BOC not adjusting well, considering how well funded this team has been by our new ben

[mckeen]

That is all

[mckeen]

Benefactor

[Bothrops]

Do you think it's time to let him go?

[EdwardDrayton]

No coach is perfect. They make mistakes. Let's keep it real. We went on the road against #5 and got a win. Yes we had a great opportunity to win the series and we failed. But we're still on track. Keep the faith.

[Coach34]

He is a good coach with a good career.

But he better learn quickly the SEC is next level. With the games on the line this weekend ? He went 0-2. He got lucky in G2 with a blowout,

[maroonmania]

He is a good coach with a good career.

But he better learn quickly the SEC is next level. With the games on the line this weekend ? He went 0-2. He got lucky in G2 with a blowout,

Well, at this point, if we are in a competitive game with a good team I expect us to lose. We are currently 0-4 in those situations. Just being honest, going into the 8th with the game still tied and our offense sputtering, I had very little hope of winning.

[Saltydog]

Truth....

[HoopsDawg]

BOC was awful at UVA last year. That team was stacked with talent and missed the tournament.

[Cowbell]

He is a good coach with a good career.

But he better learn quickly the SEC is next level. With the games on the line this weekend ? He went 0-2. He got lucky in G2 with a blowout,

This is maybe the worst take of the day. He got lucky in G2? If that's the case, he must have been unlucky the other 2. Pretty sure he knows the SEC is next level since he won a natty against them but whatever.

[maroonmania]

This is maybe the worst take of the day. He got lucky in G2? If that's the case, he must have been unlucky the other 2. Pretty sure he knows the SEC is next level since he won a natty against them but whatever.

I have been generally ok with everything he has done this season until the pitching moves this weekend. The decisions made no sense and likely cost us a game.

[AlSwearengen]

There were a few head scratchers to me. I didn?t get Davis in game 2; granted he didn?t pitch very well. I didn?t get Mershon in that spot. I would put Bevis at 1B and Stallman in LF if they are in the lineup at the same time; if i remember correctly Stallman was servicable out there last year. I?m not around the team every day like the coaches are so maybe there are good reasons for the moves they make; I?m giving them the benefit of the doubt.

BUT, if Foster and at least 2 of the freshmen don?t figure it out real quick, we are going to limp into a regional (hopefully). Forget hosting.

Our relief pitching is a major disappointment at this point.

[maroonmania]

Our relief pitching is a major disappointment at this point.

Agree with this, and our offense was a major disappointment this weekend. I know Arkansas has an outstanding pitching staff but scoring 4 and 3 runs in 2 of the 3 games was hugely disappointing given we are supposed to have a Top 5 offense in the country.

[Quaoarsking]

BOC was awful at UVA last year. That team was stacked with talent and missed the tournament.

Why are we doing this again? It was conclusively proven last year that the committee made a mistake, and that was before 3 teams that finished behind UVA in the ACC standings won their Regionals.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

BOC is overall an amazing coach, but in game management is probably the weakest part of his coaching. Let's not forget the TA HR and how 100% of State fans were wondering "why is the right handed submarine guy throwing to our left handed SEC player of the year??" before the HR lol.

At the end of the day, we've blown 4/5 games against elite teams, but ALL of them were tight and winnable. I mean a ground rule double cost us one of those, bad luck is a bit at play here. We are still messing with the lineups and pitching roles, but once those get set I think the team will gel better and be able to get in a rhythm. Hard to succeed when guys are being shoved in a new situation and think "oh crap this is an audition I need to shine" instead of confidently playing the role they've already proven they can.

I think there's a lot of room for improvement, and I'm optimistic we'll get there. Where the ceiling though I can't say, depends on catcher and relief arms

[Maroon Glasses]

BOC is overall an amazing coach, but in game management is probably the weakest part of his coaching. Let's not forget the TA HR and how 100 of State fans were wondering "why is the right handed submarine guy throwing to our left handed SEC player of the year??" before the HR lol.

At the end of the day, we've blown 4/5 games against elite teams, but ALL of them were tight and winnable. I mean a ground rule double cost us one of those, bad luck is a bit at play here. We are still messing with the lineups and pitching roles, but once those get set I think the team will gel better and be able to get in a rhythm. Hard to succeed when guys are being shoved in a new situation because they think "of crap this is an audition I need to shine" instead of confidently playing the role they've already proven they can.

