Be prepared for Fitts on Tuesday.

[Homedawg]

I have a feeling he will be the starter. Two straight weeks of pushing them up isn't going to happen. I know 4 days rest is plenty, but they aren't trained for it. Will be surprised if its pollo.

[Quaoarsking]

His numbers are pretty good and all, but it is extremely important that we beat Missouri. We probably aren't a national seed if we win the whole thing, but losing to Missouri could (but shouldn't and probably wouldn't) drop us out of being a national seed.

Have there been any official comments on this?

[Coach34]

we have zero chance at a national seed

I wont get my feelings hurt if we lose to Missouri so we can rest and get ready for our first Regional host in 10 years

[Sandman14]

we have zero chance at a national seed

I wont get my feelings hurt if we lose to Missouri so we can rest and get ready for our first Regional host in 10 years

EXACTLY. but don't say it around Todd. He'll try to jackass you for it.

The only thing bad about Fitts throwing against Mizzou will be that it will mean Pollo will get one day less rest. Throw Pollo and get him out of there to get ready for the real tournament. Use Fitts as the tourney progresses, later on. The last thing we want to see is any of our three starters throwing on Sat/Sun.

[Todd4State]

EXACTLY. but don't say it around Todd. He'll try to jackass you for it.

The only thing bad about Fitts throwing against Mizzou will be that it will mean Pollo will get one day less rest. Throw Pollo and get him out of there to get ready for the real tournament. Use Fitts as the tourney progresses, later on. The last thing we want to see is any of our three starters throwing on Sat/Sun.

Excuse me?

[Todd4State]

One thing about Fitts- he is from Birmingham, so I imagine he has probably pitched at Hoover at some point in his life along the way. To me, that's an advantage for us.

[Sandman14]

Excuse me?

I said the same thing in another thread and you started talking about "maybe Cohen can establish nap time if you are so worried about it." You said something about it being idiotic. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant.

[slickdawg]

Maybe I'm in an extreme minority here, but I'd prefer we rest Pollo, Graveman and Lindgren this week. I think their arms are getting tired. LSU sat Austin Nola last weekend for the same reason.

I'd throw Fitts, Cox and E Mitchell against Missouri. If we lose to Missouri, so what. We go back to Vegas and get ready to host our first regional in a decade. 10 RPI, 6 SOS, If we aren't in as a host site now, then we just aren't going to be.

[Ronny]

we have zero chance at a national seed

I wont get my feelings hurt if we lose to Missouri so we can rest and get ready for our first Regional host in 10 years

It doesn't "hurt your feelings" to lose to a crap-pile like Missouri, then you don't deserve to be running a Miss. State message board.

[Sandman14]

It doesn't "hurt your feelings" to lose to a crap-pile like Missouri, then you don't deserve to be running a Miss. State message board.

ignorance. true ignorance. it's like some of us are talking on a whole different level. not a person on here is going to be sitting by the TV or radio and actively "rooting" for mizzou. we are talking about what would give this team the best chance to go to Omaha.

slick dawg you are right on the money with that comment. I'm with you 100%. My only fear is that we'll win with those guys and then have to throw our best later in the week (Sat/Sun) because we ran ourselves out of pitchers. that's why I see no way to avoid just throwing pollo, graveman, lindgren the first three days. and this is why I think it could actually be a detriment to our chances to win the regional if we beat Mizzou and get locked into the double elimination tourney. some folks on here understand that point and simply disagree. I respect that. then some are just idiots saying "harr harr hardy harr if you don't pull for dawg then you suck, mizzou is crap pile, harr harr. kids put on dem cleats and play ball. it's on da schedule, so we bout to win."

[ghostofjackie]

I have a feeling he will be the starter. Two straight weeks of pushing them up isn't going to happen. I know 4 days rest is plenty, but they aren't trained for it. Will be surprised if its pollo.

According to the coaches call in show (last night), Fitts will be the starter. Remember this will play out exactly like a Wednesday mid week game. With little rest, you can't throw a weekend starter and risk injury. I think we can throw Pollo Wednesday and Graveman Thursday. There was no reason for them to make the SEC tournament one day longer just to let two more shit-average teams in.

