What we need to do over our last 9 SEC games

[Quaoarsking]

2-7 makes us a bubble team, but we'd probably get into a Regional, barring a lot of conference tournament upsets.
3-6 locks us into a Regional at 14-16.
5-4 equals last year's record and ties for Cohen's best record at MSU.
6-3 gives us our best conference record since 2003.
7-2 gives us our best conference record since 1997 (Polk I era).
8-1 and we should host.

Most likely we are 5-4, winning the series against Auburn and Tennessee and losing the series against Alabama.

The sky has been falling for 4 years with some you and you just never learn. We've known for weeks that we probably aren't going to host this year. It's time to stop mourning that fact and move on. Hopefully we get a good Regional matchup like in 2007 or 2011.

[msstate7]

5-4 is realistic.

I think Preston brown is the key. If he can get back to pre-injury form, we could do better. We've just got to get better starting pitching.

I think we show some heart down the stretch and win final three series to go 6-3

[Homedawg]

Brown didn't get it hard, but he was all over the place and had big misses. Hope he can return to normal soon. Also his velo was down too. It's a concern

[Coach34]

Less than 6-3 is unsatisfactory

[msstate7]

Brown didn't get it hard, but he was all over the place and had big misses. Hope he can return to normal soon. Also his velo was down too. It's a concern

Didnt realize velocity drop. Do you have actual drop numbers?

[MsStateBaseball]

I am glad 2 are away, we are playing better away. 6-3 and the one nonconf win should be fine, go 2-2 in SECT, get a second seed somewhere.

[Todd4State]

2-7 makes us a bubble team, but we'd probably get into a Regional, barring a lot of conference tournament upsets.
3-6 locks us into a Regional at 14-16.
5-4 equals last year's record and ties for Cohen's best record at MSU.
6-3 gives us our best conference record since 2003.
7-2 gives us our best conference record since 1997 (Polk I era).
8-1 and we should host.

Most likely we are 5-4, winning the series against Auburn and Tennessee and losing the series against Alabama.

The sky has been falling for 4 years with some you and you just never learn. We've known for weeks that we probably aren't going to host this year. It's time to stop mourning that fact and move on. Hopefully we get a good Regional matchup like in 2007 or 2011.

Exactly. We need to win as many games as possible, get to the postseason and go from there. Good post.

[Todd4State]

5-4 is realistic.

I think Preston brown is the key. If he can get back to pre-injury form, we could do better. We've just got to get better starting pitching.

I think we show some heart down the stretch and win final three series to go 6-3

I agree with you about Preston in that he is the key, or at the very least his spot on the staff is the key. I still have and always have had doubts about him returning 100% to form- and today certainly did nothing to change that really.

If I am Cohen/Butch I would be realistic and realize that as far as Preston, it's probably just not going to happen. I think best case scenario he's a five inning guy for us by the postseason. I think we need to go ahead and make Woodruff or Bracewell the starter and just let Preston get better.

If there is anything that was good that happened this week- Luke Laster, Vance Tatum, and even Myles Gentry stepped up. I think we need to maybe start looking at them more and guys like Preston less.

Also- maybe we need to look at Fitts going a little deeper into games. It's like he gives up a hit and it's time to pull him. That would allow us to use Lindgren more on Sunday when we need him.

[Todd4State]

Brown didn't get it hard, but he was all over the place and had big misses. Hope he can return to normal soon. Also his velo was down too. It's a concern

Yes, his command wasn't there. He didn't get hit hard because he didn't throw a lot of good pitches to hit. His velocity was consistently 84-85.

[thf24]

Fellas, I'm going to be real ****ing honest. I'm not a baseball guru. In fact, I don't really know shit about baseball. I follow us out of loyalty and the Braves out of childhood fandom, and that's about the extent of my interest. I probably wouldn't even have anything to say right now if not for a few glasses of Jameson, but here goes. As of right now, this baseball season is a wash for me, and should be, in my opinion, for everyone. After dropping two against a low-tier SEC team who most of our experts were saying was a likely sweep and at worst a series win before this weekend, I can't give any credence to any argument alleging we are anything more than an average baseball team in terms of potential. We are not going to get hot, we have nothing more that we haven't shown, and shaving more beards isn't going to change that. If we win another game, great. If we win another series, great. If we make a regional, great. And so on. But as of right now, I have no more expectations for this year, and I think anyone else who thinks we have yet to "turn it on" is fooling themselves. Here's hoping I'm surprised by the remainder of this year, and that we turn out a lot stronger next year. My thanks to Elitedawgs for hosting my drunken rant. That is all.

[Todd4State]

One thing from Cohen's press conference on the pitching/Preston. Between Preston and Bracewell they gave up 5 of our 6 runs today.

I think we HAVE to go:

Friday- Fitts. As long as he can go. And by that I mean more than 3 innings.

Saturday- Ross.

Sunday- Woodruff for 3-5 and then go Lindgren and Holder.

