State ranked 17th this week by Perfect Game

[elitedawgs]

up from 20th

[Coach34]

But winning 2/3 at Georgia doesnt impress people

[maroonmania]

But winning 2/3 at Georgia doesnt impress people

We did what we should have done which was win the series. Sweeping 3 from GA would have been impressive and losing 2 of 3 would have been a disappointment. So we did what we had to do especially with Vandy coming in next week. Vandy beat us like a rented mule last year, if we take 2 of 3 from them it will be significantly impressive.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

We did what we should have done which was win the series. Sweeping 3 from GA would have been impressive and losing 2 of 3 would have been a disappointment. So we did what we had to do especially with Vandy coming in next week. Vandy beat us like a rented mule last year, if we take 2 of 3 from them it will be significantly impressive.
This^^^

[Sandman14]

It is impressive in almost any circumstance to win 2 of 3 from an SEC foe away. This has already been said but I take this opportunity to reiterate. If you don't realize this, then you have not followed college baseball closely the last few decades.

Sweeping on the road would have been very impressive, no doubt. But so is taking a road series. I do agree, however, that dropping the series would have been disappointing, but not so much in and of itself. It's the fact that we have backed ourselves into a corner and had to have that series. If we cruise in there with 3-4 less losses and drop 2 of 3, no one blinks.

[HancockCountyDog]

We did what we should have done which was win the series. Sweeping 3 from GA would have been impressive and losing 2 of 3 would have been a disappointment. So we did what we had to do especially with Vandy coming in next week. Vandy beat us like a rented mule last year, if we take 2 of 3 from them it will be significantly impressive.

The key is that we set ourselves up to be ok in the event we lose 2 of 3 to a great Vandy team or a good LSU team. Winning 2 of 3 against UGA allows you to have a series loss to Vandy or LSU.

More than anything this sets us up to have at a minimum 6-6 after our first 4 series, and the last 18 games i see us winning at least 11. That is 17 SEC wins, and that = Regional host.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

Vandy only really smoked us in the SEC tournament. Our series against them was pretty close.

[Political Hack]

beating Vandy will be impressive. Winning against an sec team with less expectations than we had coming into the series doesn't strike me as "impressive," but it's a very subjective word. We did what we needed to do, which is a great sign and should be a big positive that fans can be at least a little please with.

[maroonmania]

Vandy only really smoked us in the SEC tournament. Our series against them was pretty close.

Well the first 2 games were reasonable with them last year as they beat us 3-1 and 5-2. I went to Nashville for the Sunday game they won 8-3 but it was never close. They were up 8-1 early and cruised. The SEC tournament game was the truly embarrasing loss to them but none of the games we played them last year were in much doubt towards the end.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

Exactly...the series was close. With a couple of breaks going our way we could have won the series last year.

[bully99]

Dropped from 23 to 24 in collegiate baseball. Vandy 3 Bears 16. Louisiana Lafayette 6 lsu 7. Bet they don't like that in BR. Tennessee 14.

[engie]

This Vandy series is absolutely huge for us...

We need to win 18 SEC games this year to be a host lock. 17 may get it done -- but it's going to be close.

[HancockCountyDog]

This Vandy series is absolutely huge for us...

We need to win 18 SEC games this year to be a host lock. 17 may get it done -- but it's going to be close.

I agree - a series win would put us back in the top 10 to be honest. If we come out of the first 4 series with a record better than 6-6, I think we can start talking about National seed again.

[Sandman14]

hancock you didn't hear? we already lost the national seed and probably will have to skimp by to make the regionals as a 3-seed...

[blacklistedbully]

I agree - a series win would put us back in the top 10 to be honest. If we come out of the first 4 series with a record better than 6-6, I think we can start talking about National seed again.

I find this hard to buy. We have too many teams ahead of us to leap 7 spots in PG, or as many as 14 in another. IMO, 2-1 at home vs Vandy will likely not be enough unless a whole bunch of teams ahead of us lose their series. Even if we sweep Vandy, we'd probably need series losses by at least 5 of the 7 teams ranked 10-16 to get into the top 10. That's what got us up 3 spots this past week.

Granted, a series win over Vandy is worth more than a series win over UGA, but we won on the road vs UGA, and that's worth a boost. So, I just don't see a series win at home resulting in that big of a jump without the aforementioned losses.