[601Dawg]

Maybe I'm in an extreme minority here, but I'd prefer we rest Pollo, Graveman and Lindgren this week. I think their arms are getting tired. LSU sat Austin Nola last weekend for the same reason.

I'd throw Fitts, Cox and E Mitchell against Missouri. If we lose to Missouri, so what. We go back to Vegas and get ready to host our first regional in a decade. 10 RPI, 6 SOS, If we aren't in as a host site now, then we just aren't going to be.

Fitts and Cox YES, but HELL NO on Evan "Wild Thang" Mitchell. Throw Norris instead. Heck we could pitch Myles Gentry or Preston Brown before Evan Mitchell. He can't throw a strike to save his life.

[Sandman14]

The upside with Mitchell is big. Give him two innings. What a boost it would be if he could give us something. The kid was our best pitcher during the SEC tourney two years ago.

[Sandman14]

Can somebody tell me what Woodruff's status is? Is he officially out for season with injury?

[601Dawg]

The upside with Mitchell is big. Give him two innings. What a boost it would be if he could give us something. The kid was our best pitcher during the SEC tourney two years ago.

TRUE, but the downside is he comes in and does like he did against Memphis walks 4 in less than 2 innings.

[Sandman14]

TRUE, but the downside is he comes in and does like he did against Memphis walks 4 in less than 2 innings.

Sorry but I just don't see the downside. So what if he loads em up vs. Mizzou. We bring somebody else in. We give up a couple runs...again, I don't think it's catastrophic even if he did cause us to lose the Mizzou game. But the more probably result is that we get out of it without too much damage and still find a way to win the game.

In the alternative, he might throw 6 scoreless with 9 K's and 3 walks.

[Goat Holder]

Yes, he had surgery.

[Goat Holder]

At this point I think we have to go with Norris instead of Evan Mitchell.

[Sandman14]

I'm a big fan of Norris's...but good grief. He comes in the game in extra innings with a runner aboard and throws up his first pitch which promptly gets rocket launched out of the yard. No thanks.

[Coach34]

It doesn't "hurt your feelings" to lose to a crap-pile like Missouri, then you don't deserve to be running a Miss. State message board.

I would love for us to win every game Ronny, but I do feel that rest for our pitching staff would be extremely beneficial at this point.

Pitching rest > deep run in SEC Tourney

[601Dawg]

I would love for us to win every game Ronny, but I do feel that rest for our pitching staff would be extremely beneficial at this point.

Pitching rest > deep run in SEC Tourney

winning 2 SEC tourney games and locking up a regional host > losing to Mizzou and getting shit on by the selection committee

[Sandman14]

winning 2 SEC tourney games and locking up a regional host > losing to Mizzou and getting shit on by the selection committee

yeah except for that won't occur. so yours should look like this: winning 2 SEC tourney games having great self-esteem > losing to Mizzou and getting plenty of rest

[601Dawg]

yeah except for that won't occur. so yours should look like this: winning 2 SEC tourney games having great self-esteem > losing to Mizzou and getting plenty of rest

If we lose to Mizzou it will give us our worst loss of the season and a sub 100RPI loss something we currently dont have and the Committee may nit pick and use that against us.

[CadaverDawg]

Here's my thoughts on the Mizzou game. I say we either need to send Evan Mitchell or someone like that out there tomorrow, or send Pollo out there. In other words, by sending Wild Thang out there, we are basically saying that we know we are hosting so we are resting arms. But send someone like Fitts or Pollo out there, and we are saying that we are playing to win. So if we lose with Evan, we're more likely to get a pass from the selection committee than we are if we lose with Pollo.

That being said...I don't feel like we are in as secure of hosting shape in the committee's eyes, as we are in our own eyes. So I would pitch Pollo against Mizzou and get the W, then pitch Graveman against Suth Carolina, and then Lindgren after that. And if we are still playing, THAT is when I would bring out an Evan Mitchell or somebody, because we would be locked in to a host spot, and it would only be Friday, so all of our starters would have a lengthy rest before their next start in a Regional.

