It's going to be a rough baseball week for us

[Todd4State]

Memphis is a good team- but I'm not sure what we're going to do with our pitching in that game. If we start Sexton or hopefully Tatum- we should be fine. If we start Daniel Brown- there are going to be some balls that end up in Sevendust's trailer park in Southaven.

An even bigger concern is Texas A&M. They are second in the SEC in hitting right now- and they lead the SEC in home runs with 36. But what's really scary is their pitching staff- they have a TEAM ERA of 2.08. They're going to carve us up. Oh- and we get to play them on the road. I'm expecting to get swept- but I would be happy with winning one game. Anything beyond that we should be ecstatic.

This is basically going to be like when we played Vanderbilt in 2013. And it won't be pretty.

[Dawg61]

aTm hasn't seen Cohenball 2015 yet. It might confuse them and we can bunt a potential win into scoring position.

[Smitty]

A&M has a SP that has thrown 48 innings and only issued 3 walks. We better not take our usual approach that day. Another SP has 38 IP and 8 BB. The last guy strikes everyone out.

All their hitters are rolling. All of them. We better not play for the damn 1 run inning against the 27 Yanks

Yep, one W this weekend would be a huge success.

[Drugdog]

The tone of these threads is pitiful. I agree with them. But when has MSU Baseball been relegated to hoping and praying for 1 win.

[justwin]

meh, we always suck in March and are better in April.

we're 21-13 with 21 games to go. I think we can finish 13-8 for 34-21 record going into postseason. It's really on whether Gavin Collins decides to start playing like he's supposed to. no more excuses about an injury...it's been a few months now. everyone else is clicking, just need Gavin to start mashing.

I won't be shocked if we win the series vs ATM now that we have our best lineup in place. Love the sparkplug Cody leading off and Heck @ 3b. Our pitchers just need to throw strikes and let the defense work.

[dawgs]

meh, we always suck in March and are better in April.

we're 21-13 with 21 games to go. I think we can finish 13-8 for 34-21 record going into postseason. It's really on whether Gavin Collins decides to start playing like he's supposed to. no more excuses about an injury...it's been a few months now. everyone else is clicking, just need Gavin to start mashing.

I won't be shocked if we win the series vs ATM now that we have our best lineup in place. Love the sparkplug Cody leading off and Heck @ 3b. Our pitchers just need to throw strikes and let the defense work.

Actually it's well documented that hand/wrist injuries tend to linger well after a guy returns. MLB players that have hamate bone injuries struggle to hit for power after they return. Usually their power doesn't return until the next season. And these are MLB guys that have far more attention and access to healthcare and rehab. I said back in February that we should not count on collins being a big bat this year because of the track record with these injuries, while most of y'all on here assumed it'd just be a hiccup and he'd come back hitting like an all-american.

So history and data indicates there is an excuse for him not "mashing". It's not a matter of him deciding to hit like you want him to.

[engie]

Gonna party like it's 2013 in CS

[Jacksondevildog]

It wouldn't shock me if we went 0-4 this week. If we could go 2-2, that would be a win.

[CadaverDawg]

Smitty, I thought A&M had an "Auggieite" as a head coach that bunted more than we do? Did they fire him, or did he just adapt to the new seams while our coach didn't?

I'm just curious if they got a new coach, bc I significantly remember Smitty bashing them for their Auggieite coach sac bunting so much in our series sweep at their place 2 yrs ago.

[Maroons]

meh, we always suck in March and are better in April.

we're 21-13 with 21 games to go. I think we can finish 13-8 for 34-21 record going into postseason.

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm not sure that 34-21 gets us in a Regional.

[maroonmania]

It wouldn't shock me if we went 0-4 this week. If we could go 2-2, that would be a win.

Exactly, you hate to say you blew it when you take 2 of 3 but it would have been HUGE to have completed the sweep at home to get back to .500. We now will likely come out of the TA&M series no better than 6-9. We still have a big uphill battle to climb to sniff post-season.

[ScottH]

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm not sure that 34-21 gets us in a Regional.

It probably doesn't. Our RPI wont be high enough.

We sit at 121 this AM. That is last in the conference by almost 30 points. Let that sink in.

The frustrating thing is our SEC schedule couldn't have opened more in our favor.

Three of first four at home. Three of bottom four record wise plus an average USCe team.

Preseason, I would have guessed 9-3. 8-4 at worse. Needless to say, I would have been wrong.

[confucius say]

Start sexton Tuesday bc it's a must win. We need all three remaining midweek games. He can pitch again in relief this weekend.

