Is MSU baseball back?

[The Croom Diaries]

That was the slogan before the year...

http://www.forwhomthecowbelltolls.com/2013/4/24/4252970/is-msu-baseball-back

[biscuit]

excellent article. If we are not back, we are a hair away.

[FlabLoser]

I'm not a baseball guy. I am a fair weather fan at best.

When I think of MSU baseball, I think of power hitting. It think of running up double digit scores on a regular basis. And innings where we bat around once or twice.

[Quaoarsking]

We're back when we make it to Omaha. Hopefully this year.

[Spider-Man]

I say no. Not yet. We are on our way though. Back to back seasons above .500 in SEC play would be a start.

[AlSwearengen]

As a whole, the players that we have committed or signed are better than what we have playing right now. A perfect case in point is Evan Mitchell. I'm sure most every big program knew about him b/c of his arm. LSU, USC, and the like took a pitcher with comparable stuff but with good command and more polish. They left Mitchell to us, a program that was trying to rebuild at the time. Over time, hopefully we won't have to take as many "fliers' on players that have a chance to be good and can cherry pick along with lsu and usc, the "sure things".

[Ronny]

..South Carolina's RPI fell to 16 after their loss to Gardner-Webb.

And now USCe is headed to LSU for the weekend. Then the next weekend they get Vandy.

As far as USCe's fate is concerned, 2 words come to mind: Prayers sent.

Edit to add: Considering MSU currently has the 3rd best RPI in the SEC, I would say MSU baseball is definitely back.

[War Machine Dawg]

I'm not a baseball guy. I am a fair weather fan at best.

When I think of MSU baseball, I think of power hitting. It think of running up double digit scores on a regular basis. And innings where we bat around once or twice.

Those days are long gone, Flab. The new bats that the NCAA has mandated now might actually be worse than wood. Think about it - how many games in all of the SEC have you seen where a team scored double digits? I'd hazard maybe 10 or 15 on the season. (I'm too lazy to look it up, but I know it isn't many.) And you virtually never see the 18-15 slugfests now, even on Sundays. Gorilla Ball is dead. Small ball is here to stay. I kinda miss Gorilla Ball, though. I can't imagine how many HRs Renfroe, Rea, and Porter would have with the old bats.

[The Croom Diaries]

..South Carolina's RPI fell to 16 after their loss to Gardner-Webb.



True. I wrote it Monday and published today but didn't go back to change it. I'm hoping USC falls apart, but as long as we stay even with them we'll have a great chance at getting past them the last weekend of the season - hopefully in a similar fashion to what we did to Kentucky last year.

[Goat Holder]

We're back when we make it to Omaha. Hopefully this year.

You act as if this is supposed to be expected. We've only been 8 times. We're currently either #16 on total CWS appearances, then you have Florida who's been as many times as us but actually advanced further, then the teams like Georgia/Oregon State/Rice/Fresno State/Wichita State/Pepperdine who have won the thing but haven't been as many times as us. And Arkansas is right on our heels. So are pretty much just a Top 25 baseball program all time.

So in saying that, YES, we are back. Hosting regionals was the real MSU tradition.

[Will James]

Hosting regionals was the real MSU tradition.

And that will determine when we are back. Hopefully this year.

[State82]

I wouldn't go quite as far as to say we are back in the fashion we all expect, but we are close. If we host, I will say we are back. So I guess ask me in about 4 weeks.

[The Croom Diaries]

Hosting regionals was the real MSU tradition.

Exactly. And that was the point of the article. Baseball is different than other sports because the best team doesn't always win. You could catch a team with a big time ace pitcher, lose the first game of a Regional then be digging your way out but end up dropping one more because of a funny hop. Repeat trips to Omaha say a lot about how good your program is, but one trip doesn't mean that much (2007). If we can host a Regional or win the SEC (regular season) then we have proved over the course of the season we are a legit team. If we host 2-3 over a 5 year span then we are definitely back.

[Todd4State]

At the end of the year, we will definitively know if we are back or not. If we aren't, we are very close- as others have said.