Todd4State
03-25-2026, 11:40 PM
After MSU's comfortable win over USM our RPI is now at 10 as I type this. Had we that's baseball'd USM I would say that we would have to win another SEC game to make up for it but as it is the Diamond Dawgs came through and gave the Buzzards a beatdown. And that means nothing changes about my prediction for hosting. I still feel like 17 SEC wins and a Governor's Cup win gets us a host spot easily and 19 puts us in the National Seed picture. So, currently after MSU swept Vanderbilt they have 4 SEC wins and with 8 weeks left that means we need 13 wins which is very doable. Now, obviously with Ryan McPherson pretty much being declared out for this weekend and a few weeks it is going to be a little more difficult to get there. But after the way MSU pitched against USM I definitely feel a lot better about it. Also, I was really encouraged with how MSU managed the bullpen and staff against Vanderbilt. It will be interesting to see how MSU plays it against Ole Miss without McPherson. My guess is we will probably start Tyler Pitzer against Ole Miss on Friday and then go with Tico and and Stone. The reason for that is because if we move Tico and Stone up a day we're going to have to essentially do that again for Georgia because that is a series that starts on Thursday. Pitzer has primarily been a relief pitcher for his career but he has started four SEC games in his career and has started before. And with this being a road series, I think the coaches would rather go with someone like Pitzer over a guy like Maddux Miller who would be a freshman making his first SEC start on the road. Plus, Miller pitched against USM so that's kind of a hint too I think.
Also, with McPherson out it's paramount that MSU maximize their best bullpen guys. To me, the two best so far have been Ben Davis and Jack Gleason. If you use them on Friday then with a guy like Tico who can eat innings and you can then use Sweeney after Tico if things go to plan then you give Ben Davis and Gleason a day off where they can potentially come back on Sunday if needed based on their pitch counts on Friday of course. Also, we can be a little more aggressive with them because we have Grambling on Tuesday and I certainly hope we would not be in a situation where we would need to use Davis or Gleason against them. The silver lining to McPherson getting injured is I think it will create opportunities for guys like Parker Rhodes and Jack Bauer. They were MSU's secret weapons against USM and both looked great. I think there will be opportunities coming up where they can give MSU an inning here and there in the right situation.
What would our record be if Milewski hadn't hurt his back? I think we definitely beat USM and maybe even UCLA. And the rest of the lineup is settling in too. I don't see how you take Reed Stallman out right now. I think we'll still see Wyers and Gehrig platoon at 2B but Woodson and Ace have the other spots locked up. And Jacob Parker is looking very strong right now. I'm sure we'll probably start Vytas against LHP probably but I wouldn't be surprised if they just left Jacob in. He's playing really well and a 113 MPH exit velocity on his home run was insane. Aiden Teel is locking in and Beans is playing great too. Noah has DH locked down.
With a healthy McPherson I was expecting us to win 2/3 this weekend but with him out I'm going from expecting that to hoping for that this weekend. We can still win the series but it's going to be a lot more difficult especially with it being on the road.
But I watch this team and honestly for a baseball nerd like me- we're fun to watch. There's a LOT of little things we do right that go unnoticed. Things like going opposite field, knowing when to steal bases, when to take extra bases- things like that. The scary thing is this team is improving and to me the last five weeks is when things really start to gel and click. We might be getting contributions from Bauer and Rhodes out of the bullpen by then. And you add them to Davis, Webb, Pitzer, Sweeny, Gleason, etc.- that's deep.
Also, with McPherson out it's paramount that MSU maximize their best bullpen guys. To me, the two best so far have been Ben Davis and Jack Gleason. If you use them on Friday then with a guy like Tico who can eat innings and you can then use Sweeney after Tico if things go to plan then you give Ben Davis and Gleason a day off where they can potentially come back on Sunday if needed based on their pitch counts on Friday of course. Also, we can be a little more aggressive with them because we have Grambling on Tuesday and I certainly hope we would not be in a situation where we would need to use Davis or Gleason against them. The silver lining to McPherson getting injured is I think it will create opportunities for guys like Parker Rhodes and Jack Bauer. They were MSU's secret weapons against USM and both looked great. I think there will be opportunities coming up where they can give MSU an inning here and there in the right situation.
What would our record be if Milewski hadn't hurt his back? I think we definitely beat USM and maybe even UCLA. And the rest of the lineup is settling in too. I don't see how you take Reed Stallman out right now. I think we'll still see Wyers and Gehrig platoon at 2B but Woodson and Ace have the other spots locked up. And Jacob Parker is looking very strong right now. I'm sure we'll probably start Vytas against LHP probably but I wouldn't be surprised if they just left Jacob in. He's playing really well and a 113 MPH exit velocity on his home run was insane. Aiden Teel is locking in and Beans is playing great too. Noah has DH locked down.
With a healthy McPherson I was expecting us to win 2/3 this weekend but with him out I'm going from expecting that to hoping for that this weekend. We can still win the series but it's going to be a lot more difficult especially with it being on the road.
But I watch this team and honestly for a baseball nerd like me- we're fun to watch. There's a LOT of little things we do right that go unnoticed. Things like going opposite field, knowing when to steal bases, when to take extra bases- things like that. The scary thing is this team is improving and to me the last five weeks is when things really start to gel and click. We might be getting contributions from Bauer and Rhodes out of the bullpen by then. And you add them to Davis, Webb, Pitzer, Sweeny, Gleason, etc.- that's deep.