I think there's a lot of room for improvement, and I'm optimistic we'll get there. Where the ceiling though I can't say, depends on catcher and relief arms

I think you bring up a great point about guys trying to prove themselves when getting their opportunity. I think thats one of the reasons our offense struggled this weekend. First SEC series, high expectations, the 6+ runs scored record, not beating Arkansas in 8 years, etc. Our guys read the internet too. First series is behind us and we took 1. Hopefully we get the lineup locked down and they can relax and just play the game.

[DawgFromOxford]

We are fine. Bullpen needs to get better and catcher is a weak spot defensively, but we did what we needed to this weekend which was win at least 1. Sucks that we could?ve had 2 and didn?t, but I?m confident we?ll sweep someone to make up for it.

[BeardoMSU]

That is all

This is definitely a C34 burner account.

[BeardoMSU]

We haven't won a series in Fayetteville in almost 20 years. We had pur chances today, obv, but we didn't get it done. Lots of areas for us to improve. The season isn't over, lol. Jfc, guys...

[preachermatt83]

Its posts like this that epitomizes how insanely irrational, emotionally unstable, and clueless our fanbase really is. Truly remarkable.

[Offshore Dawg]

Its posts like this that epitomizes how insanely irrational, emotionally unstable, and clueless our fanbase really is. Truly remarkable.

Much truth in this statement there is.

[Todd4State]

We have to manage our bullpen better. We should have used Davis on Friday in a tie game. Even if you disagree with that I don't think anyone can justify bringing him in up 7-0. That's when we should have used Miller or Rhodes maybe or Billingsley.

Then in theory we still would have had Webb, Pitzer, and Sweeney for game three along with Foster. We can get four innings out of that group and that can give us a a chance to win.

But again I will say this. I do not understand why some guys are allowed to fail time and time again like Billingsley and Miller and why some are automatically stashed in the lab for weeks at a time when they're performing better than the others like Pitzer and Jackson Logar.

The first thing I would do is figure out what we have with Logar. The second thing I would do is use Parker Rhodes more.

And guys like Billingsley and Miller have a place but high leverage situations are NOT their place. If he has brought in Billingsley or Miller in game two assuming we had used Davis on Friday and they had not pitched I would have been fine with that.

[Todd4State]

Catcher doesn't bother me as much because that's an injury issue. Milewski caught the first game of a doubleheader so of course he wasn't going to catch the second game especially coming off of an injury. Milewski probably officially takes the reins this weekend though as I personally wouldn't catch him against Jackson State midweek. James is a middle infielder playing catcher and I think he has done OK given the circumstances as I am giving him a huge pass because of the situation.

[maroonmania]

We have to manage our bullpen better. We should have used Davis on Friday in a tie game. Even if you disagree with that I don't think anyone can justify bringing him in up 7-0. That's when we should have used Miller or Rhodes maybe or Billingsley.



Yea, you know its bad when even the TV announcers are questioning why Davis was coming into the game up 7-0. That one will remain a head scratcher. And no, he is not really a closer, but he is still the most trustworthy reliever we have for now. He was just wasted in that game.

[StarkVegasSteve]

We have to manage our bullpen better. We should have used Davis on Friday in a tie game. Even if you disagree with that I don't think anyone can justify bringing him in up 7-0. That's when we should have used Miller or Rhodes maybe or Billingsley.

Then in theory we still would have had Webb, Pitzer, and Sweeney for game three along with Foster. We can get four innings out of that group and that can give us a a chance to win.

But again I will say this. I do not understand why some guys are allowed to fail time and time again like Billingsley and Miller and why some are automatically stashed in the lab for weeks at a time when they're performing better than the others like Pitzer and Jackson Logar.

The first thing I would do is figure out what we have with Logar. The second thing I would do is use Parker Rhodes more.

And guys like Billingsley and Miller have a place but high leverage situations are NOT their place. If he has brought in Billingsley or Miller in game two assuming we had used Davis on Friday and they had not pitched I would have been fine with that.

O’Conner does not give up on pitchers. He will not do it. I have seen Billingsley in enough high leverage situations this year to tell you that he is going to continue to pitch in those situations.

Our bigger problem right now is catching. James is not an elite catcher. He is Ross Highfill with a little better bat. But he is a UVA guy. And like it or not, O’Conner is favoring those UVA guys right now. Personally, I think it is because he watched them all struggle last year and then heat up as the year went on. I think it is also why we continue to see Nunnallee. But for this team to reach its potential, James cannot be the catcher moving forward. It needs to be Milewski or Raymond.

[Todd4State]

O’Conner does not give up on pitchers. He will not do it. I have seen Billingsley in enough high leverage situations this year to tell you that he is going to continue to pitch in those situations.