The last thing we want to do is feel comfortable about hosting, get beat by Mizzou, and then get shipped out to Cal State Fullerton as a 2 seed. We have come too far this season to ruin our post season chances by thinking the Missouri game doesn't matter. I think we will host regardless, but we can't assume that a committee feels the same way. Especially when you have teams like South Carolina, Clemson, South Alabama, etc, that could potentially win their conference tourneys after we blow it against sub 100 RPI Missouri.

Just my thoughts.

[msstate7]

I wanna start fitts, cox, or someone not in our weekend rotation. The reason is to see if we can trust them next weekend. I wouldn't be against resting graveman, but I definitely want lindgren to get some work.

[Todd4State]

I said the same thing in another thread and you started talking about "maybe Cohen can establish nap time if you are so worried about it." You said something about it being idiotic. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant.

I believe you are confusing me for someone else.

[Goat Holder]

Some of you have short memories. He has pitched well for us in the past. I think his problem has been that he was concentrating on being a position player and a pitcher. Some can do both well, some can't. Stephen Head and Tim Hudson are two examples of guys that can do both well. Norris was average while doing both, as evidenced the past 3 years. I suspect we're going to see a viable pitching candidate emerge next season. He'll probably be drafted as well.

[Sandman14]

I believe you are confusing me for someone else.

yes I did, and I sincerely apologize. It did not seem like something you'd do. I have followed your baseball comments for maybe 4 years or so.

forgive me.

[State82]

Here's my thoughts on the Mizzou game. I say we either need to send Evan Mitchell or someone like that out there tomorrow, or send Pollo out there. In other words, by sending Wild Thang out there, we are basically saying that we know we are hosting so we are resting arms. But send someone like Fitts or Pollo out there, and we are saying that we are playing to win. So if we lose with Evan, we're more likely to get a pass from the selection committee than we are if we lose with Pollo.

That being said...I don't feel like we are in as secure of hosting shape in the committee's eyes, as we are in our own eyes. So I would pitch Pollo against Mizzou and get the W, then pitch Graveman against Suth Carolina, and then Lindgren after that. And if we are still playing, THAT is when I would bring out an Evan Mitchell or somebody, because we would be locked in to a host spot, and it would only be Friday, so all of our starters would have a lengthy rest before their next start in a Regional.

The last thing we want to do is feel comfortable about hosting, get beat by Mizzou, and then get shipped out to Cal State Fullerton as a 2 seed. We have come too far this season to ruin our post season chances by thinking the Missouri game doesn't matter. I think we will host regardless, but we can't assume that a committee feels the same way. Especially when you have teams like South Carolina, Clemson, South Alabama, etc, that could potentially win their conference tourneys after we blow it against sub 100 RPI Missouri.

Just my thoughts.

THIS RIGHT HERE. Bingo. The committee that will decide our fate is not made up of Elitedawgs.com members. Can any of you guys honestly say that EVERY time a decision is rendered by some NCAA committee it is well thought out, sensible and fairly presented. Absolutely not. In fact, many times those decisions are just plain head-scratching stupid. Sure, there are 7-9 teams that you could realistically say are "locks" to host. Those that are National Seed "locks" plus one or two more, but that's about it. Therefore, a LOT could hinge on conference tourney games across the country. Saying we are a host lock is giving complete, undeniable, 100% credibility to the NCAA Baseball Committee in their ability and willingness to analyze every pertinent number and statistic. And to a group of people no one on here knows, has talked to, or has any inkling on how or what they are thinking. Nothing is a lock until the official press release comes down the pipe on Sunday. Now, go beat Mizzou. Take no prisoners. Whatever happens after that just happens.

[Sandman14]

you guys are starting to convince me. the bottom line is that there is nothing that can be done about this predicament. you just have to go win. I'm just going to really hate it if we are throwing graveman or lindgren on Sat. or Sunday. I would hope we would get them in before then or else not at all. as far as the team being tired, there's nothing that can be done about it. we aren't going to be playing guys other than frazier, renfro, rea, CT, pyrtle...so whatever happens happens. just hope we manage our pitchers wisely.

[Dallas_Dawg]

We aren't losing to Mizzou. Period. Bama football fans know they won't lose to them in football, we need to act like we are going to win in baseball against an inferior opponent.
I know baseball is different for many reasons. And it's ok for fans to look ahead. That's what Cohen is paid for but if Vegas had a line for our first round game, we would be heavily favored