we have could have given up that gopher ball. I will say though that if we weren't going Davis, then Maddox Webb would have probably been a better option than Maddox Miller. But like I said, we don't have anyone that can be fully trusted right now on the back end.

[Coach34]

I think leaving 11 men on base and our 2345 and 6 hitters going 2 for 19 had a bit more to do with losing than Miller coming in. But you know the old saying good pitching ocercomes good hitting all the time.

Absolutely. Our offense let us down

[AlSwearengen]

If Miller is landing his change, he will be fine most of the time b/c it is a ++ pitch for him, but he was missing badly with it tonight, unfortunately.

We are in a weird place with our bullpen. Gleason has been our most consistent and after that, everyone is capable of being bad. A lot of our talent is young and inexperienced. The older pitchers that we brought in seem like they are either trying to rehab their images or come from lower level programs. I see a bunch of talented capable pitchers that aren?t alphas at this point.

[Todd4State]

Ever time we have lost it has been either Miller or Billingsley on the mound.

[maroonmania]

I think leaving 11 men on base and our 2345 and 6 hitters going 2 for 19 had a bit more to do with losing than Miller coming in. But you know the old saying good pitching ocercomes good hitting all the time.

Yep, we were one out away from only scoring 2 runs in this game. Offense has to be better.

[Todd4State]

Face it guys, any reliever we have could have given up that gopher ball. I will say though that if we weren't going Davis, then Maddox Webb would have probably been a better option than Maddox Miller. But like I said, we don't have anyone that can be fully trusted right now on the back end.

Davis, Webb, and Pitzer can all close. Heck- Sweeney has been struggling and he would have been a better option than a freshman.

[Coursesuper]

Ever time we have lost it has been either Miller or Billingsley on the mound.

Growing up has pains.

[Todd4State]

Yep, we were one out away from only scoring 2 runs in this game. Offense has to be better.

True but we are always going to struggle against aces from the other team.

[HoopsDawg]

Davis, Webb, and Pitzer can all close. Heck- Sweeney has been struggling and he would have been a better option than a freshman.

Bingo.

[PGHBulldogBG]

I agree but they fund baseball Top 5. Football? Nowhere close

I agree never said anything about football just talking about basketball and baseball

[Todd4State]

Growing up has pains.

At some point you have to do what is going to give you the best chance to win though.

[EdwardDrayton]

I think leaving 11 men on base and our 2345 and 6 hitters going 2 for 19 had a bit more to do with losing than Miller coming in. But you know the old saying good pitching ocercomes good hitting all the time.

That's a good point para. And yet we were still in it in the end. So that put the spotlight on Miller and it didn't fall in our favor.

[PGHBulldogBG]

What are you rambling about

What did I say that was not true? Just stating a fact

[maroonmania]

Davis, Webb, and Pitzer can all close. Heck- Sweeney has been struggling and he would have been a better option than a freshman.

Fully agree that was a tough spot for a Freshman but it would have been a tough spot to have really trusted any of them.

[HoopsDawg]

Growing up has pains.

You don?t throw away SEC games for growing pains. That?s what midweeks are for. Baffling decision.

[maroonmania]

True but we are always going to struggle against aces from the other team.

But all these games (UCLA, USM, Ark, even Tulane) we aren't even denting the scoreboard until the game is basically half over. Always playing from behind isn't helping things. I guess we did at least get 2 runs against Tulane in the first before going into a shell.

[HoopsDawg]

What did I say that was not true? Just stating a fact

That they spend more on basketball than baseball? No shit. Everyone does. Arkansas takes baseball very seriously.

[HoopsDawg]

But all these games (UCLA, USM, Ark, even Tulane) we aren't even denting the scoreboard until the game is basically half over. Always playing from behind isn't helping things.

Depth is a double edged sword. Baseball is a game of rhythm and routine. At some point you cant platoon 5 spots. You cant leave a veteran on the bench who is hitting.450 with 2 homers like Wyers all for the sake of matchups.

[EdwardDrayton]

Vandy walks it off against #13 LSU 13-12. Nothing about the SEC is gonna be easy.

[Todd4State]

Fully agree that was a tough spot for a Freshman but it would have been a tough spot to have really trusted any of them.

That doesn't mean throw a freshman out there. Hell- Landon Sims could have lost tonight too. Doesn't mean if we had him we shouldn't put him on the mound. And i absolutely trust Ben Davis. He has been lights out and has an ERA of 0.00 since they stopped trying to use him for more than two innings. Pitzer has closed SEC games before.


But all these games (UCLA, USM, Ark, even Tulane) we aren't even denting the scoreboard until the game is basically half over. Always playing from behind isn't helping things.