Our bigger problem right now is catching. James is not an elite catcher. He is Ross Highfill with a little better bat. But he is a UVA guy. And like it or not, O’Conner is favoring those UVA guys right now. Personally, I think it is because he watched them all struggle last year and then heat up as the year went on. I think it is also why we continue to see Nunnallee. But for this team to reach its potential, James cannot be the catcher moving forward. It needs to be Milewski or Raymond.

Milewski is healthy now. I think he starts so catching is going to be fixed soon. He caught game one and started over James opening weekend. James has hit a lot better than Ross. He's much more like Hunter Stovall to me.

If he keeps pitching Billingsley it's a double standard because he isn't performing and he doesn't throw strikes. After Parker said "if you don't throw strikes you're not going to pitch."

Regardless I don't mind using Billingsley but just don't use him in high leverage. Up 7-0 in the 8th inning? Sure let him eat an inning maybe two if he looks good. But not 3-3.

[AlSwearengen]

I agree with Todd on the pitching. I say let the older guys like Pitzer, Webb and Sweeney take the lumps in high leverage spots right now if we are going to take them. I understand that at some point we need to find out how the younger guys handle the SEC pressure, but maybe not this early. I’m concerned that the coaches have reason not to trust the older guys and are trying to rush Miller and Billingsley along. I understand why they like Miller; it’s his change up, but if he isn’t sharp with it while warming up, we might as well leave him in the bullpen right now.

In a nutshell, our 3 starters are what you want but Davis, Foster, and Billingsley need to have an epiphany.

[Maroon Glasses]

Milewski is healthy now. I think he starts so catching is going to be fixed soon. He caught game one and started over James opening weekend. James has hit a lot better than Ross. He's much more like Hunter Stovall to me.

If he keeps pitching Billingsley it's a double standard because he isn't performing and he doesn't throw strikes. After Parker said "if you don't throw strikes you're not going to pitch."

Regardless I don't mind using Billingsley but just don't use him in high leverage. Up 7-0 in the 8th inning? Sure let him eat an inning maybe two if he looks good. But not 3-3.

Agree with everything you said in both post. I would really like to know if it's an analytic or "feel" decision when making these decisions. Either way, they haven't been the best decisions. I would just like to know how O Connor is basing these decisions.

On the post about not giving up on pitchers: I really respect that and it speaks to BOC as a person and coach. It also minimizes the chances of Miller or Billingsley turning into a complete "mental case." BUT there has to come a time, very soon, that you have to go with who is best at that moment. SEC baseball is unforgiving.. and we have to win every one that we have a chance to win cause they don't come on a silver platter. We are a few errors and pass balls away from being 20-0. I say that only to say this.. we have had the chance to win every game this year. We have led in all our losses into the last 3 innings unless I'm misremembering. We are gonna be okay.

[Pancho]

BOC must not be high on Davis or he wouldn't have used him in the useless situation

[AlSwearengen]

BOC must not be high on Davis or he wouldn't have used him in the useless situation

Yep and I can’t blame him too much at this point. I swear, this bullpen is making me bi-polar. The only thing that I am positive of is that Gleason is the only one that comes out of it that doesn’t have me holding my breath.

[Maroon Glasses]

BOC must not be high on Davis or he wouldn't have used him in the useless situation

Very good point. We see them throw once a week. BOC and company see them every.single.day. There are reasons that we don't know on why he is making these decisions. It's easy for us to sit on the couch and question it when it don't go right. If it all would have worked out yesterday then we would be praising him.

Bobby Bowden once said: " If I go for it on 4th down and get it, I'm the greatest coach ever. But if we come up 2 inches short, I'm a piece of shit." Something like that anyway, lol.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Yep and I can’t blame him too much at this point. I swear, this bullpen is making me bi-polar. The only thing that I am positive of is that Gleason is the only one that comes out of it that doesn’t have me holding my breath.

I think some of the struggles can be attributed to the staff planning on using William Kirk in some of these situations and now kind of scrambling and experimenting to pick up the slack.

[AlSwearengen]

I think some of the struggles can be attributed to the staff planning on using William Kirk in some of these situations and now kind of scrambling and experimenting to pick up the slack.

That and I think they were planning on Foster being better at this point. That is 2 of your top 7 arms not giving you what you thought you were going to get from them.

[HoopsDawg]

BOC must not be high on Davis or he wouldn't have used him in the useless situation

Not the case at all.