We averaged 8.5 runs a game last week, scoring at least 7 in every game, and still went only 2-2. That should never happen.

[maroonmania]

Start sexton Tuesday bc it's a must win. We need all three remaining midweek games. He can pitch again in relief this weekend.

We averaged 8.5 runs a game last week, scoring at least 7 in every game, and still went only 2-2. That should never happen.

Given our RPI right now EVERYTHING is a must win. Another reason why it was stupid to pitch a first time starter last week with Daniel Brown.

[confucius say]

Given our RPI right now EVERYTHING is a must win. Another reason why it was stupid to pitch a first time starter last week with Daniel Brown.

Agreed

[Smitty]

Smitty, I thought A&M had an "Auggieite" as a head coach that bunted more than we do? Did they fire him, or did he just adapt to the new seams while our coach didn't?

I'm just curious if they got a new coach, bc I significantly remember Smitty bashing them for their Auggieite coach sac bunting so much in our series sweep at their place 2 yrs ago.

Oh he's there. And still dumb on that front. They have 11 sacs in league play on a team that kills the ball 1-9.

[Jacksondevildog]

I'm afraid that we will be out of it in all three games very early in each game. Their offense is scary and our pitching numbers aren't exactly good. We will have to swing the bats extremely well to have a chance at the series. I know that's not earth shattering analysis.

[msstate7]

I'm afraid that we will be out of it in all three games very early in each game. Their offense is scary and our pitching numbers aren't exactly good. We will have to swing the bats extremely well to have a chance at the series. I know that's not earth shattering analysis.
Plug mintz in the opportunities that Ross gets and we'll have a puncher's chance. Pitch Ross and we have no shot

[Jacksondevildog]

Im afraid that Cohen and Co. have too much faith in Mitchell's previous success to put him on the shelf, even if that's the right move.
Plug mintz in the opportunities that Ross gets and we'll have a puncher's chance. Pitch Ross and we have no shot

[justwin]

Actually it's well documented that hand/wrist injuries tend to linger well after a guy returns. MLB players that have hamate bone injuries struggle to hit for power after they return. Usually their power doesn't return until the next season. And these are MLB guys that have far more attention and access to healthcare and rehab. I said back in February that we should not count on collins being a big bat this year because of the track record with these injuries, while most of y'all on here assumed it'd just be a hiccup and he'd come back hitting like an all-american.

So history and data indicates there is an excuse for him not "mashing". It's not a matter of him deciding to hit like you want him to.

he's fine. If he's in the lineup, he's recovered enough to produce. he's having waaaay too many 0'fer games and needs to start contributing like the rest of the lineup is doing.

[CadaverDawg]

Oh he's there. And still dumb on that front. They have 11 sacs in league play on a team that kills the ball 1-9.

He must be able to coach hitting, or they have a hitting coach? They shouldn't have more talent than us, or do they?

[RougeDawg]

He must be able to coach hitting, or they have a hitting coach? They shouldn't have more talent than us, or do they?

Pretty sure they have a designated hitting coach. Think they've always had at least one and it appears that they have two coaches (1 volunteer) with pretty good offensive resumes. ULL hired their last one away and he's now head coach somewhere else. They did see a drop off the year that guy left but just brought on Volunteer guy from ECU in 2014. I watched a bit of their game against UK Saturday and every one of their hitters makes solid contact, with very little noise in their swings.

[CadaverDawg]

Pretty sure they have a designated hitting coach. Think they've always had at least one and it appears that they have two coaches (1 volunteer) with pretty good offensive resumes. ULL hired their last one away and he's now head coach somewhere else. They did see a drop off the year that guy left but just brought on Volunteer guy from ECU in 2014. I watched a bit of their game against UK Saturday and every one of their hitters makes solid contact, with very little noise in their swings.

Good info, thanks Rouge

[BiscuitEater]

Oh he's there. And still dumb on that front. They have 11 sacs in league play on a team that kills the ball 1-9.

How can they even have a winning record? .. playing Cohen ball .. much less lead the West at 9-2.

[Smitty]

How can they even have a winning record? .. playing Cohen ball .. much less lead the West at 9-2.

Cause they swing the stick. Doesn't hurt them as bad. Very easy.

A 1-9 of Mike Trouts would still be pretty damn good even if they gave a couple free outs away.

[confucius say]

How can they even have a winning record? .. playing Cohen ball .. much less lead the West at 9-2.

They have 11 sac bunts in 11 league games. I would think that is really low in this day and age of baseball. I don't like sac bunting either, but I can see where one a game would be fine, especially for a team that is constantly leading late in games and is looking to add an insurance run instead of playing for the big inning.