It's not but at the end of the day they are doing what they need to do to put us in position to win. And then we decide "hey! Tie game on the road after we made a great comeback! This seems like a good time to get Miller some experience or see if Billingsley has figured things out."

[HoopsDawg]

That doesn't mean throw a freshman out there. Hell- Landon Sims could have lost tonight too. Doesn't mean if we had him we shouldn't put him on the mound. And i absolutely trust Ben Davis. He has been lights out and has an ERA of 0.00 since they stopped trying to use him for more than two innings. Pitzer has closed SEC games before.



It's not but at the end of the day they are doing what they need to do to put us in position to win. And then we decide "hey! Tie game on the road after we made a great comeback! This seems like a good time to get Miller some experience or see if Billingsley has figured things out."

I dont know what?s crazier, us doing it or people defending it. Yeah I do.

And yeah, we stranded too many runners but we were facing a Team USA pitcher. A lot of Friday night games are going to be low scoring.

[maroonmania]

That doesn't mean throw a freshman out there. Hell- Landon Sims could have lost tonight too. Doesn't mean if we had him we shouldn't put him on the mound. And i absolutely trust Ben Davis. He has been lights out and has an ERA of 0.00 since they stopped trying to use him for more than two innings. Pitzer has closed SEC games before.



It's not but at the end of the day they are doing what they need to do to put us in position to win. And then we decide "hey! Tie game on the road after we made a great comeback! This seems like a good time to get Miller some experience or see if Billingsley has figured things out."

I agree I trust Davis over everyone else. And if we had scored in the Top of the 10th I'm sure he would have been out there. You don't normally want to burn your closer in a tie first game of a 3 game set, so I'm not going to criticize that move too much.

[BeardoMSU]

I agree I trust Davis over everyone else. And if we had scored in the Top of the 10th I'm sure he would have been out there. You don't normally want to burn your closer in a tie first game of a 3 game set, so I'm not going to criticize that move too much.

Even if not Davis, just not a freshman that has already lost us a game.

[Todd4State]

I agree I trust Davis over everyone else. And if we had scored in the Top of the 10th I'm sure he would have been out there. You don't normally want to burn your closer in a tie first game of a 3 game set, so I'm not going to criticize that move too much.

If this was MLB Davis would have been in. You have to play to win now because we have no idea how tomorrow is going to turn out. We could blow them out twice. They could blow us out twice. Neither is a situation ideal for using your best relievers. And sure, we might be in a situation where we need them too. And in two of those three situations/scenarios what we did was a mistake. We don't have a crystal ball so we have to play to win now because nothing is guaranteed tomorrow.

[maroonmania]

Even if not Davis, just not a freshman that has already lost us a game.

Agree

[BeardoMSU]

If this was MLB Davis would have been in. You have to play to win now because we have no idea how tomorrow is going to turn out. We could blow them out twice. They could blow us out twice. Neither is a situation ideal for using your best relievers. And sure, we might be in a situation where we need them too. And in two of those three situations/scenarios what we did was a mistake. We don't have a crystal ball so we have to play to win now because nothing is guaranteed tomorrow.

You play your best to win game 1.

[Coach34]

You play your best to win game 1.

agree

Glad we agree BOC ****ed up his 1st game in the SEC.

[Maroon Glasses]

That doesn't mean throw a freshman out there. Hell- Landon Sims could have lost tonight too. Doesn't mean if we had him we shouldn't put him on the mound. And i absolutely trust Ben Davis. He has been lights out and has an ERA of 0.00 since they stopped trying to use him for more than two innings. Pitzer has closed SEC games before.



It's not but at the end of the day they are doing what they need to do to put us in position to win. And then we decide "hey! Tie game on the road after we made a great comeback! This seems like a good time to get Miller some experience or see if Billingsley has figured things out."

I doubt that was the mindset of the coaches. For whatever reason they felt like Miller was the best option without burning Davis. They have all the scouting and analytics in the world.. it just didn't work out.

I agree the decision was questionable to say the least. Maddox can use this experience to better himself from here on out and be better in the moment next time he is called on. In the end we left 12 or 13 runners on base. That is what ultimately lost the game. 100%. Miller was just the culprit left at the alter. He didn't do his job but he didn't lose us the game. Sweep tomorrow and tonight is forgiven and BOC will be praised again!

[Quaoarsking]

agree

Glad we agree BOC ****ed up his 1st game in the SEC.

If he finishes 9-21 in both year 1 and year 2, I'll call for him to be fired, and you'll say we should keep him.