[ScooterDog]

Todd, I agree with everything you said about the relief pitching. The relievers are not our problem, it's the coaching moves of taking a very good pitcher out and replacing him with one that is not so good. Maybe he had given up early and was just giving the new guys some experience. But an sec game is NOT the place to do that IMO. Thanks Todd for your comments, and you too Steve.

[Pancho]

Not the case at all.

Then why utilize him in a basically no leverage situation with a 7 run lead? That is mop up time when you save arms for the next game which was 1 hour later.

[Rawdawg]

We are 16-4 and went on the road to a top 10 team and didnt get swept. Our RPI went up to 16. All 4 losses are away from home against quad 1 opponents. We have 8 more nonconference games and 27 conference games. 6-2 or 7-1 in non conference puts you at 22-23 wins. Go .500 or better in the SEC and you?re sitting around 38 wins which is easily hosting and likely a national seed.

[HoopsDawg]

Then why utilize him in a basically no leverage situation with a 7 run lead? That is mop up time when you save arms for the next game which was 1 hour later.

Poor, poor management decision.

[Thick]

I think Jay Powell would be perfect to manage pitchers. He knows what it takes at this level and MLB to be successful.

[Todd4State]

I think Jay Powell would be perfect to manage pitchers. He knows what it takes at this level and MLB to be successful.

I'll be honest- I wouldn't be shocked at all if a lot of this is fixed next weekend. BOC has already started to use Ben Davis for no more than two innings. We play Jackson State on Tuesday. We need to use that to reset the staff some, give some guys some confidence hopefully and he back in Starkville where we're more comfortable.

[MetEdDawg]

There were a few head scratchers to me. I didn?t get Davis in game 2; granted he didn?t pitch very well. I didn?t get Mershon in that spot. I would put Bevis at 1B and Stallman in LF if they are in the lineup at the same time; if i remember correctly Stallman was servicable out there last year. I?m not around the team every day like the coaches are so maybe there are good reasons for the moves they make; I?m giving them the benefit of the doubt.

BUT, if Foster and at least 2 of the freshmen don?t figure it out real quick, we are going to limp into a regional (hopefully). Forget hosting.

Our relief pitching is a major disappointment at this point.

A lot of these are reasons I'm concerned. Mershon over Bevis in the PH situation made no sense. Webb getting limited time on Saturday. Got us out of a jam in the 6th. But then we go to Foster? Didn't understand Miller in the 9th tie on the road in his first SEC game being at Arkansas. Chone can't catch and hasn't been able to since the very beginning. Ben Davis pitching the 8th in a 7 run game.

I just have a lot of concern about some of these decisions. We did not use our most high leverage guys in our most high leverage situations. And it almost seemed purposeful. Miller in the 9th game 1 was shocking to me. I just simply couldn't rationalize doing that to a freshman.

[DownwardDawg]

Its posts like this that epitomizes how insanely irrational, emotionally unstable, and clueless our fanbase really is. Truly remarkable.

Absolutely. It's quite incredible.

[Coach34]

I just have a lot of concern about some of these decisions. We did not use our most high leverage guys in our most high leverage situations. And it almost seemed purposeful. Miller in the 9th game 1 was shocking to me. I just simply couldn't rationalize doing that to a freshman.

This is the crux of it. Game on the line in G1? We didnt put one our best out there and lost the game. G2 blowout? We burn on of our top arms and it was literally the only decision he had to make all day in that game. G3 with the game on the line- we have our 10th or worse best pitcher out there after not extending some of our better arms a few more batters.

If Lemon had done that shit people would be losing their minds on here. Candy comes to town this weekend after beating LSU. Need a good week

[Coach34]

Also lost in this is we started Stall vs both LHP's and he went 1/8 with 3 K's

Cornholio should have gotten more AB's

[HoopsDawg]

Also lost in this is we started Stall vs both LHP's and he went 1/8 with 3 K's

Cornholio should have gotten more AB's

Stall hit about 3 other balls on the barrel. No issue there. Stall would be everyday for me.

[Coach34]

Stall hit about 3 other balls on the barrel. No issue there. Stall would be everyday for me.

Stall has stepped up and he is legit. Love the guy. But Cornholio deserves AB's also. Thats how talented we are. Stall was 1/11 on the weekend. This team is different

[maroonmania]

This is the crux of it. Game on the line in G1? We didnt put one our best out there and lost the game. G2 blowout? We burn on of our top arms and it was literally the only decision he had to make all day in that game. G3 with the game on the line- we have our 10th or worse best pitcher out there after not extending some of our better arms a few more batters.