[engie]

I find this hard to buy. We have too many teams ahead of us to leap 7 spots in PG, or as many as 14 in another. IMO, 2-1 at home vs Vandy will likely not be enough unless a whole bunch of teams ahead of us lose their series. Even if we sweep Vandy, we'd probably need series losses by at least 5 of the 7 teams ranked 10-16 to get into the top 10. That's what got us up 3 spots this past week.

Granted, a series win over Vandy is worth more than a series win over UGA, but we won on the road vs UGA, and that's worth a boost. So, I just don't see a series win at home resulting in that big of a jump without the aforementioned losses.

He was talking about "big picture" over the course of the year. Not that "we'd be a national seed if they were picking next week".

Fact is -- we survive Vandy, LSU, Arky, and OM at 7-5 or 6-6 in those 4, we've got a chance to win 19-20 in conference. 18 is a lock to host, 19 puts us into talks for national seed, and 20 locks one up IMO.

[blacklistedbully]

He was talking about "big picture" over the course of the year. Not that "we'd be a national seed if they were picking next week".

Fact is -- we survive Vandy, LSU, Arky, and OM at 7-5 or 6-6 in those 4, we've got a chance to win 19-20 in conference. 18 is a lock to host, 19 puts us into talks for national seed, and 20 locks one up IMO.

I was referring to his first statement that a series win would put us back in the top-10. He goes on to say 6-6 over the first 4 series gets us in the talk of national seed. Frankly, I don't think 6-6 gets us in national seed talk either without an unbelievable amount of help from those ahead of us now.

Do you think a series win versus Vandy this week vaults us over 7 other teams, regardless of what they do?

[engie]

I was referring to his first statement that a series win would put us back in the top-10. He goes on to say 6-6 over the first 4 series gets us in the talk of national seed. Frankly, I don't think 6-6 gets us in national seed talk either without an unbelievable amount of help from those ahead of us now.

Do you think a series win versus Vandy this week vaults us over 7 other teams, regardless of what they do?

Basically, yes. Probably.

We're likely to finish 11-4ish in the last 15, with a schedule that is even lighter than it has been in years past, when we always finish scalding hot. Schedule is frontloaded as usual. 6-6 in this stretch gets us to about 19 wins in the SEC -- which IMO puts us on the verge of a national seed and a host lock...

[HancockCountyDog]

I was referring to his first statement that a series win would put us back in the top-10. He goes on to say 6-6 over the first 4 series gets us in the talk of national seed. Frankly, I don't think 6-6 gets us in national seed talk either without an unbelievable amount of help from those ahead of us now.

Do you think a series win versus Vandy this week vaults us over 7 other teams, regardless of what they do?

I really do. A series win over Vandy is a strong statement, especially considering Vandy just took 2 of 3 from LSU.

I said finishing above 6-6, i.e. 7-5 or 8-4 would put us in a strong position to talk national seed. Our schedule down the stretch is set up for us to have a really nice run. I really think 11-13 wins is doable in our last 18 SEC games. 18 wins locks up a regional. 20 wins locks up a National seed. Obviously we can't go 1-5 against Vandy/LSU, but I think we win 3 against those two teams, and end up having a 7-5 record after 12 games, and a 19-11 record and a solid SEC tourney run - and we lock up a 6 seed.

I don't even know why we bother to play the rest of the games, can we just have our Super regional against Louisville in Starkville in a few weeks?

[blacklistedbully]

Of the 7 teams ahead of us, only 1 will not be favored to win every game this week, and that is Clemson who will play 3 versus FSU.

The odds on even 4 of those 7 losing their series are very long, yet even if that were to happen, we'd very likely still be outside the top-10, IMO. I just don't see how we would leap-frog over higher-ranked teams if they are winning as well. I could maybe see us getting 1 or 2 extra spots due to Vandy being ranked #4, but not all the way into the top-10 this week unless at least 5 of the 7 lose their series this weekend.

[State82]

This Vandy series is absolutely huge for us...

We need to win 18 SEC games this year to be a host lock. 17 may get it done -- but it's going to be close.

17 could do it if we win out in ooc play the rest of the way. That means beating both USM & UM in Pearl, which won't be easy. I agree that it needs to be 18 league wins to be confident of a host spot. Scheduling a nice ooc team midweek between now and the end of the season would help out too. Assuming we win it. We've got 3 mid-weeks open, not counting this week, if Cohen wants to try it. It just does not need to be a SWAC team.