[Maroon Glasses]

If this was MLB Davis would have been in. You have to play to win now because we have no idea how tomorrow is going to turn out. We could blow them out twice. They could blow us out twice. Neither is a situation ideal for using your best relievers. And sure, we might be in a situation where we need them too. And in two of those three situations/scenarios what we did was a mistake. We don't have a crystal ball so we have to play to win now because nothing is guaranteed tomorrow.

Absolutely! Can't disagree with this. You always play to win today

[Skydawg1]

Tonight was simply another Baum Walker owns State curse ballgame. Maddox Miller was going up against a shitty hitter. Shitty hitter won. The staff gambled and lost.

[Todd4State]

I doubt that was the mindset of the coaches. For whatever reason they felt like Miller was the best option without burning Davis. They have all the scouting and analytics in the world.. it just didn't work out.

I agree the decision was questionable to say the least. Maddox can use this experience to better himself from here on out and be better in the moment next time he is called on. In the end we left 12 or 13 runners on base. That is what ultimately lost the game. 100%. Miller was just the culprit left at the alter. He didn't do his job but he didn't lose us the game. Sweep tomorrow and tonight is forgiven and BOC will be praised again!

Even with all of the runners left on base we had tied the game going into the 9th inning. So even with all of those runners left on base we still had given ourselves a chance to win. Then with three very legit options to close the game we went with a freshman.

Sure, he'll learn from this but if we keep putting him in this situation and he keeps failing it's going to have a negative impact on him if it happens too often. And then we're left picking up the pieces. Miller is not much different than any other freshmen pitcher.

But like I said I don't understand why he and Billingsley get to keep going out in the mound to figure things out while Webb and Pitzer have to figure things out in the lab when they have performed better. That doesn't make any sense to me.

[Todd4State]

You play your best to win game 1.

Absolutely! And I think too many of our fans remember saving Sims and it working out in the postseason. But that is an exception and honestly doing that even then was the wrong move because it cost us wins in the long run. And yeah I know his family was very strict about Sims being used only once a weekend.

[Maroon Glasses]

Even with all of the runners left on base we had tied the game going into the 9th inning. So even with all of those runners left on base we still had given ourselves a chance to win. Then with three very legit options to close the game we went with a freshman.

Sure, he'll learn from this but if we keep putting him in this situation and he keeps failing it's going to have a negative impact on him if it happens too often. And then we're left picking up the pieces. Miller is not much different than any other freshmen pitcher.

But like I said I don't understand why he and Billingsley get to keep going out in the mound to figure things out while Webb and Pitzer have to figure things out in the lab when they have performed better. That doesn't make any sense to me.

I agree with you on all points. I question Miller and Billingsley too.. especially Billingsley. I just know that BOC is one of the best and he has to see something we don't. It's hard not to question the decisions though.

I know losing brings negativity as it should. Our 3 losses are 3 losses no matter how you look at it. But in those 3 losses we had chances to win every one of them. We fell behind early. Had costly errors and walks. Left 12 on base tonight and still had the chance to win. We aren't far from being really good if we can just clean some things up. And in the game of baseball you have to have luck no matter how good you are and we haven't had the luck yet. I believe all that's going to turn around.

[Todd4State]

I agree with you on all points. I question Miller and Billingsley too.. especially Billingsley. I just know that BOC is one of the best and he has to see something we don't. It's hard not to question the decisions though.

I know losing brings negativity as it should. Our 3 losses are 3 losses no matter how you look at it. But in those 3 losses we had chances to win every one of them. We fell behind early. Had costly errors and walks. Left 12 on base tonight and still had the chance to win. We aren't far from being really good if we can just clean some things up. And in the game of baseball you have to have luck no matter how good you are and we haven't had the luck yet. I believe all that's going to turn around.

Mistakes are magnified when you lose. I believe you make your own luck more than anything in baseball. What it comes down to is either you execute or you don't.

BOC is awesome. He might end up being my favorite MSU baseball coach of all time. But just like Tony LaRussa is my favorite manager of all time- he made mistakes sometimes. Shoot- Team USA's manager Mark DeRosa didn't even know the rules of the World Baseball Classic and had to rely on Italy to get us through to the next round. And he's a good and smart baseball guy.

IMO we did not put ourselves in the best position to win the game tonight. I have a feeling this is more Parker than BOC because this is the same crap that happened with the pitching staff under Lemonis. The difference is BOC will put his foot down and stop it. In fact, he already has done that with how we are using Ben Davis. Until then Ben was going on the same path as KC Hunt.

[Tater]

lowest hitting output of the year (1-14 by 2 through 5 hole) and we're blaming pitching and pitching decisions when we never led.

k

[Pancho]

lowest hitting output of the year (1-14 by 2 through 5 hole) and we're blaming pitching and pitching decisions when we never led.

k

drive them in

[State82]

lowest hitting output of the year (1-14 by 2 through 5 hole) and we're blaming pitching and pitching decisions when we never led.

k

Gotta agree here. LOB is the stat of this game.