If Lemon had done that shit people would be losing their minds on here. Candy comes to town this weekend after beating LSU. Need a good week

I could at least excuse not using Davis in the tie game on Friday night but there were still better options than true freshman Miller. But for the multitude of perplexing decisions on Saturday, all I can figure is that our entire coaching staff must have hit the sauce a little too hard after the Friday night game and were still inebriated during the Saturday DH. :) It is no doubt concerning.

[Coursesuper]

Too many here think tactically not strategically.

[Turfdawg67]

This is the crux of it. Game on the line in G1? We didnt put one our best out there and lost the game. G2 blowout? We burn on of our top arms and it was literally the only decision he had to make all day in that game. G3 with the game on the line- we have our 10th or worse best pitcher out there after not extending some of our better arms a few more batters.

If Lemon had done that shit people would be losing their minds on here. Candy comes to town this weekend after beating LSU. Need a good week

Well, maybe if BOC was on the 17th consecutive conference loss we would be a little bit more upset

[Goldendawg]

I want MSU to succeed in all sports, but baseball is my third interest behind football and MBB. You guys know much more about the details of championship-level baseball.

I have watched every game to date and except for the VA starting pitcher, it seems to me our holdover MSU players are carrying the team so far.

How are our transfer players doing to date, especially the VA transfers? SEC baseball is not the ACC.

[CaptainObvious]

So State is 1-4 against Ranked opponents. No what else about that record. None of those games were played in Starkville. Go
1-2 this weekend against Vandy and it might be time to worry a little bit.

[WSOPdawg]

So State is 1-4 against Ranked opponents. No what else about that record. None of those games were played in Starkville. Go
1-2 this weekend against Vandy and it might be time to worry a little bit.

Vandy gave up 31 runs to LSU this weekend - their pitching has been decimated by injuries BUT they got lucky by drawing LSU who's portal transfers have disappointed this year. We're not going 1-2 against them this weekend, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if we sweep.

[Todd4State]

Vandy gave up 31 runs to LSU this weekend - their pitching has been decimated by injuries BUT they got lucky by drawing LSU who's portal transfers have disappointed this year. We're not going 1-2 against them this weekend, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if we sweep.

I feel the same way. This is also be Vandy's first time on the road at a non tournament environment

[CaptainObvious]

I?m just not buying our back end pitching is good enough to sweep any SEC team. 2-1 would be a good weekend. 1-2 would not devastating as State still has some winnable weekends ahead. We don?t need McPherson to have a bad game with our off and on bats going against their ACE Friday night. OUR ACE needs to get out of his head and not chase bad pitches, while still staying in attacking mode.

[Pancho]

So how many innings does miller go tonight and who all is expected to pitch after him?

[DawgFromOxford]

We are fine. Bullpen needs to get better and catcher is a weak spot defensively, but we did what we needed to this weekend which was win at least 1. Sucks that we could?ve had 2 and didn?t, but I?m confident we?ll sweep someone to make up for it.

Oh wow that?s crazy. Who could?ve seen this coming. it?s almost like the team and BOC are doing just fine

[Pancho]

Who pitches friday night?

[99jc]

This thread aged well typical dumbass thread started by a fan that is clueless and showed the emotions of a menstruating woman.

[Coach34]

We have the Nasty Bunch again Tuesday and go to Oxford for the weekend without SP1.

A 1-3/0-4 week would be crushing. Got to go 2-2 at worst

[MetEdDawg]

This thread aged well typical dumbass thread started by a fan that is clueless and showed the emotions of a menstruating woman.

This thread aged perfectly. Literally everything we mentioned as concerns changed.

The lineup was the exact same all weekend against Vandy and against USM. Our pitching choices made a lot more sense. And Milewski caught all 3 games against Vandy.

We are just fine and hopefully we can ride out McPherson's injury as that will force BOC to have to put guys in tough situations. But let's not act like the Arkansas and Vandy series were coached the same, but they most definitely were not.

[maroonmania]

We mismanaged the pitching staff at Arkansas and lost the series. So nothing has changed about that. This past weekend we actually brought Davis in when it mattered and things went much better. Of course going forward we now have to deal with the loss of McPherson.

[Coach34]

We mismanaged the pitching staff at Arkansas and lost the series. So nothing has changed about that. This past weekend we actually brought Davis in when it mattered and things went much better. Of course going forward we now have to deal with the loss of McPherson.

Exactly. We managed the weekend better and guess what? We won the series