[Quaoarsking]

Fellas, I'm going to be real ****ing honest. I'm not a baseball guru. In fact, I don't really know shit about baseball. I follow us out of loyalty and the Braves out of childhood fandom, and that's about the extent of my interest. I probably wouldn't even have anything to say right now if not for a few glasses of Jameson, but here goes. As of right now, this baseball season is a wash for me, and should be, in my opinion, for everyone. After dropping two against a low-tier SEC team who most of our experts were saying was a likely sweep and at worst a series win before this weekend, I can't give any credence to any argument alleging we are anything more than an average baseball team in terms of potential. We are not going to get hot, we have nothing more that we haven't shown, and shaving more beards isn't going to change that. If we win another game, great. If we win another series, great. If we make a regional, great. And so on. But as of right now, I have no more expectations for this year, and I think anyone else who thinks we have yet to "turn it on" is fooling themselves. Here's hoping I'm surprised by the remainder of this year, and that we turn out a lot stronger next year. My thanks to Elitedawgs for hosting my drunken rant. That is all.

I'm not harboring hope of "turning it on" really, but I think it's absolutely realistic that this exact team we've been seeing for weeks will go 5-4 over the last 9, finish 16-14, get a 2 seed at the Louisiana-Lafayette Regional, and win it. This would likely have us playing in the Supers at LSU or maybe even Oxford.

It may not happen, but it doesn't require us to magically get a whole lot better.

[Goat Holder]

Brown didn't get it hard, but he was all over the place and had big misses. Hope he can return to normal soon. Also his velo was down too. It's a concern

What??? Yes, he did get hit hard

[RougeDawg]

In order to finish 5-4 or better, Vickerson meds to be holding a clip board. We also must have Cody Brown and Armstrong playing 2 of the 3 OF positions every game. Their bats are really the only consistent "contact" AB's we have. Id play Demarcus over CT, because CT simply half asses is for most of the game. That's inexcusable. Keep Rea hitting in the 6-8 spot. He will get better pitches to hit in those spots. Collins' bat has got to be in lineup every game. He has to DH the games he's not behind the plate. Pirtle is turning into a beast. We have got to stop leaving runners on 3rd with less than two outs and the players above give is best chance to make contact. We also have to stop allowing the opponent lead off hitter to reach base each inning. Today it seemed like the lead off guy was on every inning. Maybe 1 or 2 innings it didn't happen. Finally we have to regain that killer mentality. There never seems to be a sense or urgency when the camera shows our players, when we are trailing. I just see the, "we made it not the finals last year" attitude.

[Goat Holder]

Woodruff is the key not Brown. Brown is finished for this year

[msstate7]

Woodruff is the key not Brown. Brown is finished for this year

Then we're screwed. Maybe laster could take Sundays

[Homedawg]

Didnt realize velocity drop. Do you have actual drop numbers?

I was basing it off of dnf radar. Which if it's anything it's high, a&am lhp was 94-95 and touched 96. Preston was 84-87. Velocity isn't the end all tell all but his was down.

[Homedawg]

Then we're screwed. Maybe laster could take Sundays

To say lasted could take Sundays is really comical.

[Todd4State]

Then we're screwed. Maybe laster could take Sundays

Or we could go with Woodruff and just forget it.

[Todd4State]

To say lasted could take Sundays is really comical.

I appreciate Laster pitching his ass off Tuesday night, but he scared the hell out of me.

[msstate7]

To say lasted could take Sundays is really comical.

Could he do worse than what we've been throwing on Sundays? I'm not saying laster is the answer, but he held OM in check and OM is one hell of an offensive team (spit!)

[msstate7]

I appreciate Laster pitching his ass off Tuesday night, but he scared the hell out of me.

And you're comfortable with woodruff? I'm uncomfortable with both of them, but I'm much happier with the actual results of laster

[Todd4State]

And you're comfortable with woodruff? I'm uncomfortable with both of them, but I'm much happier with the actual results of laster

Obviously. Yes. Woodruff has pitched a lot better than his numbers. Saturday is a good example. He gets a ground ball to first base. Rea boots it. Then he gets a ground ball that Britton should have at least gotten to and hold the batter to no worse than a single and it ends up a double. It was a good impression of Roger Dorn though.

We just need 4-5 innings out of him. Then we go to Lindgren and Holder for the last 4-5. That's why we need to start asking Fitts to go 7 instead of three.

Laster is wild. He hit 6 batters for goodness sakes. The reason he didn't get hit hard was because he didn't throw anything in the zone that could get hit. Ole Miss was over-aggressive and got themselves out. Now, I'm not complaining about that at all- but that's living very dangerously when you are talking long term. And eventually teams are just going to stand there and either let you walk them or hit them. Even Ole Miss by the sixth inning started to just dive into the ball and that's how they got him out of the game.

If Laster can learn to throw with some command, he could be really good though.

[Saltydog]

I'll venture to say we lose at least one and possibly both.