[maroonmania]

For better or worse, here was BOC's quote after the game:

“My heart breaks for Maddox Miller. He earned that opportunity to pitch in that inning. Tie ball game, it’s tough to go to Ben Davis on the road when you know you’re staring at two games (Saturday) in a doubleheader. Maddox has done such a great job for us. He’ll pick himself back up and do a better job tomorrow.”

Just a shame that Woodson's homer didn't actually give us the lead, then putting in Davis would have been a no brainer.

[Tater]

Even if not Davis, just not a freshman that has already lost us a game.

Catcher lost us the game vs. USM. Both runs scored on a passed ball strike 3 against miller. How tf is that his fault that his stuff was that nasty.

[Quaoarsking]

Our team is going to be OK. We are mentally and fundamentally strong. Every team has their "that's baseball" games.

[EdwardDrayton]

Our team is going to be OK. We are mentally and fundamentally strong. Every team has their "that's baseball" games.

This

[Tripp McNeely]

Catcher lost us the game vs. USM. Both runs scored on a passed ball strike 3 against miller. How tf is that his fault that his stuff was that nasty.

Those weren't PBs. Miller grounded both pitches a foot in front on the plate. Johnny Bench would've had a tough time keeping those pitches in front of him. I can't remember the official score on both of them, but they should've been ruled WPs

[Tater]

Those weren't PBs. Miller grounded both pitches a foot in front on the plate. Johnny Bench would've had a tough time keeping those pitches in front of him. I can't remember the official score on both of them, but they should've been ruled WPs

Idgaf. His pitches got strike 3 swings. Block the ****in ball.

[Pancho]

Idgaf. His pitches got strike 3 swings. Block the ****in ball.

this

[Tripp McNeely]

Idgaf. His pitches got strike 3 swings. Block the ****in ball.

Pro catchers aren't stopping balls like that. The skill it takes to maneuver your body into that position as quickly as needed, angle your body because it's a breaking ball...at the same time trying to judge if you have to stay on your knees or partially squat because the pitches bounced as high as they did...and to process all of that in about 0.25 - 0.50 almost defies physics. Have you ever played catcher?

[Tater]

Pro catchers aren't stopping balls like that. The skill it takes to maneuver your body into that position as quickly as needed, angle your body because it's a breaking ball...at the same time trying to judge if you have to stay on your knees or partially squat because the pitches bounced as high as they did...and to process all of that in about 0.25 - 0.50 almost defies physics. Have you ever played catcher?

I mean I caught in little league until I focused on football and umpired in the spring for cash. You practice and should know this dude has filthy shit and be ready to block up nasty shit when you call the curve outside.

Do you think the catcher didn't know the pitch that was coming and how this dude throws it? Once maybe. But twice? Nah that's on the catcher.

[Pancho]

I know several high school coaches who have their catchers do this in practice daily. not exactly rocket science. having it happen once is bad luck maybe but 2 times in a row shouldn't happen.

[Santiago]

We were making contact all night with their two best pitchers.
Arkansas better be read today

[Tripp McNeely]

I mean I caught in little league until I focused on football and umpired in the spring for cash. You practice and should know this dude has filthy shit and be ready to block up nasty shit when you call the curve outside.

Do you think the catcher didn't know the pitch that was coming and how this dude throws it? Once maybe. But twice? Nah that's on the catcher.

Dude, both of them literally bounced towards the 3rd base line once they hit the turf (not dirt). So,, he would've had to turn his body in almost a 90 degree angle. Cal Raleigh would've called both WPs

[Tripp McNeely]

I mean I caught in little league until I focused on football and umpired in the spring for cash. You practice and should know this dude has filthy shit and be ready to block up nasty shit when you call the curve outside.

Do you think the catcher didn't know the pitch that was coming and how this dude throws it? Once maybe. But twice? Nah that's on the catcher.


I know several high school coaches who have their catchers do this in practice daily. not exactly rocket science. having it happen once is bad luck maybe but 2 times in a row shouldn't happen.

Doing it in practice, you know before the ball even comes out of his hand, how you need to move. He knew a breaking ball was coming, he had no idea that it would bounce where it did until about .05 of a second before it got to the plate. I'm not defending the defensive "prowess" of any of our catchers, but the best defensive catchers in baseball wouldn't have been able to block those 2 pitches

[Pancho]

There is sure an art to the part of being ready for the ball to do anything even when you know what's coming. I look forward to the catcher play continuing to improve un the BOC era. Nothing like prepring for the worst to simply be ready in game.